Minimum Parking Requirement Forces Restaurant to Build More Parking Lot Than Restaurant

Sofia Chen spent three years developing her dream: a 2,000-square-foot farm-to-table restaurant on a quarter-acre lot in the Midtown commercial district. She then spent four years navigating a zoning code that requires her to dedicate 8,000 square feet of that lot to surface parking. 'The restaurant is 20 percent of my property,' Chen said, standing in the middle of a parking lot that can accommodate 32 vehicles. 'The parking lot is 80 percent. I have more asphalt than kitchen. My customers eat inside a building surrounded on all sides by a sea of painted concrete. It looks like a Costco that serves duck confit.' The parking requirement, established in the city's 1974 zoning code and last updated in 1991, mandates one parking space per 60 square feet of restaurant floor area, plus additional spaces for staff, deliveries, and 'peak capacity events,' defined as 'any occasion when the establishment might be popular.' 'The code was written during the era of maximum automobility,' explained planning historian Dr. Frank Variance. 'It assumed every diner would arrive in a separate car, that no one would ever walk or take transit, and that parking should be free, abundant, and directly visible from the road at all times. It was, in a sense, a love letter to the automobile, written in concrete.' Chen applied for a parking variance, which was denied. She proposed shared parking with adjacent businesses, which was denied. She suggested that her restaurant's location — 200 feet from a bus stop and adjacent to a residential neighborhood — might reduce parking demand. This was also denied. 'I now run a parking lot that happens to serve food,' Chen said. 'The impervious surface creates runoff that floods the street every time it rains. My property tax reflects the full lot. And on a typical evening, twelve of the thirty-two spaces are occupied. The city considers this a success.'