As Pasco County grapples with one growing pain after another, planners' latest discussion could determine whether customers should park on the side of the road when visiting their favorite bar or going to a Friday night dinner spot.
review Parking requirements for The new development arose out of concern that Pasco's newer, high-traffic roads such as State Route 54 and State Route 56 would one day pass through vacant lots. Which characterizes parts of the United States 19, Contributing to the view of economic decline.
An empty sidewalk runs along this road that once provided parking for the larger Gulf View Square mall and other former shopping and dining destinations. Long-imposed parking requirements that set the minimum number of spaces for businesses were part of that problem, county planners said.
Several months ago they introduced A Proposal to establish maximum parking limits to the Pasco County Planning Commission. But that board, which makes advisory recommendations to the County Commission, rejected the proposal as too urban and fraught with unintended consequences.
Councilor and planners went back to the drawing board and submitted a new proposal to the planning committee last week. Once again, the majority voted to reject the idea of setting unrealistic parking maximums and minimums.
Planning Commissioner John Moody objected to most of the parking recommendations, arguing that they were illogical.
In the new rules, restaurants with an area of 5,000 square feet will be limited to only five spaces, Modi said. His research showed that a restaurant like LongHorn Steakhouse, with 184 seats and 5,710 square feet, would expect to need at least 127 parking spaces.
Brad Tippen, the county's director of development review, said market forces will be what drives the business decision on parking.
“I understand that,” Modi said during Thursday’s meeting. “I'm not worried about McDonald's coming here and building a restaurant with five locations because they're not that stupid. But I have customers that are that stupid and they will do it.”
Moody, the engineer, asked his fellow planning commissioners if they were aware of a Skinny's Bar and Grill on U.S. 19 or a Fisherman's Shack in Aripeka. These types of businesses have very few places where customers have to park on the road, he said.
“That's the danger when you make the thresholds too low,” he said.
Planning commissioners agreed that changing customer habits may have reduced the need for so much parking, as people increasingly shop online. Planning Commissioner Derek Pontlitz said he would support reducing minimum spaces for retail stores.
Moody said a Sunday visit to his local Walmart showed him that even during a busy time, part of the lot was vacant and he agreed that could be addressed.
He said that the new proposal sets a “dangerous precedent, and I do not think this is what the commissioners asked for.” He also said he met with county commissioners about their concerns, including Katherine Starkey. She wanted to reduce parking space requirements for apartments in certain types of developments without a special vote from commissioners. Modi said he supports this.
He also recommended that the county reduce minimum parking requirements by 20 percent for retail establishments, given the acknowledged changes in consumer buying habits.
Modi said he opposes setting maximum limits. He said he was told planning staff were reviewing the applications and decided some projects provided too much parking. “The staff did not feel this was a good use of the land,” he said. “But that's not the employees' job.”
Once a developer meets all other code requirements, “it's their land, and they have the right to use that land within our zoning,” Moody said.
Planning commissioners voted 4-2 to reject the new parking plan and reject maximum parking standards. They agreed to reduce minimum retail parking by 20 percent and accepted a reduction in minimum parking for some Starkey-subsidized apartments.
They also recommended using newly proposed staff standards that would allow more parking for single families and multifamily developments due to increased parking needs in communities with smaller lots.
The proposal will then be sent to the County Commission for consideration.
