10 September 21 - 27, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents said. “I’ve got challenges in my district where parking reductions are used to pre- serve historic buildings, and that’s evident in other parts of the city. And I know there’s council members here who have challenges in their district with people parking in the streets and things of that nature. So, it’s not that simple.” But he did ask Udrea if she sees opportunities in the city to eliminate park- ing minimums. Udrea said the city has already done this to some extent, citing downtown, which doesn’t have extensive parking require- ments. “But we still have enough,” she said, adding that Deep Ellum also has reduced parking requirements, and the Farmers Market area has the same requirements as downtown. “So I would say that we’re al- ready testing, and we’re doing it. It’s just that right now we have to take all the lessons learned and see what will work for the en- tire city,” she said. Mendelsohn said people in her district aren’t worried about there being too much parking; they’re upset about there not being enough parking at apartment complexes in her district, which leads to a lot of on-street parking and traffic congestion. “So we have very different issues,” the council member said. Mendelsohn noted that it’s likely there are couples living in one-bedroom apart- ments with two cars or more. For them, as she sees it, one parking spot per bedroom isn’t enough. “Sometimes there’s three and four adults in a one bedroom apart- ment because — you know what? — this is how people are surviving in Dallas today,” she said. While Udrea agreed there shouldn’t be a universal approach to parking, Men- delsohn countered that there shouldn’t be a universal approach to getting rid of parking requirements, either. “We need to have some requirements,” Mendelsohn said. Paul Ridley, City Council member for Dallas’ District 14, agreed that parking isn’t a situation that lends itself to any easy solu- tion. “It is a very diverse city in the sense of types of development density, amount of parking and the usages of the land that re- sults in different parking demands,” he said. “And it’s not the city it was in 1965 when we didn’t have mass transit like we do today.” He added, “My point is that this needs to be a very particularized, thoughtful study of the requirements in different parts of the city, urban versus suburban or whatever that divide is, so that it can provide appro- priate solutions for all areas and types of de- velopment.” He also said he wouldn’t be in favor of any changes happening overnight. “This is such a far-reaching policy change,” he said, asserting that it should be implemented gradually. Udrea said parking code amendments could be briefed to ZOAC this fall. Later this fall, these amendments could be brought to the City Plan Commission for a public hear- ing. From there, it could be brought to City Council for a briefing this winter or next spring. Unfair Park from p8 West Village• 214-750-5667 • www.avalon-salon.com BEST SPA DALLAS OBSERVER BEST IN THE USA HARPER’S BAZAAR BEST EXPERIENCE D MAGAZINE BEST COLOR SALON ALLURE MAGAZINE BEST HAIR SALON DALLAS OBSERVER 18-TIME WINNER Celebrating 33 years serving dallas DIGITAL MARKETING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERESTED CANDIDATES PLEASE SEND YOUR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO [email protected] D ENTER TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS
