South DaCola

What is the true cost of a parking ramp to EVERYONE?

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Hat tip the long time commenter here on DaCola offered this link to an interesting study from 2015 on parking ramp costs;

Parking is expensive. It costs thousands of dollars per stall to build. It occupies valuable real estate. It is ubiquitous, accompanying nearly every building built across the United States. Yet at nearly every destination, drivers don’t directly pay for the parking they use. Instead the cost is hidden, bundled into the grocery bill, benefits package, and rent of every shopper, employee, and tenant.

Everyone pays the same amount for parking whether she or he walked, rode transit, carpooled, or drove alone, but rarely does anyone see that price itemized on a receipt. As a result, most people are unaware of the heavy financial burden they bear for the sake of parking. The above graphic takes a look at one area where parking adds significantly to a household’s expenses: Rent.

So how much does one parking spot add to an apartment’s rent? There is no single answer to that question. Construction costs are affected by local soil conditions, zoning requirements, site constraints, regional differences in construction costs, and the type of parking to be built. On the other hand, the rent needed to justify an initial capital investment varies according to local property taxes, financing costs, resident turnover and delinquency rates, et cetera. The graphic attempts to present the range covered by these variables while providing numbers that might be considered typical for structured parking in the United States.
Obviously they are talking about apartments vs. hotel rooms, but the concept still applies. While the city tries to justify the cost because this is coming from ‘user fees’ I still consider them a tax. Whether you agree with me or not, as the study points out, using a parking ramp makes the price of everything else go up. For instance if a retail business DT rents parking spots for their employees that cost is passed on to consumers.
Hopefully the council has a good discussion about this before approving this plan.
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