BHCA is taking a fresh look at parking and, specifically, the way residential parking permits are allocated in Bolton Hill. The review comes, coincidentally, with the introduction of legislation in the city council that would eliminate requirements that developers and landlords who renovate large buildings into apartments provide off-street or other parking opportunities for tenants.
The city has for decades issued (and charged for) residential parking permits for property owners, their guests and some tenants in Bolton Hill. Not every block is eligible, and some apartment buildings qualify, while others do not. BHCA Vice President Susan Haun is leading the review.
Haun said she was told that the current city rules governing permits were issued in 1980. Since then, in Bolton Hill there have been a number of new apartment conversions. Among the more recent is the old Strawbridge Church at Park Avenue and Wilson Street, which has 11 new units that went on the market late last year in a congested area of the neighborhood. Inconsistencies in allowing and enforcing parking restrictions have long been evident.
On May 12, Mayor Brandon Scott and a handful of city council members announced support for City Council Bill 25-0066 – The Housing Options and Opportunity Act. “This bill creates a new category of low-density, multi-family housing, which will make it possible to build the types of housing that exclusionary zoning has long prohibited, expanding housing options in neighborhoods where racist zoning laws dictate who can live there, and how,” Scott said.
One of Bolton Hill’s two council representatives, Zac Blanchard, is a sponsor of the legislation which eliminates requirements that apartment owners who convert houses into apartments must provide parking for tenants’ vehicles. In Bolton Hill, that requirement has given BHCA some leverage in opposing efforts by absentee investors to cut up existing apartment buildings into more, smaller residential units.
Historically BHCA has supported property owners living in or near their buildings who want to add an apartment or two to an existing structure, but has tried to discourage conversions and expansions within existing multi-unit buildings. Parking is tight in much of the neighborhood and these expansions without parking accommodations make it worse.
It’s unclear when the council will begin considering the housing bill, which is popular with developers and corporate landlords.
– Bill Hamilton
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