New-build homes in downtown Guelph could no longer come with parking

New-build homes in downtown Guelph may no longer come with a home for your car.

The City of Guelph is lowering its minimum parking requirement, downtown specifically, to less than one spot per unit.

The new number: 0.85 or 85 spaces per 100 units — though the city’s mayor had been hoping to do away with the parking requirement altogether.

Speaking on The Mike Farwell Show on Monday, Guelph mayor Cam Guthrie said he’d prefer to leave that decision to developers.

“These are smart people,” he said. “They will build the parking if they need it.

“Lots of parking will still get done because the developer is then the one taking the risk,” Guthrie continued. “They don’t want to build something that they can’t rent out or sell.”

Guthrie went on to note places like Buffalo, New York, which got rid of its minimum parking requirements city-wide in 2017. He said, since then, about 85 per cent of all new development has still come with parking.

“But the ones that didn’t offered up more space for people to live, more commercial opportunities, and it’s made those areas–specifically in downtown cores–a lot more lively and pedestrian friendly, and [has brought] a lot more people,” Guthrie added.

The mayor also argued units that don’t come with parking do tend to come with lower monthly rent.

“[So] not only [would] this help with more housing, but it’s going to give people options. If you want a car and you need a car, then don’t go to that place that’s not providing a parking spot,” he said before adding others may be more willing to walk, bike, or take transit when there’s need.

“So, to me, it comes down to choice and opportunity to be able to provide different types of options for people and, at the end of the day, it helps with housing, it helps with the environment, and it helps with more walkability and getting our downtown cores, especially, a lot more pedestrianized.”

Ultimately, Guelph council chose not to drop its parking requirement entirely though city staff have been asked to look into it as a future option and to report back to council either by or before a scheduled review of the downtown parking master plan in 2028.