Reduced off-street parking requirements for areas with good access to public transport
28 October 2022
The City of Cape Town’s Council has approved the
plan demarcating the reduced off-street parking requirements for developments
in areas with good access to the MyCiTi service, minibus-taxis, trains and the
Golden Arrow Bus Service. Council’s approval at its meeting on Thursday, 27
October 2022, includes an amendment to Annexure C of the Development Management
Scheme, Schedule 3 of the Municipal Planning By-law, to record the plan.
The City's Development Management Scheme (DMS), included as Schedule 3 of the Municipal Planning By-law (MPBL), prescribes minimum off-street parking requirements for new developments and land use applications. The DMS differentiates between areas that are well served by public transport services, and those where residents rely on their private vehicles and thus would need off-street parking.
Following Council's approval of the plan at its meeting on 27 October 2022, the amended DMS now includes parking requirements as follows:
- for PT1 areas – these are areas where the use of public transport services is promoted, while noting the provision of services in these areas is still inadequate
- for PT2 areas – these are areas where the provision of public transport services is good and as such, promoted
PT2 areas have more generous reductions in parking requirements than PT1 areas.
'By lowering off-street parking requirements the City frees up valuable space for development. Thus, instead of providing off-street parking bays, developers can opt to use the space for more productive uses.
'Reduced parking requirements also significantly reduce red tape if a new development is located in the proposed PT1 or PT2 area as the property automatically qualifies for lower parking requirements as stipulated in the DMS. For developments that fall outside of these areas, the standard off-street parking requirements apply and a departure application, in addition to the land use and building application, is required when a developer wants reduced off-street parking,' said the City's Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
The approved plan takes into account the impact of scheduled and high quality public transport on reducing private vehicle use and the subsequent lower demand for parking in areas that are served by these trunk and feeder services, be it a bus, train, or minibus-taxi.
'This is in line with the City's objective to address reliance on private vehicles and to adopt policies that will promote transit-oriented development and walking and cycling short distances, and to improve the efficiency of public transport services,' said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.
Importantly, the reduction in off-street parking is not compulsory. Developers and landowners still have a choice and can decide how they want to cater for the needs in a particular development and whether the target market would prefer or need off-street parking or not.
A transitional provision is included allowing the City to make development and land use decisions in terms of the amended DMS and MPBL once published in the Provincial Gazette, regardless of when the application was submitted to the City for assessment.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
