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Its expensive to build parking. Loads of shopping centers end up having to build seas of parking spaces due to these parking minimums given their square footage
by vel0city 3y ago
Its expensive to build parking. Loads of shopping centers end up having to build seas of parking spaces due to these parking minimums given their square footage even though the actual car traffic wouldn't come close. I imagine a lot of those stores would have preferred paying for far less real estate and paving.
- busterarm 3y agoShopping Centers are an entire different zone than housing. You typically do not build them in the same places. They're built in less desirable places than housing which makes the parking spaces cheaper and an efficient use of the space. Not all square footage is created equal!
- dave78 3y agoPerhaps the problem isn't the fact that parking requirements exist but rather that they require way too many parking spots. Most shopping center lots in my area are never close to full, even on the busiest Christmas shopping days.
- detourdog 3y agoI here this a lot but in the North East at least those extra spots can be used during the winter for snow management. Snow management can be done in other ways but that is a cost analysis exercise.
- vel0city 3y agoCan you elaborate on the snow management aspects?
- dave78 3y agoParking lots are a common place to store excess snow when it is plowed. Obviously from the parking lot itself, but also sometimes snow is hauled in dump trucks from other areas where there is no space to store the snow. In snowy areas the piles can grow quite large and take up a sizable amount of parking lot space. These large piles then take considerably longer to melt away than snow in surrounding areas, sometimes lasting well into Spring.