Council enacts 10‑month moratorium on new or expanded parklets while staff updates rules

The Richmond City Council adopted an interim urgency ordinance imposing a 10‑month, 15‑day moratorium on establishing new parklets, expanding existing parklets, or extending terms of existing parklets. City staff described the moratorium as a temporary pause to allow a cross‑departmental review of the parklet process and to prepare permanent zoning and design standards.

City staff said Richmond has had a parklet ordinance but only a single parklet approved to date. Staff outlined problems created by separate permit paths—the parklet process and the encroachment permit process—and identified design and accessibility questions, enforcement complications and the need for clearer standards for curb ramps, corners, accessibility, surface treatments and public safety. The moratorium will allow staff to study practices in nearby cities, engage stakeholders and return with draft permanent regulations; staff aimed to complete the work within the moratorium period and report interim findings to council.

One public speaker supported the moratorium; an additional comment from a wheelchair user asked that any new rules require accessible parking and curb access be considered when parklets remove on‑street parking. Staff said accessibility and curb cut issues are among topics to be addressed in the rewrite.

The council voted 7–0 to adopt the interim urgency ordinance. Council and staff said they do not intend the moratorium to be an enforcement action against existing parklets but rather to create clearer, more accessible, and enforceable standards going forward.