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Debate intensifies at public hearing over bill to eliminate municipal parking minimums
Summary
Hundreds of witnesses and planning groups debated HB 7,061, which would bar local governments from imposing mandatory off-street parking minima. Proponents said mandates raise housing and business costs and harm the environment; opponents warned of rural and public-safety consequences and urged local control or a tailored approach.
Supporters of HB 7,061, which would prohibit municipalities from imposing mandatory off-street parking minimums in zoning regulations, told the Planning and Development Committee removing mandates reduces housing costs, spurs infill development and makes neighborhoods more walkable.
Sarah Bronin, who led Hartford’s effort to eliminate parking minimums in 2017, described the city’s post-reform experience as “overwhelmingly positive,” saying developers still built parking where markets required it and removal unlocked adaptive reuse and new housing. Multiple national and Connecticut advocates — including CT Parking Reform, the Parking Reform Network, Desegregate Connecticut and the Mercatus Center — cited studies and mapping that show Connecticut has a large existing supply of parking and argued mandates are an unfunded cost…
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