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Committee discusses payment‑in‑lieu‑of‑parking proposal to fund parking and mobility improvements
Summary
A proposed payment‑in‑lieu‑of‑parking (PILOP) program was introduced to allow developers to pay fees instead of providing on‑site parking; the committee discussed legal authorization, need studies, and exceptions for hotels and grocery stores and asked staff to refine the proposal.
Jenny introduced a detailed payment‑in‑lieu‑of‑parking proposal at the June 18 Legal Committee meeting, saying the city faces competing goals — housing production, historic preservation and walkability — that make on‑site parking infeasible for many infill and adaptive‑reuse projects.
"A payment in lieu of parking program would allow developers to contribute fees when required parking cannot reasonably be provided," Jenny said, summarizing the proposal’s purpose and intended use of funds for parking and mobility improvements.
Committee legal counsel cautioned that creating a PILOP program may require specific statutory authorization or a needs study to show the requirement is commensurate with demonstrated demand; members cited examples from other municipalities (Port Jefferson and Mount Kisco) and said local code and state rules could add procedural requirements. The committee noted that Hudson eliminated parking minimums in 2019 and that the planning board currently lacks quantitative guidelines to evaluate new developments’ parking needs.
Members debated how to treat different land uses. Several favored immediately restoring residential parking requirements (the proposal suggested a residential threshold) and treating commercial uses case‑by‑case: grocery stores and some hotels may need on‑site parking because their customers typically require close, vehicle‑accessible spaces. The group discussed using square footage, employee counts, or a unit‑based metric as bases for parking obligations and whether a payment option should be allowed for certain uses.
On funding and governance, members raised the possibility of creating a parking authority to issue bonds and manage larger scale projects (parking lots, shuttles, resurfacing). Committee members asked Jenny to provide a breakdown by business type and to research any state authorization or study requirements; the item was continued to a future agenda.
