FAQs

Updates to the city’s parking regulations and transportation demand management requirements were originally identified as main implementation steps in the Access Management and Parking Strategy adopted by City Council in 2017. The project had to be paused in 2020 due to the pandemic but has been restarted in 2024.

The City of Boulder has required a minimum number of off-street parking spaces for all different types of businesses and housing since the 1950s. Minimum parking requirements are often based on a mathematical formula, like one space per 400 square feet of space or one parking space per unit. These spaces have to be on private property, located off the public street.

Transportation Demand Management (TDM) is the use of strategies to inform and encourage travelers to maximize the efficiency of transportation systems. The purpose of requiring TDM plans for new developments is to mitigate the transportation impacts for the new development by providing programs, amenities, and services to the employees or community members who live in the city. 

In 1986, the Boulder City Council adopted the Residential Permit Parking (RPP) program as a mechanism to relieve spillover parking in residential areas. The RPP program was designed to give preference in the use of on-street parking spaces to residents or businesses located within a designated area. It was first implemented in the Mapleton and University Hill neighborhoods in 1993. The RPP program became the Neighborhood Permit Parking (NPP) program in 1997. Today, twelve NPP zones and one seasonal zone exist. 

In recent years, at least 78 other cities in the United States have entirely eliminated the minimum parking requirements in their zoning regulations, including nearby Longmont. Learn more from Parking Reform Network.