Austin parking requirements: what is left after minimums were removed

The rule in one sentence

Austin removed off-street motor vehicle parking minimums citywide in November 2023, becoming the largest US city to do so. The operative language is short:

It does reach NCCDs — and this is widely reported wrong

A common claim is that certain neighbourhoods "kept their parking minimums" when the citywide requirement was removed. Read §25-6-471(A) closely, because it addresses this directly.

The article applies to specific regulating plans, Transit Oriented Development areas and Neighborhood Conservation Combining Districts that incorporate this chapter by reference. And it governs over a conflicting provision of this title or other ordinance, unless the conflicting provision is less restrictive.

Since "no parking required" is the least restrictive possible rule, a district provision requiring parking is more restrictive — so the article governs and the requirement falls away. A surviving minimum in an NCCD does not override it.

One genuine exception: a planned unit development with specific off-site parking requirements controls over the article.

The real limit on reach is narrower than "some neighbourhoods are exempt": the article applies to NCCDs that incorporate this chapter by reference. Whether a particular NCCD does is a question about that district's own ordinance, so check yours rather than assuming either way.

What is still required

Accessible spaces. §25-6-471(B) requires a minimum of one on-site accessible space. The number is calculated by an indirect route: take 100 percent of the parking previously required for the use under Appendix A, then use that result to determine the accessible spaces required under the Building Code.

That is why the old minimums did not disappear from the code. Appendix A retains them expressly "for the Purposes of Calculating Maximum, Accessible, and Bicycle Parking Spaces" — they are a calculation basis now, not a requirement.

Bicycle parking. Still required. Schedule B provides that a minimum of one bicycle parking space is required for any use except single-family residential or two-family residential.

Maximums. The ordinance shifted the code from floors to ceilings — the retained Appendix A figures now feed a maximum rather than a minimum.

Accessible spaces have real siting flexibility

If an applicant provides only accessible spaces — which after this ordinance is a common outcome — §25-6-471(D) is unusually accommodating:

• They may be located on or off site, within 250 feet of the use, and must be on an accessible route.
• An off-site or on-street accessible space within 250 feet may be counted toward the required number.
• The director may waive or reduce the requirement if no accessible space can be provided consistent with those location rules.

An on-street space counting toward an on-site requirement is a meaningful concession on a constrained infill site.

What actually changed for a house

Very little directly, and a lot indirectly.

Single-family houses were never the point of parking minimums, and most people build a garage or a driveway because they want one. What changed is that you are no longer obliged to — which matters on a narrow lot where a driveway costs impervious cover you would rather spend elsewhere, or where small-lot access rules make a front driveway impossible anyway.

The indirect effect is larger: because the Subchapter F floor area exemption was re-tethered to accessible spaces, removing parking minimums quietly removed a floor-area allowance that single-family projects used to be able to claim.