Chapter 6.1
Community Health and Safety

• ALL
• Remove Code Barriers
• Create Incentives
• Fill Regulatory Gaps

Installation of Parklets in Retail and Commercial Areas

INTRODUCTION

In urban areas across the U.S., two to three times more public space is allotted to the movement and storage of automobiles than what is allotted to pedestrian mobility.[1] In 2005, a movement began in San Francisco to reclaim public spaces for pedestrians.[2] From this movement, the parklet emerged. San Francisco aimed, among other goals, to improve pedestrian mobility and to decongest bustling sidewalks.[3] Local communities across the U.S. are now reimagining the use of parking lots. They are considering smaller parking areas, opting to replace vehicle-oriented spaces with more useful infrastructure, such as publicly accessible parks, urban farms, and sports fields.[4]

Parklets, also known as “street seats” or “curbside seating”, are community spaces most commonly converted from street parking spaces in the public right-of-way, providing public seating and amenities.[5] The majority of parklets “have a distinctive design that incorporates a combination of seating, greenery, and/or bike racks.”[6] Parklets are innovative and effective mechanisms “to accommodate unmet demand for public space on thriving neighborhood retail streets or commercial areas.”[7] In colder climates, parklets can be temporary and removed during the winter months for snow removal purposes.[8]

Parklets are no longer rarities, emerging in communities coast to coast. However, their assembly presents issues for municipalities to address. Parklet construction requires cooperation between various parties, including local governments, local businesses, and residents.[9] Adoption of a parklet ordinance can accelerate synergy among these parties. Typically, parklet ordinances contain some combination of the following information: a permitting process[10] (including fees),[11] design requirements,[12] hours of operation,[13] maintenance,[14] improvements,[15] liability and insurance,[16] liquor use and sale,[17] and safety standards. Municipal codes typically contain a separate provision for proposed conversion of surface parking on private roadways or on private property; however, private areas may successfully be integrated into a parklet ordinance.^[18]  Because laws which predate parklets cannot adequately address parklet features, municipalities should consider enacting a parklet ordinance to boost pedestrian mobility and to remove existing legal barriers to allowing parklets.

EFFECTS

The enactment of a systematic parklet program through an ordinance demonstrates a municipality’s support for walkable environments. The benefits of promoting parklet construction are manifold. Constructing parklets in urban areas with high foot traffic volume is an efficient method to improve pedestrian mobility, increase local retail profits, and reduce the reliance on vehicular transportation (in combination with other strategies outlined in this Chapter of the Code).

Parklets improve the overall availability of public space and have the capacity to render sidewalks more accessible by shifting objects that would normally be in pedestrian pathways—such as bike racks or café seating.

Parklets also provide aesthetic improvements to the streetscape, which produce a more desirable and inviting public space.[19] Indeed, “if people rather than cars are invited into the city, pedestrian traffic and city life increase correspondingly.”[20] Improving the accessibility and desirability of pedestrian environments ultimately has the capacity to increase pedestrian mobility.[21] Walkability facilitates socialization between residents.[22] Walkability also minimizes car use, which, in turn, reduces carbon emissions.[23]

Parklet construction also boosts sales for adjacent and surrounding businesses.[24] Converting public or private parking spaces to parklets repurposes less beneficial infrastructure for public benefit and, in so doing, calls upon communities to revisit their devotion to cars. Thus, parklets have positive social, environmental, and financial implications for the community.

EXAMPLES

West Hollywood, CA

In 2018, the City Council of West Hollywood, CA, approved a “Citywide Parklet Program” and codified a “Parklets” section within its Municipal Code.[25] In its “Purpose” section, the ordinance states: “[t]hese standards have been developed to ensure that the space use for such parklets . . . allow[s] for adequate pedestrian circulation.”[26] Although the parklets are available and open at all times to the public, the City does not participate in parklet construction, and the program exclusively issues permits to private entities.[27] To encourage participation, the City Council subsidized the cost of construction by providing $25,000 grants for up to seven recipients, and waiving all permitting fees.[28] The ordinance provides a fee formula, which stems from the parklet’s square footage and the costs of lost meter revenue and city monitoring of the permit.[29] The ordinance allows parklets only when “[a]n obstruction-free, clear sidewalk area for pedestrian traffic passing the parklet” is available.[30]

To view the provisions, see West Hollywood, CA, Municipal Code §§ 11.29.010–11.29.130 (2018).

Windsor Heights, IA

In 2017, the City of Windsor Heights, IA, installed its first parklet.[31] The intent of the parklet installation  is “the conversion of inactive and often underutilized on-street parking spaces into useful space for the public benefit.”[32] The project cost just under $20,000 and was funded by a grant and tax payer dollars.[33] The City allows businesses to rent the space April through October on a monthly basis, after providing proof of insurance.[34]  In the same year, the City approved a comprehensive Parklet Program ordinance.[35] The ordinance describes the purpose of the program as a component of the beautification and aesthetic enhancement to the streetscape.[36]

In its ordinance, the City establishes a parklet license program that requires the approval of a site plan containing “design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the parklet”[37] Qualifying businesses must be located within 150 feet from the location of the parklet, and any application by a person or entity must include the owner of the business and the owner of the property where the business is located.[38] Only those qualifying businesses with title to the property where the business is located may obtain a permit for parklet construction.[39]

To view the provisions, see Windsor Heights, IA, Code of Ordinances §§ 142.01–142.13 (2018).

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES

Montpeliar, VT, Code of Ordinances §§ 20-1–20-10 (2018) (noting several technical compliance criteria for parklet installation, including pedestrian access and ADA accessibility).

Richmond, VA, Code of Ordinances §§ 24-251–24-258 (2018) (requiring, as a condition of approval for any pedestrian enhancement permit—including any parklet—that the permittee’s proposed parklet maintain adequate protections, such as a barrier, to prevent harm to parklet occupants by motor vehicles).

Spokane, WA, Municipal Code §§ 10.55.005–10.55.120 (2018) (calling for parklet permittees to maintain the parklet space, as well as “the sidewalk area adjacent” in order to promote better conditions for pedestrian travel).

West Palm Beach, FL, Code of Ordinances §§ 78.490–78.499 (2018) (permitting parklets only within areas in which the posted speed limit is 30 miles per hour or less).

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Athanasia Georgakopoulos & Jo-Anne Thompson, Parklets: Promoting Sustainable Community Development, https://perma.cc/UP4P-3ZPC (last visited May 29, 2019).

LADOT, Kit of Parts for Parklets (Fall 2015), https://perma.cc/SAY2-KVF3.

PBOT, Livable Streets Strategy: Best Practices Report (Jan., 2017), https://perma.cc/XT3P-RNPP.

UCLA Luskin Sch. of Pub. Affairs, Reclaiming the Right of Way: A Toolkit for Creating and Implementing Parklets (Sept., 2012),  https://perma.cc/Q2PR-N5NP.

Univ. City Dist. Report, The Case for Parklets: Measuring the Impact on Sidewalk Vitality and Neighborhood Businesses (2012), https://perma.cc/VU8Z-TXPG.