Less Parking, by State Law: The City of Corvallis could see some changes to its current parking regulations. The Corvallis City Council will hold a public hearing at the June 5 meeting on vehicle parking requirements the city will need to make to abide by Oregon’s Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities requirements.
Amendments to the current state requirements were made on April 20 requiring cities, including Corvallis, to implement changes to current parking regulations by the end of the fiscal year which is June 30.
“The State of Oregon developed some new rules over the last couple of years that require cities to reduce or eliminate vehicle parking mandates, ensure new buildings and development supports electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and update local planning requirements to address critical gaps in walking, biking, and transit networks,” said Patrick Rollens, Public Information Officer.
Maybe, No Parking for New Buildings: One proposed solution that the council will look at to comply with the new state rules is to remove minimum vehicle parking requirements citywide.
“This means that people building new housing in Corvallis will not be required to offer minimum number of vehicle parking spaces based on the number of units. Home builders can still choose to offer parking, and we expect that many will continue to do so based on market demand,” said Rollens. “Cities can implement their own solutions to comply with the new rules that have been set out by the state.”
The City Council will discuss possible options for complying with the new rules at their June 5 meeting. Then it will continue with a series of updates to the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code.
“The city just can’t require a minimum number of designated vehicle parking spaces as a condition of approval for a project. The Council took preliminary action on this back in November 2022 by repealing parking mandates citywide in anticipation of these forthcoming updates to our Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code. More recently, the concept of removing citywide parking minimums was endorsed by the city’s Planning Commission at a public hearing earlier in the year,” said Rollens.
There will be many more minor changes and administrative updates that will be discussed at the June 5 meeting, but according to Rollens the parking item is probably the biggest change the community will see.
West Hills Road Open House: Benton County will be hosting an open house to provide community members with an update on the SW West Hills Road Corridor Plan. This section of West Hills Road is currently owned and maintained by Benton County but is anticipated to be transferred to the City of Corvallis at some point in the future.
“West Hills Road has some unique constraints that challenge installation of standard road improvements; therefore, the City and County are partnering to identify what the future urban section will look like as development occurs along the corridor,” said the release.
Neither the county nor city have secured funding for construction, according to a release from Benton County.
The open house will be open to the public to drop by anytime and view the current plans and exhibits for the project on June 13 from 5:30-7:00 pm at First Congregational United Church of Christ at 4515 SW West Hills Road. The project team will be on site to answer questions.
For more information visit https://www.co.benton.or.us/publicworks/project/sw-west-hills-road-corridor-plan
By Jennifer Warner
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