Citywide Parking & Curb Use Study

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The Citywide Parking & Curb Use Study is an effort to comprehensively understand the parking system in Somerville and make recommendations that will guide the City in bringing its parking policies in alignment with its city goals, community values, and future needs.

The city is seeking recommendations that will:

  • Enhance mobility and access, improve the equity, safety, dependability, and sustainability of our transportation system, reduce our reliance on automobiles, allow for growth with less parking, and satisfy parking demand to the extent feasible and practical, recognizing that the city’s mode shift and climate goals will require less space dedicated to vehicle parking.
  • Reduce the annoyance and frustration associated with parking by making our parking system easier to understand and work more equitably, efficiently, and consistently for residents, businesses, and visitors.
  • Prioritize our limited parking resources for persons with limited mobility options due to financial reasons, mobility impairments, disabilities, or other hardships, and disincentivize those with broad choice among mobility options from using limited parking resources.
  • Ensure that any changes to parking policy are equitable and that recommendations include appropriate mitigation strategies for potential unequal burdens on specific disadvantaged populations.

The study will utilize and leverage data from a complete inventory of parking regulations on city streets and parking utilization counts from select areas across the city. It will include an evaluation of current enforcement/payment technologies as well as analysis of current parking supply and demand. Recommendations and an implementation action plan will be developed to reduce and distribute demand, expand capacity and supply, ensure equitable access, and improve administration and operation.

The study will be informed by public and expert input, as well as the Parking Study Task Force - a 21 member group consisting of representatives from City Council, the business community, the Council on Aging, the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Pedestrian & Transit Advisory Committee, the Bicycle Advisory Committee, and many city departments (Parking, Police, Fire, Racial & Social Justice, Sustainability & Environment, Engineering, Economic Development, Planning & Zoning, and Mobility).

The Citywide Parking & Curb Use Study is an effort to comprehensively understand the parking system in Somerville and make recommendations that will guide the City in bringing its parking policies in alignment with its city goals, community values, and future needs.

The city is seeking recommendations that will:

  • Enhance mobility and access, improve the equity, safety, dependability, and sustainability of our transportation system, reduce our reliance on automobiles, allow for growth with less parking, and satisfy parking demand to the extent feasible and practical, recognizing that the city’s mode shift and climate goals will require less space dedicated to vehicle parking.
  • Reduce the annoyance and frustration associated with parking by making our parking system easier to understand and work more equitably, efficiently, and consistently for residents, businesses, and visitors.
  • Prioritize our limited parking resources for persons with limited mobility options due to financial reasons, mobility impairments, disabilities, or other hardships, and disincentivize those with broad choice among mobility options from using limited parking resources.
  • Ensure that any changes to parking policy are equitable and that recommendations include appropriate mitigation strategies for potential unequal burdens on specific disadvantaged populations.

The study will utilize and leverage data from a complete inventory of parking regulations on city streets and parking utilization counts from select areas across the city. It will include an evaluation of current enforcement/payment technologies as well as analysis of current parking supply and demand. Recommendations and an implementation action plan will be developed to reduce and distribute demand, expand capacity and supply, ensure equitable access, and improve administration and operation.

The study will be informed by public and expert input, as well as the Parking Study Task Force - a 21 member group consisting of representatives from City Council, the business community, the Council on Aging, the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Pedestrian & Transit Advisory Committee, the Bicycle Advisory Committee, and many city departments (Parking, Police, Fire, Racial & Social Justice, Sustainability & Environment, Engineering, Economic Development, Planning & Zoning, and Mobility).

Page last updated: 24 November 2021, 13:37