- Palm Beach County commissioners voted to allow affordable-housing developers to build fewer parking spaces per unit.
- The new rule only applies to affordable housing projects, not workforce housing, and is expected to be used in areas where mass transit is readily available.
- The county staff acknowledged the existing code is based upon a suburban, vehicle-based style of development and does not consider the location of the project, the number of bedrooms or the age and income of tenants.
Palm Beach County commissioners are trying to make it easier for affordable-housing projects to be built by relaxing parking rules that currently call for 1.75 spaces per unit.
“If we don’t do anything, these projects will die,” County Commissioner Gregg Weiss said in a newsletter this year to his West Palm Beach-area constituents, noting the need for affordable housing in the county.
Last month, his fellow commissioners agreed, unanimously voting to allow affordable-housing developers to seek waivers on a case-by-case basis to build fewer parking spaces than required by code. The new rule only applies to affordable projects, not workforce, and is expected to be used in areas where mass transit is readily available.
Many of the tenants are expected to have either low or moderate incomes, with some of them either unable to afford a car or they can do without one.
“The current code presumes that every household is going to have multiple cars,” said Meredith Leigh, the agent for a 101-apartment affordable housing project near Haverhill. “That is not the case.”
Leigh spoke at a recent commission meeting encouraging the commissioners to support the relaxed parking rules. She and other builders said it is difficult to build affordable housing and that eliminating unneeded parking spaces will help to ensure the viability of the projects
“We can build more housing and include green space that we otherwise might not have been able to do," she said.
In addition to 1.75 parking spaces per residence, the county code requires another 0.25 for guests. A developer could seek a variance, but Weiss noted it was difficult and costly to obtain one.
Under the new rule, an affordable housing developer could seek a reduction to one parking space per one bedroom residence, 1.5 spaces for two bedrooms and two spaces for three bedrooms. The commission has been considering overhauling the parking rules for more than a year.
The new rules will apply to areas that are under the county government's jurisdiction.
The county staff acknowledged the existing code is based upon a suburban, vehicle-based style of development and does not consider the location of the project, the number of bedrooms or the age and income of tenants. It recommended that the commission adopt the waiver process.
Parking study will be needed to justify any reduction
The developer will be required to submit a “parking demand statement” to justify the need for reduced parking. The report must be based on evidence of actual demand. Leigh noted the requirement places the burden on the developer to make sure that the waiver is justified.
Leigh is involved with the “Seventh at Haverhill” project, which involves an affordable-housing developer building a place of worship for the West Palm Beach Baptist Seventh Day Church as well as affordable residences on 3.4 acres at 1473 N. Haverhill Road.
The plan calls for a 77,700-square-foot building that would include a 4,500 square-foot church and 101 multifamily dwelling units. Currently, services are held out of a 1,100-square foot single-family home. Haverhill Owner, LLC, the applicant, would redevelop the site with a three-story building accommodating both the church and the apartments.
“The partnership with the Applicant will make it possible to construct a new church; something the church has been trying to do for more than 20 years, stay within the community, and provide much-needed affordable housing,” according to documents submitted to the county.
The project is expected to be acted upon at a county commission meeting this summer.
There have been other projects in Palm Beach County over the past year that involved partnerships between developers and churches or nonprofits to build affordable housing on land they owned.
Last May, The Palm Beach Post reported that theUnion Congregational United Church of Christhad agreed to partner with a developer to build a four-story, 104-apartment complex near its house of worship for older residents. The project, named Peace Village, will be built on 6.5 acres on the southwest corner of Summit Boulevard and Haverhill Road.
And, also last year, the Elks chapter in West Palm Beach received approval to have a developer build 195 apartments on 7 of its 11 acres. In exchange, the developer agreed to build the Elks a new headquarters.
Mike Diamond is a journalist atThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and issues impacting homeowner associations. You can reach him atmdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism.Subscribe today.
