The Pittsburgh Zoning Code makes Life Difficult for People without a Car. That Needs to Change.

There are only a handful of Pittsburgh neighborhoods that have both the quality transit and walkability that make it convenient to live without a car.  These include places like much of Squirrel Hill and Shadyside, as well as the parts of East Liberty near the busway station. These places tend to have higher housing costs than other areas of the city. However, areas like these do not have to be less affordable.

It is cheaper to build transit oriented development than auto oriented development, but rents and home prices in these areas tend to be high.  This is because zoning makes it illegal to build this type of development in most places, and there is huge pent up demand for the limited supply that does exist. The solution is to make transit oriented development legal in more places to increase the supply, which will improve affordability. This is easiest to do in places that already have relatively good transit service.

In order to live a quality, car free lifestyle a person needs to be able to walk to some retail including a grocery store, and have at least one, and preferably multiple transit lines with high frequency service (15 minute headways maximum, preferably below 5 minutes) in walking distance. 

Three reforms would make it legal for developers to build a lot more housing for people without cars:

1. Ending mandatory parking minimums.  The cost of parking is factored into the cost of housing for residential developments.  For retail spaces it is factored into the price of purchases. Legally mandated parking requirements are an enormous subsidy for drivers, and force people who do not drive to pay for infrastructure they don’t need or want.  26% of Pittsburgh households do not have a car. Why should these people be legally required to have a garage in their home? Allowing people to realize the savings of not building unnecessary parking infrastructure will encourage more people to use transit, walk, or bike rather than drive. There is a growing recognition of the harm that parking minimums do to our cities, as described here, here, and here.
2. Permit multi unit dwellings and taller buildings. Population density is necessary for the ridership to cost effectively support high frequency transit service. It is also necessary to support a diverse selection of retail. I previously wrote in more detail about the benefits of permitting multi-unit dwellings.
3. Allow retail near residential areas. When zoning codes make it illegal to build retail within half a mile of any residential area, it becomes very difficult for anyone in those homes to live without a car. Ensuring that any residential area has retail within a ½ mile ensures that people can walk for some of their shopping trips. I live ½ a mile from a Giant Eagle, and I walk for all my grocery trips. Allowing ground floor retail with residential above located within ¼ mile of bus stops and stations with frequent service is a good way to implement this.

Pittsburgh should also perform a comprehensive review of the zoning code and identify any provisions that make it burdensome or illegal for developers to build in ways that support pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders.  Setback requirements, minimum lot sizes, and floor area ratios are all requirements that restrict density in ways that can be harmful. Any such provisions should be strictly scrutinized to determine if they have benefits that justify the problems they cause.

The Port Authority has put out guidelines for transit oriented development which include recommended zoning. These guidelines do not go far enough in supporting transit riders.  For example, they include parking minimums, requiring people who don’t drive to pay their homes to include parking.They also have more restrictive height requirements and floor area ratios than some residential lots in Pittsburgh that are near good transit.  The guidelines are a large improvement compared with Allegheny county’s suburban zoning codes such as the Monroeville zoning code. However compared with Pittsburgh’s zoning code the proposed requirements are marginally better for most parcels, and marginally worse for some parcels.
Part of the City of Pittsburgh’s climate action plan was to improve transit and pedestrian mode share, and reduce private vehicle miles traveled per capita by 50% by 2030. Improving the zoning code is the single most important thing the City can do to advance these goals.