The Bend, Ore­gon city coun­cil vot­ed to adopt the state’s Cli­mate Friend­ly and Equi­table Com­mu­ni­ties rules, which require many cities to elim­i­nate park­ing require­ments as part of an effort to low­er the cost of hous­ing con­struc­tion, improve afford­abil­i­ty, and reduce Ore­go­ni­ans’ reliance on cars. As Bar­ney Lerten reports for KTVZ, some Ore­gon cities sued to protest the rule.

While some hous­ing advo­cates praise the move as a pos­i­tive step toward improv­ing hous­ing afford­abil­i­ty and lim­it­ing sprawl, some coun­cilmem­bers wor­ry that Bend isn’t ready for the change, say­ing the city “does­n’t have the robust pub­lic trans­porta­tion sys­tem many oth­ers who dropped park­ing min­i­mums have in place.”

The change removes min­i­mum park­ing require­ments from the city’s devel­op­ment code and adds require­ments for elec­tric vehi­cle charg­ing facil­i­ties, but does not pro­hib­it the con­struc­tion of new park­ing. Acknowl­edg­ing con­cerns about park­ing avail­abil­i­ty, Bend May­or Melanie Kebler said, “Coun­cil remains com­mit­ted to explor­ing oth­er park­ing pol­i­cy reforms that will increase the amount of on-street acces­si­ble park­ing and help us man­age the curb in neigh­bor­hoods and com­mer­cial areas alike.”