The Denver City Council repealed the city’s minimum vehicle parking requirements on Monday, opening the door for builders and developers to take on new projects without having to incorporate parking spaces during the planning stages.

With the council’s 9 to 3 vote, parking requirements for all types of land use will be abolished, including projects like the city’s forthcoming new soccer stadium.

Most speakers at the late-night public hearing on Monday supported the measure, arguing the move will benefit the environment, spur more affordable housing and reduce urban sprawl.

“Wide roads, sprawling development and abundant parking spread our tax base thin, forcing Denver to maintain more infrastructure than it can afford,” said District 9 resident Brendan Schatz. “This results in deferred maintenance, degraded public services and deepening budget challenges — in short, we’re generating more liabilities than we are assets now. Parking reform is not a silver bullet for all of the issues that Denver faces, but it is a critical first step toward rethinking how we grow as a city.”

City planning officials said that by removing minimum parking requirements, the city is prioritizing building more housing and less parking, particularly in transit-rich areas, which could lower housing costs overall.

In a staff report presented to the council on Monday, city planners said parking is expensive, and each structured parking space costs as much as $50,000, which pushes up rent and housing prices even for those who do not own a car.

Specifically, the amendment to the city code:

• Removes vehicle parking exceptions, which include exemptions, alternative ratios, reductions and shared parking standards

• Simplifies the existing “Use and Minimum Parking Tables” into use tables

• Consolidates existing bicycle parking requirements into one article of the code

• Maintains existing maximum parking requirements for surface parking near transit and parking in some downtown zone districts

Along with reducing close to 650 hours spent annually by city planning staff to calculate parking requirements, the move also brings the city into compliance with Colorado House Bill 24-1304. That law requires municipalities to no longer enact or enforce such requirements for multifamily and adaptive reuse projects with 50% residential use within applicable transit areas after June 30, 2025.

“What I learned is that parking minimums are rigid, they’re unduly bureaucratic, and they’re a time-suck for the very scarce and precious resource that is our city planners,” At-Large Councilmember Sarah Parady said.

District 5 Councilmember Amada Sawyer, one of three who opposed the change, argued the state has pressured the city and “infringed upon our local control.”

“The state law has essentially put us in a situation where their restrictions have covered the entire city of Denver, with the exception of parks and a couple of other places,” Sawyer said. “I don’t think that that’s okay, because we are a Home Rule city and county, and we have a Home Rule charter.”

She added: “We have the authority to say no, and every time we allow the state to take a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more of our authority, we give up our value as a Home Rule city and county.”