Boston Council Keeps Parking Minimum Repeal in Committee After Divided Hearing

BOSTON — June 4, 2026 — Boston City Council committee hears testimony on citywide proposal to eliminate residential parking minimums. The Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation held a June 4 hearing on Docket 0809, a 35-page text amendment sponsored by District 8 Councilor Sharon Durkin, At-Large Councilor Henry Santana, and At-Large Councilor Liz Braden that would remove minimum off-street parking requirements for new residential development from all 90-plus neighborhood articles and the base code citywide. Law professor and zoning analyst Sarah Bronin, commissioned by the city in 2023, testified that only 3 percent of Boston's roughly 20,000 zoned acres currently lack a residential parking minimum and repeated her finding that eliminating mandates is "the single most substantive change to the Boston zoning code that arguably will do the most good." Metropolitan Area Planning Council Executive Director Lizzie Wyant cited decade-long research showing roughly three in ten parking spaces at Boston multi-family sites sit vacant overnight and that parking supply itself drives demand. District 2 Councilor Ed Flynn offered the most pointed dissent, citing a drop in approved housing units from 9,800 in 2020 to 850 in the first half of 2025 and arguing parking minimums are not the actual barrier, while At-Large Councilor Ricardo Arroyo said he would seek a District 4 exemption. Durkin read a planning department statement calling the amendment "technically sound" and announced the docket will remain in committee pending a working session.