In its written and oral presentations to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors (BOS), MCA had endorsed the vast majority of reductions to minimum off-street parking and loading rates that County staff had proposed, but had expressed concern that the staff-proposed minimum rates for multifamily buildings were too low to properly serve the needs of residents of those buildings and to mitigate the possibilities of overflow parking in adjacent neighborhoods, including in McLean. While the rates that the BOS ultimately endorsed were not as low as we had advocated, MCA believes that those rates are acceptable since (1) the new rates will clearly mitigate the risks that we had outlined in our various resolutions and letters and (2) the Board also adopted a proposal that originated within MCA for a follow-on study to assess the impact of the lower rates and to report the results of that assessment no later than 5 years after the new rates came into existence.
MCA is also pleased that the BOS addressed concerns that we and others had raised about the potential impact on handicapped individuals, modifying provisions in both the off-street parking and off-street loading sections of the Ordinance to protect handicapped rights and directing further examination of the issue through other County channels.
Finally, MCA is pleased that the BOS endorsed a version of a provision that MCA had advocated that will require the Director of Land Development Services to establish a webpage and sign-up link for residents to track developer requests to reduce the number of off-street and off-street loading spaces below the minimums established in the revised Ordinance, similar to the existing Infill and Conservation Plan Viewer Dashboard. This new requirement can be the first step toward the ultimate option suggested by MCA of a mechanism through which residents can voice opposition to the LDS Director and their Supervisor and have their opposition considered in the process by which the Director or BOS make decisions on the request.
The revised off-street parking and loading provisions will become operational on January 1, 2024 and will be posted on-line in the electronic version of the Zoning Ordinance Amendment on that date.