The parking lot at 2035 N. College Ave. sits nearly three-fourths empty on Aug. 10. Photo: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer

Fayetteville aldermen will soon discuss whether the city should stop requiring businesses to provide a set number of parking spaces for their customers.

If approved, Fayetteville would become the first city in Northwest Arkansas to completely eliminate minimum parking standards for businesses.

The proposal was brought forward by city planners last month as a way to encourage infill in downtown Fayetteville and other areas where minimum parking requirements are difficult to meet. The plan was later approved by the Planning Commission, but it’s now up to the City Council to make the final decision.

For decades cities have relied on minimum parking standards to make sure people have a place to park and to protect businesses from having their parking spaces filled with another shop’s customers.

However, some say requiring a minimum number of on-site parking spaces can do more harm than good.

Fayetteville minimum parking standards Single-family home: 2 per dwelling unit

Bank: 1 per 200 square feet

Barber or beauty shop: 2 per chair

Elderly housing: 1 per 2 units

Golf course: 3 per hole

Hospital: 1 per bed

Professional office: 1 per 300 square feet

Restaurants: 1 per 100 square feet

Retail: 1 per 250 square feet » See full list below

In Fayetteville, the rules are based mostly on square footage. A restaurant must include one space for every 100 square feet, and retail shop owners are required to provide one space for every 250 square feet.

That means a 4,000-square-foot drive-thru restaurant must have a minimum of 40 parking spaces, and a 200,000-square-foot retail center must provide at least 800 parking spaces.

Planning Commissioners criticized the rules for not considering the location of the business and for seemingly being set to satisfy peak demand instead of normal, everyday traffic.

“I think we should have learned by now that designing parking lots for the day after Thanksgiving…is probably a bad idea,” said Commissioner Tracy Hoskins, a longtime local businessman and developer.

Commissioners said forcing businesses to include a set amount of parking spaces not only leads to the construction of massive parking lots that discourage pedestrian and bicycle transport, but also limits both development and redevelopment of properties around town.

By eliminating minimum parking standards, commissioners said Fayetteville could position itself as a more business-friendly city.

“This is absolutely one of the best progressive things that I’ve seen the staff embark on since I’ve sat on this commission,” said Hoskins. “I’ve always thought it was crazy to have minimum parking standards. Let the people that own, operate, and invest in those businesses determine what they need.”

Commissioner Matt Hoffman agreed and said incentivizing infill will lead to a more livable environment for Fayetteville residents.

“I think this is an excellent opportunity to remove a layer of regulation and also in the process really encourage the kind of shining city we’d all like,” said Hoffman.

Hoffman said residents might be surprised to know how just much land is dedicated to serving parked vehicles around town.

“Contrary to what some people might think, the most prevalent land use in the city of Fayetteville is not small businesses or large businesses or parks or schools,” Hoffman added. “It’s actually parking lots.”

He said there are 1,000-linear-foot stretches of College Avenue that only include 10 businesses. That same stretch of road, he said, in other cities that don’t require so much parking might include up to 100 businesses.

Commissioners admitted the new philosophy could cause some issues at first, such as spillover parking in both commercial and residential areas, but said people will eventually adjust.

“People actually will self-select,” said Hoffman. “If you make it harder for them to drive, then they’ll walk. If you make it easier for them to drive, they’ll drive.”

Hoskins agreed.

“I think that this will present a few problems over time,” said Hoskins. But the question is does this cure more problems than it creates? And absolutely, it does.”

The City Council is set to consider the proposal on Sept. 1.