Cleveland's 15 minute city

In August 2023, Cleveland City Council became the latest US city to join the parking reform movement by removing minimum parking requirements for new development located in a 5 minute walk of public transit stops with bus or train services every 15 minutes.

Under the new scheme, developers would skip the parking requirement and instead invest in other forms of transportation – such as bike parking, transit passes for tenants or pro-pedestrian streetscape improvements. Cleveland’s City Planning Commission would review developers’ proposals. 

The Mayor, Justin Bibb, has embraced the 15-minute city and sees this reform as a backbone of Cleveland embracing the planning approach.

Attached is the slides the Mayor gave to the Councillors on the reform. You can see the logic and analysis put into the reform.

Interestingly, one part of the logic is looking at 30 dwellings per acre as the density for cost-effective urban rail. It is a bit lower than our regional plans, which focus this more at 75 dwellings per hectare.

You can also see the change is moving from parking minimums to transport demand management as the merit assessment approach.

https://cityofcleveland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6283377&GUID=F8EBCBDE-93AE-4C7F-8F93-76FC88FD72E4