On the heels of new regulations that reduced parking ratios in some zoning areas, Fairfax County officials are recommending that the Board of Supervisors compensate by increasing parking requirements for accessible spaces.
Shortly after adopting new “Parking Reimagined” regulations in September 2023, supervisors directed county staff to work with stakeholders, the Disability Services Board and developers on possible revisions to accessible-parking requirements.
County staff this spring conducted field surveys of accessible parking in high-use areas, such as grocery stores and restaurants, and found that spaces were available about 92 percent of the time during peak periods.
There were few instances of people parking in those spaces without the requisite handicapped placard or license plate, said Michael Davis of the county’s Department of Land Development Services during a July 23 presentation to the Board of Supervisors’ Land-Use Policy Committee.
Staff this spring also worked with the Department of Human Services to conduct an online survey of accessible-parking users.
“The feedback that we got really kind of reinforced where we were heading with maintaining the supply of accessible parking,” said Davis, who described the survey’s response rate as “very good.”
Respondents expressed concerns about the design of such spaces and their accessibility. For example, motorists sometimes park or crowd upon “hatched” areas buffering accessible spaces. This behavior could be discouraged by more effective markings, Davis said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D) agreed with respondents’ concern about this issue. Some motorists encroach on those hatched areas “as if it’s OK to park there, but not within the space itself,” he said. “That’s part of the space that’s necessary for ingress and egress out of vehicles.”
Because general parking requirements have been reduced under the county’s “Parking Reimagined” policies, which took effect Jan. 1 this year, staff recommended increasing the ratio for accessible spaces from 1-to-25 under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code to 1-to-15.
Doing so would necessitate supervisors’ approval of a zoning-ordinance amendment, which county officials hope to draft by early 2025.
Officials provided a chart showing how switching to a 1-to-15 ratio would affect the restaurant industry. Restaurants with 5,000 square feet of floor space must provide two accessible spaces under Parking Reimagined rules (unchanged from the previous requirements), but would have to provide three under the lower ratio.
Restaurants having 10,000 square feet of gross floor area saw their accessible-parking requirements drop from five spaces to four under Parking Reimagined, but would need to provide six under a 1-to-15 ratio.
By contrast, a 15,000-square-foot restaurant that now must provide six spaces under Parking Reimagined would return to the previous standard of seven under the lower ratio.
Supervisors indicated they were receptive to increasing minimum requirements for accessible spaces once staff crafts a zoning-ordinance amendment.
“I believe we’re on the right path to make this change,” said Supervisor Kathy Smith (D-Sully), who chairs the Land-Use Policy Committee. “I’m very supportive of it.”
Supervisor Rodney Lusk (D-Franconia) agreed.
“Clearly, this is something that needs to be done,” he said.
