Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay recently selected Howard Albers, FABB’s treasurer, to serve on a county parking working group.
The Parking Reimagined project represents the first time since 1988 that Fairfax County has comprehensively reviewed its parking ordinance. This project will include an in-depth evaluation of off-street parking–the parking you would find at a grocery store, shopping center, workplace, or parking garage–with the goal of modernizing parking and loading requirements and creating greater flexibility for current and future land uses.
Under the program, parking must be considered with other community values. These include equity, affordability, the environment, land-use site design, and economics, all reflected in the goals of One Fairfax and our Strategic Plan Initiatives. Public engagement meetings were held last fall and will continue into early 2023.
FABB has made correcting the current ordinance, which fails to mention parking for bicycles and mobility devices, a top priority. As a starting point, we provided bicycle parking standards published by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals to the work group.
Arriving at the appropriate number of required bicycle parking spaces in our county will be challenging. But, having bike parking that is convenient, safe, and well maintained is essential to making bicycling better.
