Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • July 15, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com SPECIAL REPORT: CITIES PROJECT By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com A t the tail-end of 2017, Hart- ford became one of only a handful of U.S. cities to do away with minimum- parking requirements for developers who want to construct or renovate buildings within its borders. The move marked an aggressive step by city officials who want to transform Hartford from a com- muter city that empties each day when white-collar workers leave office buildings for suburban homes, into a vibrant, walkable metropolis where more young professionals and others work, shop and live downtown. An overabundance of surface parking lots in Connecticut's Capital City has for decades been a drag on development, said Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Sara Bronin, one of the main proponents of no longer requiring developers to offer parking for newly built projects. "A lot of times buildings were torn down to provide parking because of the zoning-code requirements, and now we have policies in place that will not force people to do that," said Bronin, a UConn School of Law professor and architect who is married to Mayor Luke Bronin. "Ideally, we'd see the surface parking lots that we see in far too many places in the city be filled with buildings." Bronin isn't the only one holding those hopes. Others, including city officials and economic-development ex- perts, say Hartford should develop more parking lots and other vacant land into apartment, office, retail or other types of buildings in order to enhance Hartford's vibrancy and help grow the grand list. About 17 percent of downtown Hartford's nearly 2 square miles is occupied by parking lots, said Norman Garrick, a UConn civil engineering professor who has studied the city's parking and transportation for more than a decade. That's about 80 percent more land dedicated to parking than in cities with similar populations, like Cambridge, Mass., and Arlington, Va. In addition to wasting space that could be occupied by businesses or hous- ing, Hartford is missing out on some $20 million a year it could collect in property taxes, if buildings were constructed on the lots, according to Garrick's research. Nixing the city parking requirement was seen as a positive step in promoting infill development and the rehabilita- Filling Empty Spaces Downtown Hartford has a glut of parking lots some say could hold the key to growing the city's grand list PHOTO | BILL MORGAN Sara Bronin, chair of Hartford's planning and zoning commission, said the city should focus on converting more parking-lot space into brick-and-mortar development. In the photo, she's standing in front of a prominent parking lot downtown that greets travelers at the intersection of Asylum, Ford and Pearl streets. UConn civil engineering professor Norman Garrick says 17 percent of downtown Hartford's nearly 2 square miles is occupied by parking lots, creating lost opportunity. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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