In West Seattle and Ballard parking is getting increasingly precious with pay lots dominating in Ballard and the free lots in the junction threatened by development. On April 2 The Seattle City Council voted to approve changes in Seattle’s parking code. Only District 1's Lisa Herbold opposed the measure  in a 7 to 1 vote.

The goal of the changes is to limit parking requirements and free up parking spaces on the street and in buildings where they are now going unused.

 With the new law in effect (once signed off by Mayor Jenny Durkan who said she would)  property owners will be allowed to rent their excess spots through a new “flexible use” code. Beyond that the the definition of “frequent transit service” areas is being changed. Up to now they have been exempted from parking requirements for new developments.

Under the existing Urban Village statutes developers can build up to 320 square feet of apartment space and provide no parking if the unit is within 1320 feet of a transit stop. Further as they define frequent transit service that means a bus arrives every fifteen minutes for at least 12 hours a day. The new law now says that a bus is scheduled to come every 15 minutes between 6 AM and 7 PM on weekdays and every 30 minutes between 7 PM and 12 AM on weeknights. 

Parking requirements for low-income housing developments are also lowered and the law will increase bicycle parking requirements and unbundle the cost of parking from housing leases. 

Herbold was opposed to the law because it was created "without consideration of the social justice impacts on low-income folks who need their vehicles.”

Herbold proposed an amendment that would have given residents the ability to challenge developments with little or no parking but it was voted down.