Parking reforms in Chapel Hill
North Carolina, United States
- 64,051 residents
- All parking minimums removed
Parking minimum removals
Policy record 1
Prior to the removal of all parking mandates, vehicular parking requirements did not apply for uses located within the Office/Institutional-3 or Office/Institutional-4 Districts or for any single family homes or duplexes. Only accessory apartments required parking in the Town Center districts.
- Status
- Adopted
- Scope
- City center / business district
- Citywide
- Affected land uses
- All uses
- Commercial
- Other
- Residential, low-density
- Requirements
- By right
Citation
- Source
- Chapel Hill Land Use Management
- Notes
- 5.9.7.
- URL
- library.municode.com
- Attachments
- chapel-hill-north-carolina-united-states-remove-min1-attachment.pdf
Policy record 2
Chapel Hill removed all parking mandates in January 2026.
- Status
- Adopted
- Adoption date
- Jan 21, 2026
- Scope
- Citywide
- Affected land uses
- All uses
- Requirements
- By right
- Reporter
- Martin Johnson
Citation 1
- Source
- Chapel Hill Citybuilder Article
- URL
- citybuildernc.org
Citation 2
- Source
- Chapel Hill Ordinance 26-0015
- Notes
- Open 2. LUMO_Ordinance - Approving the Text Amendments Pages 31-36
- URL
- chapelhill.legistar.com
- Attachments
- chapel-hill-north-carolina-united-states-remove-min2-citation2-attachment.pdf
Parking minimum reduction
Prior to the removal of all parking mandates, Chapel Hill had no parking mandates in the Town Center if the developer paid into the parking fund and/or presented an approved TDM Plan. For all residential uses located in a Residential-Community Priority-Conditional Zoning District (R-CP-CZD), the minimum number of vehicular parking spaces required per dwelling unit was reduced by twenty (20) percent.
- Status
- Adopted
- Scope
- City center / business district
- Affected land uses
- All uses
- Residential, all uses
- Requirements
- By right
- In-lieu fees
- Transportation demand management
Citation
- Source
- Chapel Hill Land Use Management
- Notes
- 5.9.2.(b)(2); 5.9.2.(b)(3); 5.9.7.
- URL
- library.municode.com
- Attachments
- chapel-hill-north-carolina-united-states-reduce-min-attachment.pdf
Parking maximum
Parking maximums apply to all uses, but are higher in the Town Center districts.
- Status
- Adopted
- Scope
- Citywide
- Affected land uses
- All uses
- Requirements
- By right
Citation
- Source
- Chapel Hill Land Use Management
- Notes
- 5.9.7.
- URL
- library.municode.com
- Attachments
- chapel-hill-north-carolina-united-states-add-max-attachment.pdf
