California Eliminated West Hollywood’s Parking Rules. Most Residents Are Just Finding Out Now

The West Hollywood Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the City Council approve a sweeping overhaul of the City’s parking rules, one that would eliminate all minimum parking requirements citywide, allow parking spaces in residential buildings to be rented separately from apartments, and let property owners share underutilized parking with outside users, including nearby businesses.

The vote was 7-0. But like a lot of commission votes lately, the unanimity on the resolution masked the unease of some about what the policy actually means for WeHo residents, especially older ones and ones living with disabilities.

The changes are driven by two state bills — AB 1317, which requires parking in qualifying new residential buildings to be offered as a separate cost from rent, and AB 894, which requires cities to allow underutilized parking to be shared with outside parties. Both took effect this year. West Hollywood’s current zoning code conflicts with both. The commission’s job Thursday night was to fix that. What nobody expected was how uncomfortable fixing it would turn out to be.

What the Law Actually Requires

AB 1317 applies to residential buildings of 16 or more units that received a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2025, in Los Angeles County. In those buildings, landlords can no longer bundle a parking space into the rent. Tenants must be offered parking through a separate agreement and cannot be evicted for declining to pay for a space. The law does not apply to 100 percent affordable projects or buildings with individual built-in garages like townhomes.

AB 894 goes further. It requires cities to approve shared parking arrangements when at least 20 percent of a property’s parking spaces sit empty during a proposed sharing period. The distance limit for shared parking jumps from the City’s current 400-foot cap to 2,000 feet under state law. West Hollywood’s code has to match.

Layered on top of those two bills is an older piece of legislation — AB 2097, which took effect in 2023 and already prohibits cities from imposing parking minimums on most development within a half mile of a major transit stop. Nearly all of West Hollywood falls within that threshold. Parking minimums, in practice, are already mostly gone. Thursday’s vote makes it official everywhere.

In practice, contract planner Jordan Parrish told commissioners, the immediate impact of the change is limited. Only about 38 parcels in four small areas of the City fall just outside high-quality transit corridors and aren’t already covered by AB 2097. Those parcels will now lose their parking minimums too. Developers can still build as much parking as they want — they just won’t be required to build any.

The City Council directed staff in May 2025 to prepare a Zone Text Amendment eliminating parking minimums citywide. Thursday’s Planning Commission action moves that amendment one step closer to adoption.

Banking on a Train That’s 20 Years Away

The case for eliminating parking minimums rests pretty heavily on transit. Future transit at that. Specifically, the Metro K Line Northern Extension, a rail connection that would finally put the city on the regional map. One problem. Metro’s own schedule has the line opening between 2047 and 2049. Measure M funding doesn’t even kick in until 2041. Someone renting a no-parking apartment in West Hollywood today will be collecting Social Security before that first train runs, assuming it runs on time. LA Metro projects don’t have (pardon the pun) a great track record there.

Michael Storper, an Urban Planning teacher at UCLA’s Luskin School said what a lot of residents who support fewer cars on the road but who also live in reality think: “I’m all for a car-free future, but we shouldn’t legislate as if the subway is already here when it’s actually twenty years away. Good land-use policy requires a bridge, not a leap of faith.”

No parking requirement doesn’t mean people suddenly have no cars. It’s LA people. Wake up. People moving into these buildings still own them. Those cars will end up somewhere, usually whichever residential street nearby is already short on spots. This exact issue came up at the Hayworth hearing last month. Twenty-four bedrooms, three parking spaces, and the neighborhood absorbs the rest.

Hoopingarner Pushes Back

Commissioner Lynn Hoopingarner waited until staff was done, then asked the question many playing at home were asking: does anything in these new rules stop a landlord from leasing every parking space in a residential building to outside commercial users? For instance, could a bar or club two blocks over, or an office tower that needs overflow — whoever’s paying the most — override the resident’s needs?

Staff confirmed that was indeed correct. State law doesn’t prevent it. Parking spaces could, in theory, go to the highest bidder.  

She wasn’t finished. The staff report used the word “limited” to describe the likely impact on income-restricted households. She went after it. The Bond. The Bank of America building at Fairfax and La Brea. Both well over 16 units. Both either recently approved or moving through the pipeline right now. “I’m trying to understand where this ‘limited evidence’ of impacts comes from,” she said.

Staff explained the bigger concern early on was retroactive application, existing buildings, far more tenants, much wider impact citywide. Because the law only touches new construction, the reach is narrower. Not zero. Narrower.

Then she moved to the 2,000-foot shared parking distance. Someone gets home after a late shift. Their car is a third of a mile away. How does that work at 1 a.m.? Staff pointed to ADA standards and sidewalk improvements already in progress. 

EV Charging and Rent Concerns

Commissioner Rogerio Carvalheiro raised EVs first. Less parking built means fewer charging stations in buildings. Staff said an on-street charging expansion is in the works. He moved on.

The rent question was harder. A landlord drops the base rent a little after pulling parking off the lease, then charges market rate for the space separately. The tenant’s total is now higher. Staff said that’s a Rent Stabilization Division question. Nobody thought that settled it.

Commissioner Andrew Solomon put numbers on the table. Underground parking in LA runs $45,000 to $96,000 a stall to build right now. Renters have always paid that cost — folded into monthly rent whether they own a car or not. Separating it out at least makes it visible, he said. Whether that actually helps any given tenant is a different conversation.

Commissioner Jesi Harris said as a nation, “we’ve lost the plot” on parking, on how much land and money and policy energy we’ve devoted to storing cars. Not everyone would agree with that framing. Plenty of residents, would flip the script back and suggest some on the dais have lost the plot. Parking isn’t a relic to be phased out. It’s a genuine daily need in a city where the train isn’t coming for another two decades, jobs don’t cluster around bus stops, and a car is still how most people get through their week.

A Good Idea With a Catch

On paper, both unbundled and shared parking make sense. Tenants who don’t own cars shouldn’t have to subsidize ones who do. Buildings with half-empty garages shouldn’t sit on that unused capacity while nearby businesses scramble for spots. The logic is sound.

The catch is who’s being trusted to make it work. Developers in West Hollywood don’t have a long track record of putting resident interests ahead of their own bottom line. The storage rooms with balconies and plumbing stubouts at Hayworth Avenue are a recent reminder of how that usually goes. Unbundling gives a landlord a new lever — lower the base rent just enough to look reasonable, then charge whatever the market will bear for the parking space itself. Shared parking agreements could just as easily mean a residential garage gets flipped to commercial users at peak hours while tenants circle the block. The ordinance doesn’t prohibit either scenario. State law, staff confirmed Thursday night, doesn’t either. The concept isn’t the problem. The people executing it might be.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

What Comes Next

The package goes to the West Hollywood City Council. Public hearing is March 19, 6:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. Public comment is open.

Related Coverage:

• City Council Advances Housing Approval Reforms

• ‘A Very, Very Sad Day’: West Hollywood Planning Commission Approves Hayworth Project Over Affordability Objections

• ‘It Just Sucks…’ Nearly 5-Hour Planning Commission Meeting Sums Up Cold Reality for Residents: They Have No Power