Federal law strips cities of parking rules near transit hubs
H.R. 2710 — People Over Parking Act of 2025 · Filed by Robert Garcia (D-CA) · 10 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 8, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill allows property owners to decide how many parking spaces to build (or build none) for new residential, retail, commercial, or industrial projects located within half a mile of good public transit. It overrides state and local parking-minimum laws that would otherwise require a certain number of spaces. The bill preempts conflicting state and local regulations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a federal preemption of local parking-minimum requirements for developments near transit. It is framed as pro-consumer (People Over Parking) but functions as a zoning override that shifts land-use authority from municipalities to property owners.
What the text implies
- Preemption applies only to projects within 0.5 miles of 'covered public transit' — a narrowly defined term requiring frequent service (≤15 min intervals for buses, fixed guideway for rail). Many developments will fall outside this radius and remain subject to local parking minimums, creating a two-tier system.
- The bill does not mandate transit-oriented development or affordable housing; it only removes parking mandates. Developers may build fewer spaces but charge market rents, capturing cost savings rather than passing them to tenants.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
real estate developers; property owners in transit-rich areas; commercial real estate firms