Summary Sheet- DRC ITEM SUMMARY

CITY OF TEMPE
Meeting Date: 5/12/2026  
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW COMMISSION
Agenda Item: 6A
ACTION: Request a Zoning and Development Code Text Amendment for TOD PARKING UPDATE for 
changes to Part 5, Chapter 6 - Transportation Overlay District consisting of reductions in the overlay 
parking requirements. The applicant is the City of Tempe. (PL260139)
FISCAL IMPACT:
RECOMMENDATION: Approval
 
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:  In 2020, Planning staff introduced an Urban Code District (UCD) 
to be added to the Zoning and Development Code (ZDC) which was to be applied to the 1) downtown 
area, 2) the area between Rural Road to the west and Dorsey Street to the east and roughly between 
University Drive to the north and Mill Avenue to the south, and 3) those areas along Apache Boulevard 
from Rural Road to the west and the Price - 101 freeway to the east. There were to be seven zones 
within the UCD that ranged in density and included permitted land use, development standard and 
parking requirements. This included a consultant provided study of parking reductions for these areas. 
The UCD and the Urban Core Masterplan were withdrawn and did not ultimately move forward for City 
Council at that time.
In January 2024, the Phoenix City Council approved a zoning ordinance code text amendment to reduce 
the minimum parking requirements for multi-family, single-family attached, and affordable housing 
projects, and introduced the definition of “unreserved spaces”, also known as guest parking spaces. It 
is important to note that at the time, many other cities across the country were undertaking similar code 
text amendments to address parking issues to accommodate the need of changing demographics.  
At the Joint City Council/Development Review Commission meeting on May 13, 2024, Planning staff 
presented an analysis of the parking requirements of the City of Tempe compared with those of the City 
of Phoenix.  The purpose of the analysis was to evaluate the adequacy of parking in Tempe’s downtown 
area and to provide recommendations for improving parking inadequacies.  
In conducting its research, Tempe Planning staff determined that the parking requirements of Tempe’s 
Transportation Overlay District (TOD) were higher comparable to those of the City of Phoenix’s Walkable 
Urban Code.  As a result, Tempe staff realized that it could bring its TOD parking requirements in line 
with those of the Phoenix Walkable Code and in line with more recent project entitlements.
ATTACHMENTS:    
1. DRC_STAFF REPORT_TOD ZONING CODE TEXT AMENDMENTS_051226.DOCX
2. DRAFT ORDINANCE_OXXXXXX_TOD PARKING (4.21.26).DOCX
STAFF CONTACT(S): Michelle Dahlke, Planner, Principal (480) 350-8359
Department Director: Jeff Tamulevich, Community Development Director  
Legal review by: N/A, City Attorney
Prepared by: Michelle Dahlke, Planner, Principal
Reviewed by: Ryan Levesque, Deputy Director - Planning