Recently stayed at an Embassy Suites, great hotel but the bizarre thing I noticed was that literally every single parking space in the parking lot around it was labeled COMPACT. Every single space, the only parking spaces not labelled COMPACT were the mandatory Handicapped spaces. As a result every single vehicle that wasn’t compact either had to awkwardly squeeze into the space or in many cases simply ignored the compact sign and just parked across two lanes with the cars next to it following suit.
I understand it’s to artificially create more parking spaces, but is this even legal? Was this a case where they didn’t have enough space to have one parking space for every one room and had to create a quick fix out of necessity, or is this actually a more sinister attempt to circumvent some law or fool the visitor into thinking there would be adequate parking?
Many cities do have requirements that businesses provide a certain amount of parking, I suppose they could have been trying to squeeze through that problem.
Where was this? Compared to the midwest where I live now, parking spots in DC are typically very skinny. I’ve got a great picture somewhere of my Focus squeezed in next to a Hummer H2 at my old office building. I don’t know if there’s a legal minimum size for parking spots in certain localities but with real estate at a premium businesses have to make due.
Compact spaces typically refer to the depth of the space, not the width. Usually because they don’t want the cars in that spot to stick out into the traffic lane.
I ran into that problem once, but it wasn’t all of the spaces, just most of them. It was a new hotel, and it seemed like they never gave a thought as to who their customers would be. This was in rural Louisiana just south of Baton Rouge, and most of the hotel guests were people doing work at one of the many petrochem plants in the area. Guess what - those guys all drive trucks - a few duallies, and more than a few with trailers. About a year later one of those fields got paved and officially became ‘additional parking’.
The commuter lot where I catch my train every morning has an entire row labeled for “compact” cars only. Every morning I see SUVs, trucks, sedans, etc. parked there. They all fit fine and in 15+ years, I’ve never seen any tickets or other enforcement.
Other locations where I’ve seen signs for “compact only” have been the same. Lots of SUVs parked there. Seems that “compact” is self-defined by the car owner. As long as someone, somewhere, has a car larger than yours, then yours can be defined as “compact.”
Where was this? At my relatively new apartment building, we have way too much parking in the parking garage because the NIMBY and anti-gentrification activists screamed when it was being built, even though most people in this building take public transit.
But, in a city like Chicago, most people aren’t driving pickup trucks or big SUVs either. There’s plenty of room to park a Prius and urban drivers quickly adapt to squeezing into parking, this isn’t Phoenix or Dallas with huge parking lots everywhere.
If the lot only supported, say, a 50 room hotel based on it’s size & they built a 60 room, & only were able to do it because the required parking spaces are not up to standard width then they’ve violated zoning regulations.
Do you regularly have trouble communicating with people? You often drop inane one liner questions like this. The OP asked, in the very bit you quoted, “is this to circumvent some law?”. He’s not imagining some law, he’s asking a fucking question. And posts 3&4 mention that many cities do in fact have parking spot requirements for new buildings/businesses. So did you just not understand any of the posts in the thread so far? Some other problem?
In my limited experience, many cities have requirements for off-street parking. Here, for instance, are the requirements for Nashua, New Hampshire (chosen only because you’re from that state; a Google search found zoning requirements for cities around the country).
And this example doesn’t cover any places you don’t live at least semi-long term besides, oddly enough, a bed and breakfast. Non-residential hotels like the OP is concerned with do not seem to be covered, nor apparently are the vast majority of other types of businesses.
You didn’t scroll down far enough. Hotels are, of course, on the list. Hotels in Nashua require one spot per room plus one for every 800 sq feet of public meeting and restaurant space.
Compact car in the US refers to the interior size not the exterior size. (defined as having an interior volume index of 100–109 cu ft). I recall this as some luxury car manufacturer a while back received a lot of flack because the car qualified as compact based on this but was quite large on the exterior.
Parking space sizes are governed largely by local laws. Some have definitions for spaces others don’t. Some make distinctions on sizes for businesses or commercial spaces others don’t.
Without knowing the exact locality it’s hard to say.
Are you really unfamiliar with the concept of minimum parking requirements? I’m not claiming they’re universal, but they’re incredibly common in urban areas. For example, I bet nearly every city in California (where I live) has them.
I think how common they are depends very much on the location - I can’t think of any city I’ve been to on the East Coast where many stand-alone businesses had their own parking lot. For the most part, you either park on the street or in a private or municipal paid lot, which isn’t associated with any particular businesses. Here’s East Market St in Corning , NY - and this is the municipal lot behind those buildings. The lot is a municipal lot, with paid parking and is not associated with any of the businesses. That’s just one example- and that’s a pretty small city. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a city with minimum parking requirements.