Hippy, did you even read a thing I posted about zoning? I’m quite familiar with the Central Market in question, and I never had a problem parking my similarly sized vehicle there when I lived in Austin. Or, for that matter, any parking lot in Austin, except the smaller spaces in ramps downtown.
I fired up Google Earth, and went to the Central Market on Lamar to measure parking spaces. 9’x18’. You’re not going to find larger parking spaces in too many other places anywhere in the country, except rural barbecue joints with dirt and grass lots where you park wherever the hell you feel like it.
Maybe in San Diego, but in L.A. there are lots of “Compact Only” spaces … often crammed full of too-large cars. One of the episodes of *Futurama *where they go to L.A. even makes fun of it.
I don’t know what to tell you, elmwood. I’m at that Central Market at least once a week and have the same problem when I park there. I don’t have it at the H-E-B on Red River, or pretty much any other big shopping center where I park. And I park all over Austin… the spots there certainly seem smaller than elsewhere (UT, other shopping centers, stores on Lamar Blvd - even that shopping center across from CM seems to have better parking).
If your calculations are correct, the only thing I can figure out is because the lot is long without too many grassy islands or cart corrals, one person parking poorly creates a domino effect.
Now with the hospital, it does seem that everybody parking there has an SUV, truck or minivan. But there aren’t too many Hummers or F-350s at CM.
An interesting phenomenon we see here every winter is that when the parking lots get covered with snow so you can’t see the lines any longer, people fall into parking their cars with optimal distance left on both sides - I would guess that they are taking about a foot, foot and a half more space than the painted lines allow. This tells me that regardless of the zoning codes, parking spaces are too small.
My experience with planning departments matches what elmwood is saying. The municipality sets the size of parking spaces with their ordinances. Most cities near me use the ‘standard’ 9 x 18 spaces. IIRC, many years ago 10 x 20 spaces were used.
I do find them hard to park in when driving my hubby’s pickup truck. He, however, has much more experience driving a truck and just whips right in there.
This doesn’t mean that (most) parking spaces are too small, it just means that if not given any direction where to park, most people will leave more space than they need. In most cases, it’s not necessary to open the door all the way to get in and out of the car.
My ‘75 Chrysler probably has a wingspan of 11’ or more when both of the doors are open. When I used to drive it every day, I never had trouble parking it or getting in and out.
Anecdotally, I used to live in Austin and drive a Honda Civic. Whether or not the spaces at Central Market are standard, I always found parking there a little tougher than elsewhere. I wonder whether the lanes between them are narrower, making maneuvering into them trickier? Or maybe the CM lot is typically much more crowded than most, with too many eyes watching you crank the wheel?
The parking garage in my dentist’s building has concrete posts every 4 parking spaces which come right up to the line of the parking spaces. So if you park next to the post, you have to give your car an extra foot or so or you won’t be able to open your door. So no one can fit in the space next to you, and the next person to park will park in the 3rd space, leaving the 4th space unparkable due to the concrete pillar next to it. If someone parks in the 2nd pace first, then really only one other car can fit in between the 3rd and 4th spaces. So the 4 spaces alloted are actually only 2 in practice. If they would simply repaint the lines for 3 spaces, everybody would be happy, but then they wouldn’t have the right number of parking spaces required by building ordinances.
The problem with SUVs parking in too small spaces is not so much difficulty in them finding spaces, but then the space next to them is cut off from anyone else using it.
One of the great things about Costco is their huge parking spaces.
I drive a small sedan (VW Jetta). If I park conscientiously in the outdoor lot with space outlines painted long after the 70s gas crisis was over (2007) there is exactly 3 1/2 inches from each outside tire to the paint line. It isn’t that the lot was designed to fit less cars, but it was contract-painted by building management to squeeze in more car-per-square-inch, with the contract going to the most accommodating via sealed bid.
Yes, some Asshats do take up two spaces with their Corvette-style diagonal parking skills, but some cars literally can’t fit their tires between the lines no matter how conscientious they try to be because of the length of their wheel-base vs the width of the painted space. That, and there are only two parking spots on the end of each aisle where they could spill over w/o entering a second space.
But its all moot because most building parking lots are considered private property and there isn’t a thing people who park there can do about it.
“Force them to use reasonable lengths in painting their parking lots? Why That’s Socialism!” Harrump- Harrump
My workplace does this. They turned four primo slots into motorcycle parking and have made the first six slots closest to the building (but after handicapped) compact ones. This gave them the spots that were needed in a lot that was no longer expandable.
My compact pickup fits ok in the compact ones, but I usually use one of the others, given the time of day that I arrive and the fact that my big ass needs the exercise.
Maybe not Hummers or F-350s, but regular Central Market shoppers tend to be more affluent than those who normally schlep to an HEB. I did notice more larger vehicles at CM than a typical HEB or Randall’s, though; luxury SUVs and SUV/station wagon hybrids were quite plentiful at CM. Basically, lots of upper-middle class moms that were too cool for minivans. Whole Foods seemed to attract a more granola crowd, and there were more compact cars in the lots of the flagship and Loop 360 stores than I saw at CM.
If I went to the HEB Plus on Palm Valley in Round Rock, parking usually was quite difficult. Why? Everybody that shopped there seemed to have hulking Ford F-250s or Chevrolet Silverado 2500s with crew cabs, extended beds and/or duailies. The clientele at that HEB was quite “country”. Head a mile south to the Randall’s on A.W. Grimes, and the parking lot was filled with normal cars; parking was easy. The spaces at both stores were the standard 9’x18’.
In my journeys, I’m not coming across all the tiny spaces you guys are encountering. Again, most zoning codes in the United States require 9’x18’ spaces except for designated compact car spaces (in archaic codes that haven’t been revised since 1976), handicapped spaces (which usually must be 12’x18’ or wider), motorcycle spaces, and structured or subsurface parking. If a surface lot is filled with spaces smaller than 9’x18’ and you aren’t in New York City, it’s either a pay lot, zoning violation, or a situation where the developer managed to get a variance.
The answer to this is a Smart car, or part far away from the entrance if you are out in the burbs. If you are in the city, you are screwed without a Smart.
Some parking lots have “compact only” written on ALL of their parking spaces. I usually read it as “take up two spots.” Some of us actually need to drive big cars, so fuck them.
God, I just knew some dumb cock was going to wander into the thread and bitch about SUVs. I just thought it would take at least until post 6. The Mazda 6 is smaller than the Toyota Camry. So anyway, Hips, yeah just do what everyone else does and park your car across three spots. Diagonally works best.
On a related note, the library by me has signs by its compact parking section that says something like, “When we say ‘compact’ we mean it. Vans and SUVs will be towed, motherfuckers.” These spots, you may be glad to know, aren’t actually all that compact; they’re just spaces for people who drives cars, and not tanks. Your 6 would fit in just fine. My Camry and Altima did/do.
Funny! I go to the H-E-B Plus on Palm Valley quite a bit, usually in the wife’s Ford Escape (it’s a hybrid, put the brickbat down, Facts). Never had an issue parking there. In fact, I almost always park close to the front, and yep, there are plenty of hulking pickups there.
I agree you do see some exotic too-cool-for-school cars at CM, but I swear to you I’m usually sliding my ass past a Civic or a Volvo station wagon. If anything I see fewer minivans, etc. than at the average H-E-B. Which is kind of my point - one would expect people with cars that can lug stuff at a supermarket, even if it is a bougie outpost.
WF flagship has a pretty good underground parking deal so that’s not a problem either.
You have inspired me, however, to bring a tape measure to CM when I go there tomorrow or later this week…
I drive a Subaru Forester and it fits in MOST spaces well BUT I go out of my way to park in the “back 40” so I can park in such a way that I do NOT get blocked in by Idiots (and I am a “forward first” guy, it makes MUCH more sense!).
