March 18, 2026, 9 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 430 and Videoconference
To: House Committee on Housing
Rep. Luke A. Evslin, Chair
Rep. Tyson K. Miyake, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF SB2356 SD1 — RELATING TO PARKING
Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and other Committee Members,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports SB2356 SD1, which would prohibit counties from mandating off-street parking spaces for projects in transit-oriented development infrastructure improvement program areas.
This bill would reduce construction costs for much-needed housing and encourage the construction of walkable neighborhoods in areas with access to public transit.
According to Act 252 (2025), these TOD infrastructure improvement areas apply to “parcels of land and associated rights-of-way, either within county-designated transit-oriented development zones, or within a one-half mile radius of a proposed or existing transit station if the county has not designated transit-oriented development zones, as determined by the (Hawaii community development) authority, which shall take into account proximity, walkability, adopted county plans, and other relevant factors.”[1]
Cities that have reduced or eliminated parking requirements see more land use for other structures, such as new and expanded homes and businesses.[2]
Research has shown that imposing parking mandates increases housing costs because construction costs for parking garages or spaces, as well as the cost of acquiring land for parking, are passed to homebuyers and renters.[3]
Parking mandates also have hidden costs. Space dedicated to parking cannot be used to expand housing and can make it difficult to create walkable communities.
Moreover, parking mandates can frustrate renovation and rebuilding. In many areas of the state, an old building that does not already comply with current parking rules cannot be retrofitted to a new use without having to purchase land to add the required parking.
A planned bowling alley on Lanai encountered this problem, and construction was delayed as the owners of the land tried to figure out how to provide more parking.[4]
Further, required parking for projects near transit undermines the entire goal of a transit system, which is to offer people alternatives to using vehicles.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Footnotes
- Act 252, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, p. 8. Parentheses added.
- Abbey Seitz, Trinity Gilliam and Arjuna Heim, “Stalled: How parking mandates drive up housing costs,” Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, October 2025, pp. 16-17; and Daniel Baldwin Hess and Brendan Flowers, “Developer Response to the Removal of Minimum Parking Requirements in Buffalo,” Transportation Research Journal, Volume 2677, Issue 12, May 10, 2023; C. J. Gabbe, Greogry Pierce and Gordon Clowers, “Parking policy: The effects of residential minimum parking requirements in Seattle,” Land Use Policy, Vol. 91, February 2020
- “The Costs of Parking in Hawai’i,” prepared by PBR & Associates for the Ulupono Initiative, August 2020, p. 3; C. J. Gabbe and Gregory Pierce, “Hidden Costs and Deadweight Losses: Bundled Parking and Residential Rents in the Metropolitan United States,” Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 27, Issue 2, Aug. 8, 2016.
- Ahry McGurik, “Lanai bowling alley saga shines light on county’s cumbersome parking mandates,” The Maui News, Oct. 30, 2025.
