KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Kansas City has eliminated the blanket minimum parking requirements for new buildings across a large portion of the city, but that does not mean new development will suddenly go up without any parking at all.

The Kansas City Council voted 11-2 on Wednesday to amend the city’s development code, removing the automatic requirement that new buildings provide a set number of parking spaces based on size and use. The change applies to all properties within what the ordinance calls the “Urban Core,” a zone far larger than just downtown.

Before the vote, if someone wanted to build something new in the Urban Core, expand an existing building, or change how a property was being used, the city automatically required a minimum number of parking spaces depending on the size and type of the project. That blanket rule is now gone for all three scenarios.

The change of use piece may matter most to small business owners. Under the old rules, something as common as a vacant storefront converting to a restaurant could trigger a parking requirement that was difficult to meet on a dense urban block, potentially killing the project before it started.

The Urban Core boundary runs from the Missouri River to the north, 85th Street to the south, State Line Road to the west, and the Blue River to the east, taking in Midtown, Westport, Hyde Park, the Crossroads, 18th and Vine, the Troost corridor, and large parts of South Kansas City. It is a much larger area than just downtown.

The city’s planning department found that Kansas City has an oversupply of parking, meaning large amounts of paved surface sit underused. The old code applied the same parking requirements to dense urban neighborhoods and rural outskirts alike, a one-size-fits-all approach that often made development in the Urban Core difficult. The ordinance’s stated goal is to promote “public transportation, biking, walking, and rideshare” and to support more walkable development.

A no vote with nuance

Council Member Crispin Rea was one of just two members to vote against the ordinance. He was not against the idea, but wanted to start smaller, with a pilot program in a handful of neighborhoods, before applying the change across the entire Urban Core.

“The reason I prefer that approach is because you have an opportunity to show folks how it can work, if it can work, and work out some of the challenges along the way,” Rea said.

He also offered reassurance to anyone worried the change means no parking will be built at all.

“It doesn’t mean that developers, projects and businesses suddenly don’t have to provide parking,” he said. “It’s more on a case-by-case basis. It still has to go through the city approval process, which includes public engagement. And oftentimes, what happens with these projects is the lenders and the investors in these projects require a certain amount of parking.”

“So what this does is instead of making the requirement the city’s requirement, it’s going to be more market-driven, but with all the community engagement that we ordinarily do,” Rea added.

The Midtown Neighborhood Alliance submitted multiple letters opposing the ordinance during the months-long review process. The Hyde Park Neighborhood Association submitted both support and opposition testimony at different points.

A Midtown restaurant owner who lived the old rules

Laura Norris, owner of Ragazza, an Italian restaurant at 43rd and Main Streets in Midtown, knows the old rules firsthand. She struggled to comply with parking requirements at her first location near Westport. At her current location in a historic building, she had exactly enough spaces with none to spare.

“I’m a proponent of historic preservation and reusing historic properties, which often don’t have the type of parking that is required to get your building permit,” Norris said. “So I’m excited that people can go into historic areas and not have that requirement, because it’s kind of an incubator for small businesses.”

Norris has a large tongue-in-cheek sign at her restaurant that reads: “PLEASE DON’T ASK ABOUT THE PARKING #STREETCAR2025.”

Lack of parking was a common complaint. It still is, but she said that is changing.

“I probably need to update that sign because it’s not as big of a complaint as it was,” she said.

Kansas City isn’t alone in making this change

Across the state line, Kansas City, Kansas took a similar step in July 2025, though the two cities approached it differently.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas placed a three-year moratorium on parking minimums east of Interstate 635, covering roughly half of that city. KCK’s reform was narrower: it applied only to commercial construction, business uses and mixed-use buildings of up to six units. Larger residential developments were not included, and the moratorium expires July 17, 2028, or when a new zoning code is adopted.

KCMO’s change is a permanent amendment to the city’s development code and applies broadly across all use types within the Urban Core.

The Institute for Justice, a national nonprofit that worked with KCK officials on their reform, said at the time: “Parking minimums cost small businesses significant amounts of money, prevent them from using their land in the way they see fit, and deprive cities of connectivity.”

The KCMO ordinance requires the city manager to report back to the city council within one year on how the change is working and to make recommendations on parking enforcement.