Bellevue is gearing up for a parking policy shakeup that could dramatically cut, or even erase, minimum off-street parking requirements for new buildings. City Council has kicked off a broad review of the local parking code, with staff lined up for public outreach and the planning commission expected to hammer out new rules this year so Bellevue can sync its playbook with fresh state mandates.
As reported by The Urbanist, the council voted unanimously last week to widen the scope of an ongoing parking study that must deliver a package of rule changes by the end of 2026. On the menu are options that range from simply trimming minimums near transit to wiping out parking mandates citywide. Councilmembers said the goal is to lower construction costs and tie the supply of parking more closely to what drivers actually use.
State Law Sets A New Baseline
Washington lawmakers have already laid down a new floor for what cities can demand on the parking front, forcing local codes to catch up. According to the Washington State Legislature, Senate Bill 5184 generally caps most residential requirements at about one stall for every two homes and sets upper limits on many commercial uses. It also exempts certain projects, like affordable housing and senior housing, from any minimums at all. The law builds in variance options and gives larger cities a relatively tight deadline to revise their codes so they line up with the new rules.
How Bellevue’s Council Is Framing The Fight
Councilmembers described the parking review as part technical tune-up and part political reset, with a significantly changed council since 2023. Vishal Bhargava told The Urbanist that the core question is, “Are minimum parking requirements a good thing or not? And I’m not entirely convinced they’re a good thing,” arguing that hard-and-fast minimums can push project costs up and overshoot real demand. Mayor Mo Malakoutian and other members pointed out that Bellevue’s parking code is rooted in much older zoning assumptions and called for a deliberate, data-heavy public process before any sweeping changes land in the municipal code.
What Other Washington Cities Have Already Done
City staff and councilmembers pointed to peers around the state as early test cases. The Parking Reform Network notes that Spokane scrapped minimum parking mandates across the entire city in 2024, turning required parking into optional parking. Coverage from KNKX has tracked similar policy debates in Bellingham and Port Townsend. Planners emphasize that in those cities, developers can still build as many stalls as they think buyers or tenants want, but the rule change removes a regulatory burden that can tip a project from feasible to dead-on-arrival.
Timeline And What Comes Next
City staff told the council they will fan out for public outreach, then bring draft code language back to the planning commission before any final council vote. A separate transit-oriented development law slated for 2025 will also require cities to erase parking minimums in specific station areas by the end of the decade. Those rules are detailed by the Washington State Legislature. That statute creates another clock that Bellevue has to watch as it updates its zoning around light-rail stops.
Residents and developers should expect a long procession of public meetings, consultant reports, and parking-demand studies before anyone sees a final ordinance. The big question is not whether change is coming, but how far the city will go.
Legal Quick Take
The bottom line out of Olympia is clear. SB 5184 limits how much parking a city can force onto new private development and outlines specific exemptions and variance options. HB 1491 ties the rules for station-area zoning to transit investments and to the timing of local comprehensive plan updates. In practice, Bellevue now has less room to insist on large amounts of required parking, although it still has local authority to fine-tune standards, subject to review by the Department of Commerce when the city looks for exceptions…