City planning staff on Oct. 23 recommended changes to Emeryville’s bicycle-parking requirements that would simplify nonresidential calculations into a one-page square-footage table and bring the city’s code language into alignment with Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) grant eligibility tied to Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) designations.

Sherry, a planning staff presenter, told the commission that Emeryville already meets most parking quantity expectations but must update how the requirements are written to be eligible for upcoming MTC grant programs. “It’s our wording that’s triggering this,” Sherry said, explaining that existing regulations reference vehicle parking demand tables and use inconsistent units; the proposed amendment replaces those references for most nonresidential uses with a clear square-footage-based table used by many neighboring cities.

The draft retains a separate review for some complex uses (for example, certain schools) where a per-project assessment is more appropriate. Staff described additional technical code elements already adopted—limits on stacked/vertical racks, a 10% requirement for larger/cargo-bike spaces, and outlet requirements where long-term charging is provided—issues that are not being changed by the current amendment but were discussed during the hearing.

BPAC (the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee) reviewed the proposal and recommended approval of the draft code changes except for the residential bicycle-parking rates; BPAC asked staff to return with more analysis and comparative data for residential unit sizes. Staff said BPAC will revisit residential rates in November and staff expects to return to the planning commission in December and ask the City Council for adoption in January; then staff will notify MTC about compliance for grant eligibility.

Commissioners raised several implementation concerns during discussion: safety and fire risk related to e-bike battery storage in indoor bike rooms, the footprint differences between vertical and horizontal racks, and the financial and space impacts of higher residential bike-parking ratios on affordable-housing construction. Staff noted that recent code updates already include outlet provisions and limits on stacked parking; affordable-housing projects may pursue waivers or exceptions if a requirement is shown to be infeasible.

No motion or vote was taken Oct. 23. Staff received general commission support for the format change and direction to return with the residential parking analysis for BPAC and subsequent hearings.