A car park for every bedroom: Council proposes new apartment plan

Brisbane City Council wants to require all new apartment buildings to have two car park spaces for all two-bedroom apartments, instead of just one.

The proposed amendment to the council's City Plan was voted on at Tuesday's council meeting, and will be submitted to the state government for approval to move to community consultation.

There are calls for more parking spaces at proposed apartment complexes.Credit: Chris Hyde

Lord mayor Adrian Schrinner told the council chamber the planned legislative change was designed to improve parking issues in suburbs and resolve frustrations around parking demands.

He said feedback from suburban residents highlighted the issue of road congestion as apartment dwellers were frequently forced to use street parking.

The amendment to the Brisbane City Plan would require two car parking spaces per two bedrooms, two per three bedroom, and 2.5 spaces per four or more bedroom apartments.

Cr Schrinner said the council was also planning to increase the requirements for visitor parking in apartment blocks.

"This will apply right across Brisbane with the exception of the CBD and the city frame … they will have a different regime, but the rest of the city right out to the boundaries of the city will have this new regime implemented," he said.

Greens councillor Jonathan Sri said he was concerned the amendment was a "one size fits all" fix for a parking issue that differed across the city.

"Rather than forcing developers to build more private car parks maybe we should force them to contribute more to public transport," he said.

Cr Sri said the amendment didn't reflect the needs of the city and could lead to residents having empty car parks while developers spent more money on building car parks when the market and the residents "don't even want them".

Deputy opposition leader Jared Cassidy said Labor had been calling since 2014 an increase in the car parking ratios across the city, after amendments that year saw car parking in suburbs such as Zillmere become a nightmare for residents.

Cr Cassidy said the changes had seen street after street in Brisbane's suburbs turn into congested car parks.

Labor voted in favour of the proposed amendment, which was passed and will now go to the state government for approval before community consultation opens.