Community parking needs thought

But, will it be possible to provide for parking of all vehicles attracted by a building inside its plot? Initial criticism was, there is not enough space in the side and front margins of buildings. The city engineer of Pune Madhav Harihar, who had realised the importance of making the off-street parking norms more stringent, provided the answer.

Lift the entire building on stilts, he suggested. This means the entire plot area can then be used for parking while the building rises above. Presently, only half the building is lifted on stilts.

It is possible that even despite this, especially in future, it may be impossible to accommodate all the vehicles attracted by a building in its entire plot. Yes, in that case the spill-over has to be accommodated on roads. It is, therefore, imperative that we have to simultaneously start working on community parking lots, including multistoreyed ones. But that is after pushing as many vehicles as possible inside the plots.

It is also imperative that developers of a building that attracts a large number of vehicles but cannot provide parking space for all these, must be made to pay hardship cost to the municipal corporation for the excess number of vehicles for which parking space cannot be provided inside. This fund will enable the municipal corporation develop community parking areas.