City of Phoenix Parking Requirements: Stall Sizes, Loading, and EV

Phoenix parking requirements are set out in Section 702 of the city’s Zoning Ordinance, which fixes the number of spaces every new development must provide, the dimensions of each stall and aisle, and how the lot itself must be surfaced and landscaped. The ratios swing hard by land use. A restaurant needs roughly six times as many spaces per square foot as an office of the same size, and the Planning and Development Department enforces the counts at permitting, so a miscalculation stalls a project before the first shovel.

How Many Spaces You Need

The required count is tied to what you’re building and how big it is.

Residential

Single-family detached: 2 spaces per dwelling unit.
Single-family attached townhomes: 2 spaces per unit on the same lot, plus 0.25 unreserved visitor spaces per unit elsewhere in the development.
Multi-family apartments and condos: 1.5 spaces per unit. Properties with five or more units must set aside at least 0.25 spaces per unit as unreserved guest parking.

The multi-family ratio catches developers off guard. A 200-unit apartment complex needs 300 spaces total, and at least 50 of them cannot be assigned to specific units.¹

Retail and Office

Retail under 50,000 square feet: 1 space per 300 square feet of floor area.
Retail centers 50,000 square feet and above: 4 spaces per 1,000 square feet of tenant leasable area between 50,000 and 350,000 square feet, rising to 4.5 per 1,000 above 350,000.
Office under 50,000 square feet: 1 space per 300 square feet.
Office 50,000 square feet and above: tiered from 3.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet down to 2.7 per 1,000 for buildings exceeding one million square feet.¹

Restaurants and Bars

Restaurants, bars, and similar businesses need 1 space per 50 square feet of customer area, excluding kitchens, restrooms, and storage. Outdoor dining and sales areas count toward the calculation. Any outdoor recreational area adds 1 more space per 200 square feet. This is by far the most demanding ratio in the ordinance, which is why restaurant conversions in older strip malls so often trigger parking shortfalls.¹

Stall Sizes and Aisle Widths

Phoenix builds a trade-off into stall geometry: narrower stalls require wider aisles, and wider stalls allow narrower aisles.

Retail, restaurant, and assembly uses: 9.5 feet by 19 feet with a 24-foot aisle, or 9.5 by 18 with a 26-foot aisle.
Multi-family, industrial, and office uses: 8.5 by 19 with a 24-foot aisle, or 8.5 by 18 with a 26-foot aisle.
Compact spaces: 8 by 16, allowed only beyond the required minimum count and only in the lowest-traffic areas of the site.

For retail and assembly, up to 50 percent of required spaces can drop to a 9-foot width if double-striped lines separate each stall.²

Two-way drive aisles must be at least 24 feet wide. Single-loaded 90-degree aisles require 25 feet. For angled or one-way configurations, the Planning and Development Department approves adjusted widths case by case.³

Surfacing and Landscaping

Every permanent parking area must have a dust-free surface. In practice that means asphalt or concrete; the Zoning Administrator can approve alternatives, but standard gravel or bare earth won’t pass inspection.¹

The design review guidelines add landscaping on top of paving. At least 5 percent of the surface parking area, excluding perimeter landscaping and setbacks, must be landscaped and dispersed throughout the lot. Interior tree planters must be at least 5 feet wide on the inside dimension. On office and retail sites, every space should sit within 150 feet of a sidewalk or building entrance, and unshaded stretches of walkway cannot exceed 15 feet except at driveway crossings.⁴

Loading Zones

Off-street loading is a separate requirement and cannot be counted toward the parking minimum. Each loading space must be at least 10 feet wide and 30 feet long, not counting maneuvering room.

Commercial (non-office) and industrial: none required under 25,000 square feet; 1 space from 25,000 to 40,000; 2 from 40,001 to 100,000; the count rises from there, with 1 more space for each additional 90,000 square feet beyond 400,000.
Office: none required under 25,000 square feet; 1 from 25,000 to 100,000; 2 from 100,001 to 200,000; then 1 more for each additional 100,000.
Multi-family: none required at 25 units or fewer; 1 for 26 to 150 units; 1 more for each additional 150 units.¹

Accessible Parking

Phoenix’s building code adopts the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design and applies whichever standard provides the greatest degree of accessibility as between the federal rules and Arizona’s Attorney General Administrative Rules.⁵

Accessible-space counts scale with total lot size. A lot of 1 to 25 spaces needs 1 van-accessible space. From 26 to 50 total, you need 2 accessible spaces (one standard, one van-accessible). A 200-space lot needs 6 accessible spaces; a 500-space lot needs 9. At least one in every six accessible spaces must be van-accessible.⁶

Van-accessible spaces can be built two ways: an 8-foot stall paired with an 8-foot access aisle, or an 11-foot stall paired with a 5-foot access aisle. The access aisle must be painted and kept clear. Accessible spaces must sit on the shortest accessible route to the primary entrance, and each needs a sign with the international symbol of accessibility mounted high enough to stay visible when a vehicle is parked.

Bicycle Parking

Section 1307.H sets bicycle ratios that run alongside the vehicle counts:

Nonresidential buildings over 5,000 square feet: 1 bicycle space per 25 vehicle spaces, capped at 25.
Commercial and office over 100,000 square feet: 1 per 25 vehicle spaces, capped at 50, plus at least 2 shower stalls and 10 lockers for occupants.
Multi-family: 0.25 bicycle spaces per dwelling unit, capped at 50.
Small dining and drinking establishments under 5,000 square feet with no vehicle parking: at least 4 bicycle spaces in the frontage setback or right-of-way.

Racks or storage must sit within 50 feet of a building entry, keep at least 30 inches of clearance from walls, and preserve a 4-foot pedestrian path. Placement in the frontage setback or public right-of-way is allowed with Planning and Development Department approval.⁷

Reductions Near Light Rail

Properties inside the Interim Transit-Oriented Zoning Overlay District (TOD-1) get automatic reductions tied to distance from a light rail station:

Within 1,320 feet of a station: 25 percent reduction for residential and multi-family; 15 percent for commercial.
Beyond 1,320 feet but still inside TOD-1: 10 percent for residential; 5 percent for commercial.

TOD-1 also caps parking at 125 percent of the Section 702 standard, so developers can’t overbuild. On-street parking along the property’s lot frontage counts toward the on-site requirement inside the overlay.⁸

Shared Parking

Outside TOD-1, the main path to building fewer spaces is shared parking. An office peaking during business hours and an adjacent restaurant peaking in the evening can share stalls without anyone being shut out.

To qualify, the project must have at least 25,000 square feet of gross floor area with a mix of uses on compatible schedules. The Planning and Development Department maintains a demand matrix that models hourly parking needs by use. The department’s Traffic Engineer can approve a reduction of up to 15 percent. Anything larger requires a use permit through the more formal Section 307 hearing process. All properties sharing parking must be covered under a combined site plan; informal agreements between neighboring landlords don’t satisfy the ordinance.¹

Variances When Nothing Else Works

If a project can’t meet the minimums even with shared parking, the next step is a variance or modification. File a detailed site plan showing existing and proposed structures, the parking you can provide, and the specific relief requested. Fees:

Noncommercial variance: $490 per variance.
Commercial variance: $1,380 per variance.
Planning Hearing Officer modification of one or two stipulations: $1,080.
Modification of three or more stipulations: $1,725.
Continuance or time extension: 50 percent of the original filing fee.

A parking reduction sought as part of a rezoning to H-R, H-R1, or MR districts carries no additional fee when included in the original rezoning application. As a standalone request, it costs 30 percent of the applicable rezoning filing fee.⁹

Applications run through the SHAPE PHX portal. Expect a formal review period of several weeks and be ready to post public notice signs on the property.¹⁰

EV Charging

Phoenix does not currently require new developments citywide to install EV charging. The downtown code in Section 1206 sets rules for projects that choose to include it. EV charging spaces count toward the required parking minimum but not toward any parking maximum. Charging equipment, transformers, and related mechanical systems must stay on-site and outside required landscape setbacks or frontage zones.¹¹

Reserved Spaces for Residential Tenants

Owners of residential rental property face an additional layer under the federal Fair Housing Act. A tenant with a disability can request a reserved parking space as a reasonable accommodation even when the property already meets its accessible-space count. The landlord must provide that space at no charge beyond any standard parking fee that applies to all tenants.

If the disability isn’t visually apparent, the landlord can ask for documentation from a medical professional. The documentation doesn’t need to name a diagnosis; it needs to explain how the mobility limitation affects the tenant and why a closer or reserved space provides meaningful access. Mark the space “reserved” rather than with the international accessibility symbol, because a placard-marked space is legally available to any vehicle displaying an accessible parking placard. Unjustified delays in responding can be treated as a Fair Housing Act violation.

1
City of Phoenix. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance 702 – Off-Street Parking and Loading
2
City of Phoenix. Parking Requirements Guideline
3
City of Phoenix. Parking Lot Traffic Review
4
City of Phoenix. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance 507 Tab A – Guidelines for Design Review
5
UpCodes. Phoenix Building Code 2024 – Chapter 11 Accessibility
6
United States Access Board. Chapter 5 – Parking Spaces
7
City of Phoenix. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance 1307 – Parking and Loading Standards
8
City of Phoenix. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance 662 – Interim Transit-Oriented Zoning Overlay District One (TOD-1)
9
City of Phoenix. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance – Fee Schedules
10
City of Phoenix. Planning and Development Department – Electronic Plan Review
11
City of Phoenix. Phoenix Zoning Ordinance 1206 – Parking, Loading, and Vehicular Access