Why is the law that way? A lot of places in the world have way higher density and they're doing just fine (maybe even better - you can't get anywhere in the valley without a car and it's really a nuisance).
Heavily oversimplified, back when cars first became available to the middle class city politicians had a rude awakening when street parking became congested.
Minimum parking space requirements were decided on with an overly simplistic formula focusing on providing for peak demand.
And it never really got better from there