Abington City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VIII
Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations
§ 175-41 Compliance required.
In any district if any structure is constructed, enlarged or extended and any use of land established, or any existing use is changed, after the effective date of this bylaw, parking and loading spaces shall be provided in accordance with the Table of Off-Street Parking Regulations and the Table of Off-Street Loading Regulations. An existing structure which is enlarged or an existing use which is extended after the effective date of this bylaw shall be required to provide parking and loading spaces in accordance with the following tables for the entire structure or use, unless the increase in the number of dwelling units or building floor area amounts to less than 25% of that existing at the time of the adoption of this bylaw, whether such increases occur at one time or in successive stages. In this case only the additional parking spaces required by the increase in area shall be provided.
§ 175-42 Existing spaces.
Parking or loading spaces being maintained in any district in connection with any existing use on the effective date of this bylaw shall not be decreased so long as said use remains, unless a number of parking or loading spaces is constructed elsewhere such that the total number of spaces conforms to the requirements of the tables in this article. This regulation shall not require the maintenance of more parking or loading spaces than is required according to the tables.
§ 175-43 Space area requirement.
A.
Off-street parking spaces. All off-street parking area designs shall conform to the following dimensional requirements:
B.
Loading area.
(1)
Each space shall not be less than 12 feet in width and not less than 45 feet in length. Height clearance shall not be less than 14 feet. In all cases, required loading space shall not encroach on customer parking, employee parking, maneuvering space.
(2)
Loading spaces shall be designed to provide adequate off-street maneuvering areas so that it will not be necessary for vehicles to use a public right-of-way in maneuvering into a loading space and so that egress from such areas will not require backing into public streets.
§ 175-44 Off-premises off-street parking.
A.
Required parking spaces shall be on the same lot as the principal use served, or if not reasonably possible, on other property in the same district within 300 feet of the principal use.
B.
Such off-premises parking shall be in possession, by deed or lease, of the owner of the use served. Such required parking shall thereafter be associated with and maintained for the use established and shall not be reduced or encroached upon. The owner of any property to be used for any off-premises parking shall sign a recorded declaration of restrictions with the Town of Abington binding the property to prescribed use as parking until such time as said restriction shall be released by an instrument of the owner and the Town of Abington.
§ 175-45 Joint use of required parking.
Joint use may be made of required parking spaces by intermittent use establishments such as churches, assembly halls, or theaters whose peak parking demand is only at night or on Sundays and by other uses whose peak demand is only during the day. A formal agreement shall be made in writing by the owners of the uses involved concerning the number of spaces involved, substantiation of the fact that such joint use is not overlapping or in conflict, and the duration of the agreement. Required spaces shall be within 300 feet of churches and public assembly halls and 400 feet of other uses.
§ 175-46 Cooperative establishment and operation of parking areas.
Required spaces for any number of uses may be provided in a combined lot or lots, provided that the number of spaces in the combined facility shall not be less than the sum of those required of the individual uses. An allowance may be made, upon formal determination by the Planning Board for night use, or for separate and distinct working shifts, and further provided also that such lot or lots shall be within 300 feet of the principal buildings served.
§ 175-47 Entrance and exit points.
A.
Suitable provision shall be made along all property lines and along the borders of parking areas to prevent entrance upon any public right-of-way except at approved points. No existing curb shall be cut, broken out, or removed except in conformance with an approved site plan or as authorized by the Building Inspector under the terms of this bylaw.
[Amended 5-21-2018 ATM by Art. 29]
B.
Driveways.
[Amended 5-21-2018 ATM by Art. 29]
(1)
One- and two-family uses:
(a)
No driveway or parking area shall be closer than three feet from a side lot line.
(b)
For lots with 20,000 square feet or less of lot area, no driveway and parking area shall cover more than 40% of the required front yard setback area or existing front yard area, whichever is the smaller area.
(c)
For lots with more than 20,000 square feet of lot area, no driveway and parking area shall cover more than 25% of the required front yard setback area or existing front yard area, whichever is the smaller area.
(2)
All other uses. Unless otherwise authorized pursuant to a waiver voted by a majority of the Planning Board:
(a)
No more than one driveway shall be allowed on any street frontage.
(b)
A pair of one-way drives separated by a median may be considered one driveway.
(c)
Driveways shall be no closer than 75 feet to any intersection of street lines, which shall be measured from the midpoint on the radius of the street layout lines.
(d)
Multiple driveways on the same street frontage shall be not less than 75 feet apart.
(e)
No driveway shall be closer than 10 feet to any side or rear lot line.
C.
Driveway width shall fall within the following limits:
Min. | Max. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
1-5 family residential | 10 | 20 | ||
Multi-family (above 5 dwellings units) | 20 | 30 | ||
Commercial and Industrial | ||||
One-way | 12 | 20 | ||
Two-way | 24 | 30 | ||
§ 175-48 Surfacing requirements.
[Amended 5-21-2018 ATM by Art. 29]
Off-street parking areas shall be paved with mix asphalt or other approved hard surface, unless otherwise authorized pursuant to a waiver voted by a majority of the Planning Board. One- and two-family dwellings not part of a larger complex are not subject to these surfacing requirements provided that areas shall be clearly defined.
§ 175-49 Lighting requirements.
All parking areas providing more than 10 spaces and providing access (e.g., walkways) to and from the principal building shall be suitably illuminated as prescribed by the Building Inspector. Lighting shall be so placed or hooded as to prevent direct light from becoming a nuisance to surrounding property.
§ 175-50 Visual relief for lots.
[Amended 5-21-2018 ATM by Art. 29]
A.
Parking lots that abut public ways shall be separated there from by at least a ten-foot-wide buffer strip of suitable landscaping. For each buffer strip which is more than 30 feet long, a street tree having a diameter at breast height (4.5 feet) of at least 3" shall be planted at a ratio of at least 1 tree per 30 feet of buffer strip length. A street tree shall not be placed within 20 feet of any street corner or in any location which may create a hazard, conflict with utilities, or impair sight lines for drivers or pedestrians, or as the number and location of such trees may otherwise be approved. Parking lots that abut residential districts or existing residential uses shall also provide a minimum ten-foot landscaped buffer strip on the affected side yards. Landscaping areas may be required or allowed to incorporate stormwater treatment measures to treat runoff from the adjacent parking areas.
[Amended 4-3-2023 ATM by Art. 21]
B.
Parking lots shall contain visual relief from vast expanses of unbroken pavement and cars. In parking areas 10,000 square feet but less than 40,000 square feet in area, landscaping islands containing trees of greater than six feet in height shall be provided at a rate of at least six per 80 parking spaces. At least half of these shall be of a species expected to mature to a height greater than 30 feet. Landscaping in islands shall be protected from damage from parking cars and snow removal operations.
C.
When the total amount of parking on a lot or building site exceeds 40,000 square feet, the parking shall be separated into smaller lots or segments of not more than 20,000 square feet each with dividers at least five feet wide and containing vegetation. In lots of this size cut into a hillside or rolling topography with relief greater than 15 feet, these segments shall be terraced with the slope and the divider strips stabilized against erosion.
§ 175-51 Parking and storage.
A.
No vehicles of any type in inoperable condition or without current license plates shall be parked or stored on any lot in a residential district other than in carports or completely enclosed buildings; provided, however, that one such vehicle may be kept behind the building line of the principal structure in any side or rear yard not abutting a public street or publicly used area. No large trucks, trailers, or other major transportation equipment shall be parked in any yard between the building line and a public street in any residential zone. Excepting, however, an unregistered vehicle that is the property of an Abington resident on active military service that is parked or stored on his/her lot or the lot of an immediate relative in a residential district.
[Amended 4-3-2006 ATM by Art. 13]
B.
Parking lots where large trucks, trailers, and other major transportation or construction equipment are stored in the front yard area and which are visible from the street shall be screened from the street view by a solid fence at least six feet in height and/or a suitable dense vegetated evergreen buffer, unless otherwise waived or approved by the Planning Board for aesthetic, security or other business reasons. Refer to Article VI, § 175-27.
[Amended 5-21-2018 ATM by Art. 29]
§ 175-52 Table of off-street parking regulations.
When the computation of parking spaces results in the requirement for a fractional space, any fraction over 1/2 shall require one additional space.
Uses | Number of Parking Spaces | |
|---|---|---|
A. | Automobile repair garage | One space for each two employees in maximum employment on a single shift, plus one space for each 150 square feet of floor space |
B. | Bank | One parking space for each 175 square feet of gross floor area on the lobby floor. Office area not on the lobby floor shall be treated in the same manner as business and professional offices. Refer to D below. |
C. | Bowling alley | Five spaces for each alley. |
D. | Business, professional, and other offices | One space for each 300 square feet of gross floor area |
E. | Church, or other place of worship, college, or other institutions of higher learning, business, trade, or other schools, libraries, accessory uses to such facilities, schools, stadiums, and places of public assembly or theater | 1 space per each 3 seats of occupancy |
F. | Dwellings (one-family detached) | Three spaces per dwelling unit |
G. | Dwellings (single-family attached, multi-family and accessory apartments) [Amended 4-6-2005 ATM by Art. 31; 6-8-2015 ATM by Art. 22] | Each one-bedroom unit, 1.3 spaces, each two-bedroom unit, 2.0 spaces, each three-bedroom unit, 2.6 spaces, each four-bedroom unit, 3.0 spaces, plus 0.5 additional space for each dwelling unit |
H. | Food and beverage establishment | One space for each three seats or one space for each 50 square feet of net floor area |
I. | General business, commercial or personal services, service establishment catering to the retail trade, including stores, variety stores, or drugstores | One space for each 300 square feet of gross floor area |
J. | Hospital | One space for each bed |
K. | Hotel/motel | One space for each unit, plus additional spaces for any public eating or assembly spaces as required in H and E |
L. | Manufacturing uses and processing plants excluding warehouse area | One parking space for each two employees during the shift of maximum employment or one space for each 600 square feet of open or enclosed area devoted to the compounding, manufacturing or processing of any goods or articles, whichever is less, plus one space for each vehicle used in conjunction with the business |
M. | Medical and dental clinics and offices | One space for each 200 square feet of gross floor area |
N. | Mortuary | One space for each three seats within the chapel or one space for each 20 square feet of floor space not containing fixed seats within the chapel plus one parking space for each 400 square feet of gross floor area within the building outside the chapel |
O. | Rooming houses, lodging houses, and clubs and fraternities having sleeping rooms | Two spaces for each structure plus one space for each guest room or sleeping unit |
P. | Sanitariums, rest homes, nursing homes | One space for each two beds |
Q. | Service stations | Four spaces for each service bay or similar facility |
R. | Warehouse and storage building | One space for each 4,000 square feet of gross floor area, plus one space for each 400 square feet of office area |
§ 175-53 Reduction in parking requirements.
Less parking than required in this article may be permitted by the Planning Board by special permit subject to the following:
A.
The applicant shall demonstrate that lower requirements are appropriate as demonstrated by data from the latest edition of the Institute of Traffic Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual, or from actual trip generation counts from similar uses.
B.
The area which would otherwise be devoted to parking spaces shall be kept in open space use and shall not be built on.
C.
The Building Inspector shall require the unbuilt parking area to be constructed at a later date if parking space is found to be inadequate to accommodate customers, patron, patients and/or employees.
§ 175-54 Location of loading spaces.
The loading spaces required by the Table of Off-Street Loading Requirements shall in all cases be on the same lot as the use they are intended to serve. In no case shall the required loading spaces be part of the area used to satisfy the parking requirements of this bylaw.
§ 175-55 Table of Off-Street Loading Regulations.
Loading Spaces Required Per 1,000 Square Feet of Floor Area | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Uses | 2-15 | 15-50 | 51-100 | 101-150 | Over 150 |
Retail trade, wholesale and storage, industry, communication and utilities | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 space for each additional 150,000 SF |
Consumer services, hotel and dormitory, institutional, educational | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |