Off-street parking and loading requirements and regulations are established in order to achieve, among others, the following purposes:

   (a)   To relieve congestion on streets so that streets can be utilized more fully for movement of traffic;

   (b)   To promote the safety and convenience of employees, guests and shoppers by locating parking areas so as to lessen car movements in areas of congestion; and

   (c)   To promote the general convenience, welfare and prosperity of institutional, residential, retail business and industrial developments, which depend upon off-street parking and off-street loading facilities.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   For the purpose of determining accessory off-street parking requirements, definitions and standards shall be as follows:

   (a)   "Accessory parking space" means an open or enclosed area accessible from a street for parking of motor vehicles of owners, occupants, employees, customers or tenants of the main building or use. Except for one and two-family dwellings, each space shall be not less than nine feet wide and 180 square feet in area exclusive of all drives, curbs and turning space. The number of spaces shall be determined from an accurate plan of the area.

   (b)   "Floor area" means the total area of all the floors in a building measured from the exterior face of the building.

   (c)   "Seat" means the unit capacity of a building to accommodate people and in a building designed for group assembly, such as a church or auditorium, the unit of measurement shall be seven square feet of the portion of the building designed for seating accommodation.

   (d)   "Employees" means a unit of measurement representing the optimum employment capacity of a business or other use at one time or shift.

   (e)   In computing required minimum parking spaces, where the computation results in a fractional unit, one additional off-street parking space shall be provided.

   (f)   "Board" means the Board of Zoning and Building Appeals.

   (g)   "Restaurant drive-through window" means an area of a restaurant containing a separate drive lane capable of holding eight cars, and a menu board with two- way communication and either a payment window or pick-up window or both for the purpose of ordering, payment of and receiving said goods.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70; Ord. 9181-2005. Passed 3-15-05.)

   Accessory off-street parking facilities, including access driveways, shall be determined in conformance with the schedule, for the various institutional, residential, business, office-laboratory and production-distribution buildings and uses, and shall be provided in conformance with the other provisions of this chapter as a condition precedent to the occupancy of such building or use. Facilities shall be provided for the entire building or use:

   (a)   Whenever a building is constructed or a new use established.

   (b)   Whenever the use of an existing building is changed to a use requiring more parking facilities.

   (c)   Whenever an existing building is altered and there is an increase in the number of dwelling units, seating capacity or floor areas of building.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   All off-street parking facilities, or those required as necessary to a use of a proposed or altered building, shall continue unobstructed in operation, shall not be used for automobile service or repair and shall not be reduced below the required size as long as the main use remains, unless an equivalent number of spaces is provided for the use in another approved location.

   In order to insure the continued use for automobile parking purposes of any areas established therefor, the Board, before approval of such parking areas, may require evidence in writing that the owner(s) of the land to be included in such automobile parking areas have by covenant agreed to continue the use of such land for off-street parking accessory to the residential, institutions, business or industrial use for which such parking areas are required. The covenant shall be filed among the records of Cuyahoga County.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

 

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70; Ord. 4508-1973. Passed 3-25-74; Ord. 6519-1984. Passed 4-17-84; Ord. 7930-1994. Passed 4-5-94; Ord. 8152-1996. Passed 2-6-96; Ord. 9180-2005. Passed 3-15-05.)

   In industrial districts wherever the application of the standards as set forth in Section 1125.05, subsection (19), as to "number of employees" results in a lesser number of parking spaces than required by the application of such standard as to "square feet of building", the Board of Zoning and Building Appeals may permit the construction of the lesser number of spaces, provided, however, the additional area required to provide the number of spaces under the "square feet of building" standard shall be reserved and held as open area along with all required yard areas, for future construction of parking spaces until the use of the building is changed to a classification having a greater number of employees in relation to the building area.

(Ord. 7043-1987. Passed 10-20-87.)

   A building containing one use shall provide off-street parking spaces as required for the specific use. A building, or group of buildings, containing two or more uses, operating normally during the same hours, and which have different off-street parking requirements shall provide spaces for not less than the sum of the spaces required for each use.

   Institutions, as set forth in the schedule in Section 1125.05, may assume that up to but not more than fifty percent of their requirements may be shared in adjacent parking areas which are accessory to business establishments and which normally have different hours of operation. However, where there is a sharing of facilities by different owners, there shall be a contract covering a period of time as may be required by the Board and should any of the uses be changed or the facilities discontinued, then the required spaces for the use remaining shall be provided elsewhere as a condition precedent to the continued use of the building or buildings.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   The location and width of entrance and exit driveways to parking facilities shall be planned to interfere as little as possible with the use of nearby property and with pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the nearest streets. Therefore, whenever possible, the center line of the access driveways on the frontage street shall be at least fifty feet from the right-of-way line of the nearest intersecting street and spaced at not less than 120 feet intervals measured from the center line of the driveways. At least two separate driveways shall be provided, and whenever possible they shall be limited to either entrance or exit.

   Entrances and exits shall be limited to two lanes. The width of such entrances and exits shall conform to the following schedule:

 

 

   In all cases the radius of the edge of the apron shall be at least twenty feet so that a car may enter or leave the curb lane without obstructing vehicles in other traffic lanes. The maximum curb cut shall be limited to the width of the entrance or exit plus the radius of the apron. (Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   Loading and/or unloading facilities shall be provided for all business, service, commercial and industrial buildings hereafter erected or altered for such uses. The facilities shall be maintained as long as such building is occupied, shall continue unobstructed and not be used for repair or servicing of motor vehicles. Space required and allocated for off-street parking shall not be allocated or used to satisfy the space requirements for off-street loading.

   (a)   Space Required. A required off-street loading space shall be at least twelve feet wide by at least twenty-five feet in length for buildings less than 15, 000 square feet of gross floor area, and each required loading space for a building of 15,000 square feet or more of floor area shall be not less than fourteen feet wide by sixty feet in length. Each space shall have a vertical clearance of at least fourteen feet. The loading space areas shall be exclusive of aisle and maneuvering space. For manufacturing and service uses the maneuvering space or apron for off-street loading shall be at least sixty feet wide measured from the outermost part of any vehicle backed up to a loading dock or any other possible obstruction in the maneuvering area.

   Uses which otherwise require off-street loading facilities but are located for buildings of less than 5,000 square feet of floor area shall be provided with a receiving platform or other facilities adjacent to a service drive or other open space on the same lot.

   (b)   Location and Design. Loading facilities shall not be located in a front yard or in a required side or rear yard. Off-street loading spaces shall be provided with surface improvements as required for parking areas.

   (c)   Schedule of Requirements. Loading spaces shall be provided in accordance with the following schedule:

 

 

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   All parking areas and driveways shall be surfaced with asphalt or concrete and shall be in accordance with the engineering specifications and ordinances of the City.

   All parking areas and driveways shall provide adequate drainage so that all water is contained within the lot on which the parking area or driveway is located in such manner that water shall not drain across other private property.

   Concrete or stone curbs at least six inches above the levels of the surface of the parking area and at least twelve inches below the surface shall be provided to define the limits of the parking area except at exits and entrances. Such curbs shall be at least six inches thick. Curbs shall be arranged so that no part of a parked vehicle shall project into that portion of a required yard in which off-street parking is prohibited.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70; Ord. 6381-1983. Passed 5-3-83.)

   Parking and loading areas shall be illuminated whenever necessary to protect the public safety. Such illumination shall be so designed and located that light sources are shielded from adjoining residential districts and streets, and shall not be of excessive brightness or cause a glare hazardous to pedestrians or drivers.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   Prior to the issuance of a building permit or certificate of compliance, detailed drawings of off-street parking and loading areas shall be submitted to the Director of Building for approval in accord with the requirements of this chapter.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   It shall be the duty of the Director of Building to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. 3081-1970. Passed 7-27-70.)

   (a)   Definitions.

      (1)   For purposes of this section, "public parking area" includes, but is not limited to, all parking conveniences provided in relation to any and all of the buildings and uses set forth at Section 1125.05.

      (2)   "Handicapped person" means any person subject to a physiological defect or deficiency regardless of its cause, nature or extent, and includes all such persons whether ambulatory or confined to a wheelchair, and includes children and adults.

   (b)   Each public parking area located in the City which consists of twenty or more parking spaces, shall provide the following:

      (1)   A minimum of five percent (5%) of the total number of parking spaces shall be reserved for use by the handicapped, up to a maximum of ten spaces.

   (c)   Each public parking area which consists of less than twenty parking spaces shall provide a minimum of one space.

   (d)   Each such reserved space shall be located as near as reasonably possible to the point of public access nearest the building or use.

   (e)   There shall be a permanent sign posted at the head of each space reserved for handicapped persons, designating it as such.

   (f)   Enforcement. The establishment, designation, location and number of reserved parking spaces required under this section shall be enforced by the Building Commissioner pursuant to Section 1125.13 .

(Ord. 5892-1981. Passed 4-14-81.)