Butler City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XVIII
Parking and Loading Requirements
§ 260-117 Purpose; applicability.
The provisions of this Article apply to all zoning districts and are intended to establish minimum standards for off-street parking and off-street loading in order to avoid congestion on the streets, to protect property values and to promote the public health and safety.
§ 260-118 Off-street parking.
A.
Minimum off-street parking spaces.
(1)
Any building or other structure erected, altered or used and any lot used or occupied for any of the following purposes shall be provided with minimum off-street parking spaces as set forth below, together with adequate passageways or driveways or other means of circulation and access to and from a street or right-of-way:
Use | Spaces Required | |
|---|---|---|
Residential: | ||
Single-family | Two per dwelling unit | |
Two-family dwelling, duplex | Two per dwelling unit | |
Row dwelling | Two per dwelling unit | |
Apartments, multifamily dwellings | One per dwelling unit | |
Conversion apartments | One per dwelling unit | |
Boarding, lodging and rooming houses | One per lodging room | |
Nursing, rest, guest, convalescent home, home for the elderly | One per six beds, plus one per maximum number of staff on duty | |
Commercial: | ||
Motels, hotels and motor courts | One per sleeping room plus one per employee | |
Theaters | One per eight seats | |
Retail facilities | One per 300 square feet of floor area | |
Offices providing on-site customer service | One per 300 square feet of floor area | |
Offices not providing on-site customer service | One per 600 square feet of floor area | |
Restaurants (not drive-in) | One per 200 square feet of floor area, plus one per each employee | |
Drive-in restaurants | One per 80 square feet of gross floor area but not less than ten spaces, plus one per each employee | |
Service stations | Two waiting spaces at each side of each pump island, plus five spaces for customer service, plus one per each employee | |
Funeral homes | One per six seats | |
Clubs, taverns and bars | One per each 100 square feet of floor area, plus one per each employee | |
Public and semipublic use: | ||
Hospitals and institutions | One per three beds, plus one for each two staff members on duty on largest shift | |
Medical and dental clinics, medical arts building | One per 50 square feet of floor area | |
Churches, auditoriums and enclosed places of public assembly | One per five fixed seats or one per 75 square feet of floor area used for assembly purposes | |
Bowling alleys | Four per bowling lane | |
Stadiums, sports arenas and other places of open assembly | One per eight fixed seats and/or one per 100 square feet of assembly space without fixed seats | |
Membership clubs and fraternal organizations | One per 400 square feet of floor area | |
Libraries and museums | One per 500 square feet of floor area | |
Schools, nonresident | One per faculty or staff member, plus one per student age 17 or older | |
Correctional facilities [Added 11-24-2004 by Ord. No. 1563] | One per every 18 beds, plus one per each employee on the two largest shifts | |
Sleeping rooms/single-room occupancies [Added 11-21-2013 by Ord. No. 1679] | One per each two sleeping rooms | |
Industrial: | ||
All manufacturing uses | One per each two employees on the largest shift, plus one per each twenty employees for visitor parking, plus one per each company vehicle ordinarily parked on the site | |
Warehouse, storage, wholesale and freight terminal | One per each two employees, plus one per each company vehicle ordinarily parked on the site |
(2)
Reduction in minimum required spaces. The City Council may reduce the minimum number of parking spaces required by § 260-118 as a use by conditional use, provided the following criteria are met:
[Added 1-24-2008 by Ord. No. 1603]
(a)
The applicant can demonstrate by presenting data from existing conditions at similar locations or by special studies that the minimum number of parking spaces required by § 260-118 is not needed to adequately accommodate the residents, employees customers, and/or visitors to the site.
(b)
The City Council may request a traffic study to be prepared and submitted at the applicant's expense.
(c)
As a condition of reducing the minimum number of parking spaces for a particular use, the applicant may be required to reserve an area on the site for future parking in the event that the use of the site is changed to an authorized use that demands greater parking.
B.
Modification of parking requirements. In lieu of parking space required on the same lot, off-street parking may be provided as follows:
(1)
Residential. Parking may be provided for multiple-family dwellings within 250 feet of the use in a community parking area, garage or private garage or area. The Zoning and Code Management Officer shall determine that off-site parking shall be permanently available before approving it.
(2)
Commercial. Off-street parking in community parking areas, garages or private garages or areas may be provided for all commercial uses as listed under commercial in the table above except motels, hotels and motor courts, drive-in restaurants and service stations. Every five available spaces within 600 feet shall be counted as the equivalent of one space required on the lot. The Zoning and Code Management Officer shall determine that such spaces are available during normal hours of the building use and that there is no substantial conflict with other uses which also claim such parking areas to fulfill off-street parking requirements.
(3)
Public and semipublic. Churches, auditoriums and enclosed places of public assembly may utilize community parking areas, garages or private parking areas or garages within 1,000 feet of such use to be counted towards required parking the same as for commercial uses.
(4)
Parking for permitted uses, conditional uses, nonconforming uses and uses by special exception. Permitted uses, conditional uses, nonconforming uses and uses by special exception in residence zones may acquire adjacent property, or property directly across the street, to provide off-street parking facilities, provided that such facilities are screened from adjacent residential properties by a solid fence or dense evergreen hedge not less than four feet nor more than six feet in height and any lighting of the facility does not produce glare on the adjacent residential properties.
[Amended 1-24-2008 by Ord. No. 1603]
C.
General requirements.
(1)
Each off-street parking space shall contain a net area of not less than 180 square feet exclusive of driveways or aisles and shall be of usable shape and condition. At least 300 square feet of area shall be required per parking space in the layout of parking lots including access lanes abutting the spaces.
(2)
In the case of mixed uses or occupancies, the total requirements for various uses shall be computed separately.
(3)
All parking areas serving any commercial or industrial operation or any residential use, including single-family dwellings, shall be finished with a hard surface capable of bearing the weight of vehicles ordinarily traveling over or parking upon the surface, subject to approval of the City Engineer. Where, because of the impact of construction, only a temporary parking area for passenger vehicles only (and not construction vehicles or equipment) is required, the temporary parking area may be finished with a tar-and-chip surface, subject to approval of the City Engineer. In the event the temporary parking area is not converted to permanent parking, the owner shall remove the temporary surface and level and reseed the lot within 18 months of completion of construction. The property owner shall post a bond or other security in favor of the City to guarantee that the parking improvements are installed and removed, if applicable.
[Amended 1-24-2008 by Ord. No. 1603]
(4)
Where more than 20 parking spaces are provided in a common area, the area shall be lighted so as to produce a light intensity of at least one foot-candle measured three feet above the pavement throughout the area. Lighting shall be so arranged as not to constitute a nuisance or hazard to passing traffic and where the lot adjoins any residentially zoned property, the illuminating devices shall be shaded and directed to play their light away from R-zoned property.
(5)
All commercial and industrial parking areas and all parking areas providing more than 20 parking spaces shall utilize screening in the form of walls, fences or dense coniferous hedges at least five feet high where the parking area has a common boundary with any residentially zoned property.
(6)
Parking areas shall be sloped at least 1% and not more than 6% toward storm drainage inlets connected to a collection system emptying to a recognized drainageway. A twenty-five-year frequency storm shall be considered the maximum condition in designing the storm drainage system.
(7)
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require uses existing prior to the passage of this chapter to comply with these parking requirements except that any additions to such uses shall be served by parking areas in accordance with these requirements.
(8)
Whenever a use is enlarged or changed, any additional parking required to serve such enlargement or change shall be in accordance with the requirements of this section.
D.
Submission requirements. Any proposal to provide new parking areas or to expand existing areas, regardless of the zone district in which occurring, shall be submitted to the Zoning and Code Management Officer at the same time as the application for constructing the building for which such parking is to be provided. The Zoning and Code Management Officer, in addition to satisfying himself that adequate parking in compliance with this chapter is provided, shall also determine that safe access to parking areas from the public highway is available and that advantage is given the pedestrian in the parking area. The submission shall show the layout of the parking area, including each parking space, stop bars and/or curbs, lighting, sidewalks, storm inlets and storm drainage to existing drainageway, all buildings on the property, access from the public highway, location of loading areas, section through the pavement (or, in case of temporary parking areas, through the tar-and-chip surface) and base showing construction and materials and landscaping.
[Amended 1-24-2008 by Ord. No. 1603]
§ 260-119 Off-street loading.
A.
General requirements.
(1)
Each loading space shall be at least twelve by thirty-five (12 x 35) feet in area with a clear height of 14 feet six inches.
(2)
No section of a loading area or maneuvering area shall be utilized for parking of employee, visitor or resident owned cars and access to a loading area from the public street shall not be via access lanes in the parking areas on the property.
(3)
Maneuvering space shall be provided adjacent to the loading area if necessary so that vehicles may change direction and leave as well as enter the loading area moving in a forward direction.
(4)
Loading areas shall be adjacent to the use or building served except that in a group of buildings in the same use on the same property, one building may be designated to receive and dispatch goods, provided that the total applicable floor area in all buildings on the property is aggregated in determining the total required loading spaces.
(5)
Whenever a use is enlarged or changed, any additional loading required to serve such enlargement or change shall be in accordance with the requirements of this section.
(6)
Loading areas and adjacent maneuvering space shall be surfaced with a permanent all-weather material placed over a well compacted base course, capable of bearing the weight of vehicles ordinarily traveling over or parking upon the surface.
(7)
Loading areas shall be sloped to assure positive drainage to a storm inlet or drainageway.
(8)
Loading areas shall be lighted to assure that an intensity of at least one foot-candle measured three feet above the pavement prevails throughout the area. Such lighting shall not create glare conditions on adjacent streets or properties.
(9)
Access to the loading area on any property shall be via a road or lane at least 12 feet in width for one-way traffic or 22 feet wide for two-way use, with a clearance of at least 14 feet six inches its entire length.
(10)
Nothing in this section shall compel uses existing prior to passage of this chapter to comply with these loading requirements except that any additions to such uses or change of use upon the same property shall be provided with loading areas in accordance with these requirements.
B.
Table of minimum standards; required loading.
(1)
The following applies to any wholesale or retail commercial or manufacturing operation in which all or a part of the goods or services prepared or sold on the property originate elsewhere:
Total Square Feet of Floor Area on All Floors Excluding Area Used in the Maintenance of the Building or Buildings | Required Number of Loading Spaces | |
|---|---|---|
0 to 2,400 | 0 | |
2,401 to 10,000 | 1 | |
10,001 to 30,000 | 2 | |
Each additional 20,000 or fraction thereof | 1 additional |
(2)
The following applies to any service or office function not dealing in products brought to or dispensed from the same property or to apartment buildings:
Total Square Feet of Floor Area on All Floors | Required Number of Loading Spaces | |
|---|---|---|
0 to 8,000 | 0 | |
8,001 to 20,000 | 1 | |
20,001 to 40,000 | 2 | |
Each additional 40,000 or fraction thereof | 1 additional |
C.
Review and approval. Any person proposing new construction, including expansion of existing structures or uses, requiring loading spaces under the requirements of this chapter shall submit to the Zoning and Code Management Officer, concurrent with the application for constructing the building to be served by such loading space a plan of the property showing the location of such spaces, the access from the adjacent public highway, provisions for drainage, location of parking and all structures on the property and a section through the loading area showing construction and materials.