Catasauqua City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VI
Off-Street Parking and Loading
§ 280-38 Required number of parking spaces.
[Amended 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1238]
A.
Overall requirements.
(1)
Number of spaces. Each use that is newly developed, enlarged, significantly changed in type or increased in number of establishments shall provide and maintain off-street parking spaces in accordance with the Table of Off-Street Parking Requirements and the regulations of this article.
(2)
Uses not listed. Uses not specifically listed in the Table of Off-Street Parking Requirements shall comply with the requirements for the most similar use listed in the Table of Off-Street Parking Requirements, unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer that an alternative standard should be used for that use.
(3)
Multiple uses. Where a proposed lot contains or includes more than one type of use, the number of parking spaces required shall be the sum of the parking requirements for each separate use.
(4)
Table of Off-Street Parking Requirements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Use | Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces Required | Plus 1 Off-Street Parking Space for Each | |
Residential Uses | |||
Dwelling unit, other than types listed separately in this table | 2 per dwelling unit; if desired, one space may be in a garage and one space in a driveway | ||
Home occupation | Sec § 280-29. | ||
Housing permanently restricted to persons 62 years and older, the physically handicapped and their spouses | 1 per dwelling/rental unit, except 0.5 per dwelling/rental unit if evidence is presented that the non-physically-handicapped persons will clearly primarily be over 70 years old | Nonresident employee | |
Boardinghouse | 1 per rental unit or bed for adult, whichever is greater | Nonresident employee | |
Group home | See § 280-29 | ||
Adaptive Reuse | 1.25 per dwelling unit | ||
Institutional Uses | |||
Municipal use | 0 | ||
Place of worship or church | 1 per 5 seats in room of largest capacity | Employee | |
Hospital | 1 per 3 beds | 1.2 employees | |
Nursing home | 1 per 5 beds | 1.2 employees | |
Assisted living facility/personal care center | 1 per 4 beds | 1.2 employees | |
Day care center | 1 per 10 children, with spaces designed for safe and convenient dropoff and pickup | 1.2 employees | |
School, primary or secondary, and any other school | 1 per 4 students aged 16 or older | Employee | |
Utility facility | 1 per vehicle routinely needed to service facility | ||
College, university or trade school | 1 per 1.5 students not living on campus who attend class at peak times (plus required spaces for on-campus housing) | Employee | |
Library, community center, cultural center or museum | 1 per 5 seats (or 1 per 250 square feet of floor area accessible to patrons and/or users if seats are not typically provided) | Employee | |
Treatment center | 1 per 2 residents aged 16 years or older plus 1 per nonresident intended to be treated on-site at peak times | Nonresident employee | |
Swimming pool, nonhousehold | 1 per 50 square feet of water surface, other than wading pools | Employee | |
Mixed uses in the INS-2 District | 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of usable floor area in excess of 100,000 square feet | ||
1.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of usable floor area between 50,001 square feet and 100,000 square feet | |||
1.25 spaces per 1,000 square feet of usable floor area of 50,000 square feet or less | |||
If only one use in the INS-2 District | Use requirement for most similar use | ||
Commercial Uses | All commercial uses, as applicable, shall provide additional parking or storage needed for maximum number of vehicles stored, displayed or based at the lot at any point in time. These additional spaces are not required to meet the stall size and parking aisle width requirements of this article. | ||
Auto service station or repair garage | 5 per repair/service bay and 1/4 per fuel nozzle with such spaces separated from accessways to pumps | Employee; plus any parking needed for a convenience store under "retail sales" | |
Auto, boat, recreational vehicle or manufactured home sales | 1 per 15 vehicles, boats, RVs or homes displayed | Employee | |
Bed-and-breakfast use | 1 per rental unit plus the 2 per dwelling unit | Nonresident employee | |
Bowling alley | 2 per lane plus 2 per pool table | 1.2 employees | |
Car wash | Adequate waiting and drying areas | 1.2 employees | |
Financial institution (includes bank) | 1 per 200 square feet of floor area accessible to customers, plus "office" parking for any administrative offices | 1.2 employees | |
Funeral home | 1 per 5 seats in rooms intended to be in use at one time for visitors, counting both permanent and temporary seating | Employee | |
Miniature golf | 1 per hole | 1.2 employees | |
Haircutting/hairstyling | 1 per customer seat used for haircutting, hair styling, manicuring or similar work | 1.2 employees | |
Hotel or motel | 1 per rental unit plus 1 per 4 seats in any meeting room (plus any required by any restaurant) | 1.2 employees | |
Laundromat | 1 per 3 washing machines | On-site employee | |
Offices or clinics, medical/dental | 5 per physician or physician's assistant or 3 per dentist or chiropractor | 1.2 employees | |
Offices, other than above | 1 per 300 square feet of total floor area | ||
Personal service use, other than haircutting/ hairstyling (minimum of two per establishment) | 1 per 200 square feet of floor area accessible to customers | 1.2 employees | |
Indoor recreation (other than bowling alley), membership club or exercise club | 1 per 4 persons of maximum capacity of all facilities | 1.2 employees | |
Outdoor recreation (other than uses specifically listed in this table) | 1 per 4 persons of capacity (50% may be on grass overflow areas with major driveways in gravel) | 1.2 employees | |
Restaurant | 1 per 4 seats, or 3 spaces for a use without customer seats | 1.2 employees | |
Retail sales (other than types separately listed) | 1 per 200 square feet of floor area of rooms accessible to customers | ||
Retail sales of only furniture, lumber, carpeting, bedding or floor covering | 1 per 400 square feet of floor area of rooms accessible to customers | ||
Shopping center | 1 per 200 square feet of gross leasable floor area for stores within the main building on the lot, plus required parking as established in this table for individual uses that are not within the main building on the lot | ||
Tavern | 1 per 30 square feet of total floor area | 1.2 employees | |
Theater or auditorium | 1 per 4 seats, 1/2 of which may be met by convenient parking shared with other business uses on the same lot that are typically not routinely open beyond 9:00 p.m. | 1.2 employees | |
Trade/hobby school | 1 per 2 students on site during peak use | 1.2 employees | |
Veterinarian office | 4 per veterinarian | 1.2 employees | |
Mixed uses in the INS-2 District | 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of total floor area in excess of 100,000 square feet | ||
1.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of usable floor area between 50,001 square feet and 100,000 square feet | |||
1.25 spaces per 1,000 square feet of usable floor area of 50,000 square feet or less | |||
If only one use in the INS-2 District | Use requirement for most similar use | ||
Industrial Uses | In addition to parking or storage needed for maximum number of vehicles stored, displayed or based at the lot at any point in time, which spaces are not required to meet the stall size and aisle width requirements of this article. | ||
All industrial uses (including warehousing, distribution and manufacturing) | 1 per 1.2 employees, based upon the maximum number of employees on-site at peak period of times | ||
Self-storage development | 1 per 25 storage units, plus spaces for any outdoor storage of vehicles | 1.2 employee | |
§ 280-39 General regulations for off-street parking.
A.
General. Parking spaces, aisles and driveways shall be laid out to result in safe and orderly use, and to fully take into account all of the following: vehicular access onto and off the site, vehicular movement within the site, loading areas, pedestrian patterns and any drive-through facilities. No parking area shall cause a safety hazard or impediment to traffic off the lot.
B.
Existing parking. Any parking spaces serving such preexisting structures or uses at the time of adoption of this article shall not in the future be reduced in number below the number required by this article.
C.
Change in use or expansion. A structure or use in existence at the effective date of this article that expands or results in a change of use of an existing principal building shall be required to provide all of the required parking for the entire size and type of the resulting use, except as follows:
[Amended 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1238]
(1)
If an existing lawful business or institutional use includes less parking than would be required, and the applicant proves to the Zoning Officer that there is insufficient area on the lot to meet the required amount of parking, then that deficit of parking shall be grandfathered for new business or institutional uses. For example, if an existing store included three parking spaces and was required to provide seven spaces, there is a deficit of four spaces. Therefore, if that store is converted to an office that would need 10 spaces, the office would need to provide a total of six spaces (10 minus the preexisting deficit of four).
(2)
If a business or institutional use expands by an aggregate total maximum of 10% in the applicable measurement (such as building floor area) beyond what existed at the time of adoption of this article, and the applicant proves to the Zoning Officer that there is insufficient area on the lot to meet the required amount of parking, then no additional parking is required. For example, if an existing building included 3,000 square feet, and a single minor addition of 300 square feet was proposed, then additional parking would not be required.
D.
Continuing obligation of parking and loading spaces. All required numbers of parking spaces and off-street loading spaces shall be available as long as the use or building which the spaces serve still exist, and such spaces shall not be reduced in number below the minimum required by this article. No required parking area or off-street loading spaces shall be used for any other use (such as storage or display of materials) that interferes with the area's availability for parking.
[Amended 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1238]
E.
Location of parking. Required off-street parking spaces shall be on the same lot or abutting lot with the principal use served, unless special exception approval is granted. The only standard that must be met to obtain the special exception approval is for the applicant to prove to the satisfaction of the Zoning Hearing Board that a method of providing the spaces is guaranteed to be available during all of the years the use is in operation within 300 feet walking distance from the entrance of the principal use being served. This distance may be increased to 400 feet for employee parking. A written and signed lease shall be provided. The Zoning Hearing Board may require that the use be approved for period of time consistent with the lease of the parking, and that a renewal of the permit shall only be approved if the parking lease is renewed.
[Amended 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1238]
F.
Flexibility in parking.
[Amended 6-1-2009 by Ord. No. 1238]
(1)
As a special exception, an applicant may prove to the satisfaction of the Zoning Hearing Board that the minimum amount of off-street parking should be modified for a specific application because of one or more of the following characteristics:
(a)
The applicant proves that parking will be shared with another use that will reduce the total amount of parking needed because the uses have different peak times of parking need, and that there is a legally guaranteed method to make sure that the parking will continue to be available during all of the years that the use is in operation; or
(b)
The applicant proves that the parking demand for a particular use is unusually low because of some unusual and peculiar characteristic of the use.
(2)
The document titled "Shared Parking, Second Edition," by the Urban Land Institute, 2005, or the most recent edition thereof, shall be utilized when computing shared parking spaces.
§ 280-40 Design standards for off-street parking.
A.
General requirements.
(1)
Backing onto a street. No parking area shall be designed to require or encourage parked vehicles to back into a public street in order to leave a parking space, except for a single-family dwelling with its access onto a local street or parking court. Parking spaces may back onto an alley.
(2)
Every required parking space shall be designed so that each motor vehicle may proceed to and from the parking space provided for it without requiring the moving of any other vehicle, except for spaces serving a single-family, twin or townhouse dwelling.
(3)
Parking areas shall not be within a required buffer yard or street right-of-way.
(4)
Separation from street. Except for parking spaces immediately in front of individual dwellings, all areas for off-street parking, off-street loading and unloading and the storage or movement of motor vehicles shall be physically separated from the street by a continuous grass or landscaped planting strip, except for necessary and approved vehicle entrances and exits to the lot.
(5)
Stacking and obstructions. Each lot shall provide adequate area upon the lot to prevent backup of vehicles on a public street while awaiting entry to the lot, or while waiting for service at a drive-through facility.
B.
Size and marking of parking spaces.
C.
Aisles.
(1)
Each aisle providing for one-way traffic to access parking stalls shall have the following minimum width:
Angle of Parking (degrees) | Minimum Aisle Width (feet) | |
|---|---|---|
Parallel or 30° | 12 | |
45° | 14 | |
60° | 18 | |
90° | 20 |
(2)
Each aisle providing access to stalls for two-way traffic shall be a minimum of 24 feet in width, except a width of 20 feet may be allowed for parking areas with spaces that are parallel or involve an angle of parking of 45° or less.
D.
Driveways.
(1)
Width of Driveway
Width of Driveway at Entrance onto a Public Street, at the Edge of the Cartway1 | 1-Way Use | 2-Way Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
Minimum | 12 feet1 | 25 feet1 | |
Maximum | 20 feet1 | 30 feet1 |
NOTE: | |
|---|---|
1 Unless a different standard is required by PennDOT for an entrance to a state road, or the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer that a wider width is needed for tractor-trailer trucks. |
(2)
Drainage. Adequate provisions shall be made to maintain uninterrupted parallel drainage along a public street at the point of driveway entry. The Borough may require an applicant to install an appropriate type and size of pipe at a driveway crossing.
E.
Paving, grading and drainage.
(1)
Parking and loading facilities and including driveways shall be graded and adequately drained to prevent erosion or excessive water flow across streets or adjoining properties.
(2)
Except for landscaped areas, all portions of required parking, loading facilities and driveways shall be surfaced with asphalt, concrete, paving block or other materials preapproved by the Borough (such as acceptable porous paving material).
G.
Handicapped parking.
(1)
Number of spaces. Any lot including four or more off-street parking spaces shall include a minimum of one handicapped space. The following number of handicapped spaces shall be provided, unless a revised regulation is officially established under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act:
Total Number of Parking Spaces on the Lot | Required Minimum Number/Percent of Handicapped Parking Spaces | |
|---|---|---|
4 to 25 | 1 | |
26 to 50 | 2 | |
51 to 75 | 3 | |
76 to 100 | 4 | |
101 to 150 | 5 | |
151 to 200 | 6 | |
201 to 300 | 7 | |
301 to 400 | 8 | |
401 to 500 | 9 | |
501 to 1,000 | 2% of required number of spaces | |
1,001 or more | 20 plus 1% of required number of spaces over 1,000 |
(2)
Location. Handicapped parking spaces shall be located where they would result in the shortest reasonable accessible distance to a handicapped accessible building entrance. Curb cuts shall be provided as needed to provide access from the handicapped spaces.
(3)
Minimum size. Each required handicapped parking space shall be eight feet by 18 feet. In addition, each space shall be adjacent to a five-foot-wide access aisle. Such access aisle may be shared by two handicapped spaces by being placed between them. However, one out of every eight required handicapped parking spaces shall have an adjacent access aisle of eight feet width instead of five feet.
(4)
Slope. Handicapped parking spaces shall be located in areas of less than 6% slope in any direction.
(5)
Marking. All required handicapped spaces shall be well-marked by clearly visible signs or pavement markings. Blue paint is recommended.
(6)
Paving. Handicapped parking spaces and adjacent areas needed to access them with a wheelchair shall be covered with a smooth surface that is usable with a wheelchair.
§ 280-41 Off-street loading.
A.
Each use shall provide off-street loading facilities, which meet the requirements of this section, sufficient to accommodate the maximum demand generated by the use and the maximum size vehicle that will service the use, in a manner that will not routinely obstruct traffic on a public street. If a reasonable alternative does not exist, traffic may be obstructed for occasional loading and unloading along an alley.
B.
At the time of review under this article, the applicant shall provide evidence to the Zoning Officer showing that the use will have sufficient numbers and sizes of loading facilities. The Planning Commission and/or Borough Council may provide advice to the Zoning Officer on this matter as part of any plan review by such boards. For the purposes of this section, the words "loading" and "unloading" are used interchangeably.
C.
Each space and the needed maneuvering room shall not intrude into approved buffer areas and landscaped areas.
D.
Fire lanes. Fire lanes shall be provided where required by state or federal regulations or other local ordinances. The specific locations of these lanes are subject to review by Borough fire officials.