Charlestown City Zoning Code
ARTICLE X
Off-Street Parking and Loading
§ 218-56 Required parking.
Any building, improvement, or use approved that is changed after the effective date of this Ordinance shall comply with this Article. If the building, improvement, or use is repaired, renovated, altered, expanded, or redeveloped without change of use in the parking and/or location requirements, the parking requirements of the ordinance in effect at the time of approval shall continue to apply.
§ 218-57 Parking schedule.
A.
The following parking schedule shall be used to determine the minimum required and maximum allowable parking spaces for different uses. Requirements associated with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) shall not be counted toward the maximum allowed number of spaces.
B.
Where a use is proposed that is allowed either by-right or by Special Use Permit in accordance with the Zoning Ordinance Section 218-23, an applicant may petition the Town for a different parking requirement. The burden of proof shall be on the applicant to demonstrate that a different requirement is appropriate. Any petition for a different parking requirement shall be reviewed by the Planning Commission as part of a development plan review, subdivision, or land development application as applicable. Where the permit review is ordinarily by the Building Official or the Town Planner in accordance with Section 218-71, these agents shall refer the application to the Planning Commission where a different parking requirement is sought.
Use | Minimum required number of spaces | Maximum allowed number of spaces | |
|---|---|---|---|
Single family dwellings | Two per home | NA | |
Two-family dwellings (not part of a multi-family development) | 1.5 spaces per unit | NA | |
Multi-family dwellings | See Section 218-51E(8) | See Section 218-51E(8) | |
Educational facilities | one space for four students of design capacity plus one space for each administrative office | one space for three students of design capacity plus two spaces for each administrative office | |
Inns, motels and hotels | one space per guest room plus fifty percent of the requirement for all other uses on the site. | 1.5 spaces per guest room plus seventy-five percent of the requirement for all other uses on the site. | |
Restaurants, theaters, churches and places of public assembly | one parking space for every six seats of design capacity or for six persons of capacity whichever is greater | one parking space for every four seats of design capacity or for four persons of capacity whichever is greater; plus one space for every employee on the highest peak working shift | |
Hospitals and institutions | NA | one parking space for every two beds plus one space for each administrative office | |
Office | one parking space for every three hundred square feet of floor area | one parking space for every two hundred square feet of floor area | |
Retail and service | one parking space for every three hundred square feet of floor area devoted to sales; plus one space for every employee on the highest peak working shift | one parking space for every one hundred square feet of floor area devoted to sales; plus one space for every employee on the highest peak working shift | |
Industrial and wholesale | one space per six hundred square feet of gross floor area plus one space for each vehicle operating from the premises | one space per four hundred square feet of gross floor area plus one space for each vehicle operating from the premises | |
Other use | See Subsection C | See Subsection C |
C.
Where a use is either allowed by right or through a Special Use Permit, and is not specifically listed in the parking schedule, the Building Official shall determine the parking requirement either by selecting a use from the parking schedule that most closely resembles the proposed use, or through consultation of applicable parking requirements as provided by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE).
D.
When any lot contains two or more non-residential uses, the sum of the individual parking demand values shall serve as the baseline parking demand. Fractions shall be rounded down where any component of this calculation uses more than the minimum parking requirements listed in the parking table. An applicant may petition for fewer parking spaces than the aggregate baseline demand through development plan review with the Planning Commission or land development review as applicable by submitting a peak demand analysis consistent with the guidance provided in the Institute of Traffic Engineers' (ITE's) Shared Parking, 2nd Edition as may be amended.
E.
Up to 50 percent of on-site off-street shared parking requirements may be provided off-site provided that parking is located within 400 feet of the property boundary in a walkable route from one property boundary to another and safe, if applicable, well lighted pedestrian access can be demonstrated by the applicant.
§ 218-58 Standards.
Off-street parking lots of more than two motor vehicles capacity shall conform to the following standards of construction:
A.
The area shall have a dust free, hard surface and shall be provided with bumper guards, as needed. Vehicles shall not extend over property lines, pedestrian areas or bump any wall or landscaping.
B.
Where such area adjoins an exclusively residential district or use, a landscaped fifteen foot setback and an opaque evergreen hedge or fence not less than five feet high shall be erected at the edge of the setback and maintained between such area and the adjoining residential district or use.
C.
Lighting fixtures shall be so arranged as to be directed downward and away from abutting property and away from adjacent roadways, and shall be at an intensity not greater than that of existing lighting in the area. In addition to these regulations, exterior lighting shall also be regulated by the provisions of 155-15, et seq.
D.
Provisions for temporary bicycle parking are encouraged for all off-street parking areas. The minimum number of required parking spaces for automobiles may be reduced when bicycle parking is provided. For every five bicycle parking spaces provided, the requirement for automobile parking spaces may be reduced by one.
E.
On any business or industrial use, parking shall not be permitted within any front yard or required buffer.
F.
Plans and specifications for the required parking facility and its access drives shall be submitted during development plan review, if applicable, or, at the time of a building permit application.
G.
Each parking space shall have a minimum width of nine feet, a minimum length of eighteen feet and shall be served by ten feet wide minimum aisles to permit access into all parking spaces. Parking spaces may be drawn on various angles in relation to driveways or aisles, so long as the parking spaces contain the area required.
H.
Circulation areas shall be designed so that vehicles can proceed safely without danger to pedestrians, other vehicles and without interfering with other parking spaces.
I.
Landscaping Standards. Parking areas shall be landscaped before a final approval or Certificate of Occupancy can be issued by the Building Official to the following standards:
(1)
Landscape Plan. All proposed landscaping shall be shown on a separate plan entitled "Landscape Plan" as required by Section 218-74 of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2)
Required Plantings.
(a)
The minimum required amount of interior landscaping shall be ten percent of any newly installed parking area, which includes driveways, borders, sidewalks, parking stalls and travel lanes.
(b)
Double rows of parking spaces shall be terminated at each end by landscaped borders which extend the entire length of the adjacent parking stalls. The borders shall have a minimum width of ten feet, however, a tapered design is allowed provided the border measures ten feet at its widest point.
(c)
The interior of parking lots shall have, at a minimum, landscaped center islands at every other double row. Pedestrian paths may be incorporated within center islands provided a minimum total width of four feet is maintained for vegetated areas.
(d)
Interior islands and divider medians shall be appropriately marked with reflectors to protect them from encroachment of motor vehicles in a manner approved by the Planning Commission or Town Planner.
(e)
The interior of parking areas and all internal circulation areas to the site shall be shaded by deciduous trees either retained or planted by the developer. As indicated on the landscape plan, each tree shall provide a canopy with a radius of at least fifteen feet, and the total tree canopy shall be sufficient to cover at least thirty percent of the parking area under conditions of mature growth.
(f)
Shade trees shall be located so that they are surrounded by at least twenty-five square feet of evenly distributed unpaved area, which may be counted towards calculating the required landscaped area. Trees located in sidewalks shall be selected to mature within the space designed for them without eventually disrupting the sidewalk from below.
(g)
Raised islands shall be required to protect landscaping and to channel traffic safely. Where depressed landscaped islands are proposed to be used as part of the overall stormwater treatment approach, perforated curbing or some similar protective measure shall be used to ensure automobiles do not trespass into these areas.
(h)
All parking areas of ten or more spaces shall include shade trees planted forty feet on center around the perimeter of the parking area. Such distance may be increased or decreased in development plan review for the purposes of ingress and egress drives.
(i)
All trees planted shall be nursery certified as disease and pest free.
§ 218-59 Commercial and recreational vehicles in residential districts.
A.
Parking or storage of vehicles engaged partly or fully for commercial use is prohibited in all residential zones, except for home occupations allowed by Article VI, Section 218-37 I (12), or for commuting to a job site, in which cases the vehicle shall not exceed 12,000 lb gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR).
[Amended 3-10-2014 by Ord. No. 363]
B.
The parking or storage of major recreation equipment, which includes travel trailers, pickup campers or coaches, motorized dwellings, tent trailers, boats and boat trailers, but does not include mobile homes in residential districts, must comply with the following standards:
(1)
No major recreation equipment, while parked or stored, shall be used for living, sleeping or housekeeping purposes;
(2)
No major recreation equipment shall be stored in any front yard area;
(3)
No major recreation equipment shall be stored out of doors in residential districts unless it is operable or can be made so within a three-month period; and
(4)
No more than two (2) pieces of major recreation equipment, that are registered to someone other than the property resident(s), will be allowed on any single lot.
§ 218-60 Off-street loading.
All newly developed nonresidential structures shall provide off-street loading facilities unless specifically exempted elsewhere in the Zoning Ordinance. Plans for such loading facilities shall be submitted with an application for a building permit or within development plan review where applicable for the main use. Where a loading facility is abutting a residential district, the restrictions contained in § 218-74, Landscaping. Such a loading facility shall not allow the projection of vehicles into a street right-of-way.