Charlton City Zoning Code
SECTION 4
General Regulations
§ 200-4.1 Performance standards.
A.
No land, building or structure shall be used or occupied in any district in the Town of Charlton except in conformance with the standards contained herein.
B.
Except as herein provided, all use and conditions of land, buildings and structures shall be in conformance with the Regulations as Amended for the Control of Air Pollution in Central Massachusetts Air Pollution Control District, adopted by the Bureau of Air Quality Control, Division of Environmental Health, Department of Public Health, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as amended to become effective September 1, 1972, and amendments thereto. Enforcement of the regulations is provided for in Regulation 52.1 and amendments thereto.
C.
Heat, glare and vibration. No heat, glare or vibration shall be discernible from the outside of any structure. In no case shall vibration be permitted which is discernible to the human sense of feeling for three (3) minutes or more duration in any one (1) hour of the day between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., or of thirty (30) seconds or more duration in any one (1) hour between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
D.
Waste disposal, water supply and water quality. Massachusetts General Laws and Regulations of the State Department of Public Health shall be met and, when required, approval shall be indicated on the approved site plan. In no case shall discharge cause the waters or land of the receiving body to exceed the limits assigned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Water Resource Commission, Division of Water Pollution Control as published and entitled "Water Quality Standards," filed with the Secretary of State on March 6, 1967, and amendments thereto, in its most recent edition, for streams and water bodies within the Town. Nor may any discharge exceed regulations established by the Charlton Board of Health.
E.
Storage.
(1)
All materials, supplies and equipment not intended for wholesale and retail sale shall be stored in accordance with Fire Prevention Standards of the National Fire Prevention Association and shall be screened from view from public ways and abutting properties; excepting that farm and home materials, supplies and equipment need not be screened from public view when located on farms and residential property, and that building materials, supplies and equipment need not be so screened from public view when located on a construction site, during the period of their use in construction.
(2)
The storage, utilization or manufacture of materials or products which decompose by detonation shall be in accordance with standards as adopted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety.
(3)
The storage, utilization or manufacture of solid materials which are subject to intense burning or of flammable liquids or gasses shall be subject to conditions of a permit issued by the Board of Selectmen.
§ 200-4.2 Off-street parking and loading.
A.
General. Sufficient off-street parking and loading shall be provided to serve all persons needing vehicular access to new structures and uses, and to enlarged, extended or changed structures and uses to the extent such need is increased by such enlargement, extension, or change. Minimum parking requirements are set forth below in the Off-Street Parking Schedule.
B.
Off-Street Parking Schedule.
[Amended 10-13-2020 STM by Art. 9]
Use | Unit of Measure | Parking Spaces (required/unit or fraction thereof) | |
|---|---|---|---|
One- or two-family dwelling | Dwelling unit | 2.0 | |
Multifamily dwelling | Dwelling unit | 2.25 | |
Lodging house, hotel, motel, or motor court | Each guest room or suite | 1.0 | |
Nursing and/or convalescent home | 2 employees, maximum shift, plus 3 beds | 1.0 | |
Restaurant | 3 seats, plus each employee on the maximum shift | 1.0 | |
Other business use | 250 square feet net floor area | 1.0 | |
Transportation, industrial, and utility use | 500 square feet net floor area | 1.0 | |
School, assembly hall or other public building | 200 square feet of gross area, excluding storage area | 1.0 | |
Amusement or other place of public assembly | 300 square feet of gross area, excluding storage area | 1.0 | |
Manufacturing | 1,000 square feet gross area | 1.0 | |
Warehousing/storage distribution | 3,000 square feet gross area | 1.0 |
C.
Location requirements.
(1)
Parking and loading areas and garages shall be provided on the same lot as they are required to serve.
(2)
No parking or loading area shall be located within ten (10) feet of a public right-of-way line. No parking area containing more than four (4) spaces or a loading area shall be located within fifty (50) feet of a public right-of-way line in an Industrial District, nor within a required front yard in an R-40 District. No parking area or garage containing more than two (2) spaces or loading area shall be located in a front yard in an NB District.
(3)
No parking area serving a multifamily dwelling shall be located in any required yard defined by required setback lines.
D.
Other requirements.
(1)
A parking area containing more than six (6) spaces of a required loading area shall be designed so that no vehicle need back onto or off a street or stand on a street while parking, loading, unloading or waiting to do so.
(2)
No street access drive for parking areas containing six (6) or more spaces or a loading area shall exceed thirty (30) feet in width at the street line. The minimum distance between the sidelines of such drives and the sidelines of any intersecting street and any other street access drive, measured between where such street and driveway sidelines intersect the adjacent street line, shall be as follows:
From Intersecting Streets (feet) | From Other Drives (feet) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Drives serving a dwelling | 50 | 20 | ||
Drives serving a hotel, motel or motor court | 50 | 60 | ||
Drives serving other permitted principal structures in a/an: | ||||
NB and V Districts | 50 | 50 | ||
I District | 50 (200 on U.S. Rt. 20) | 100 | ||
CB District | 50 | 50 | ||
Other districts | 50 | 60 | ||
(3)
Egressing vehicles from drives serving more than twenty (20) parking spaces shall have two hundred (200) feet of driver visibility in each travel direction.
(4)
Parking and loading areas shall be graded, surfaced with a non-dusting material, drained and suitably maintained to the extent necessary to avoid the nuisance of dust, erosion, or excessive water flow onto streets or adjoining property.
(5)
Parking areas containing more than twenty-five (25) spaces shall include or be bordered within five (5) feet of the spaces by at least one (1) tree of two (2) inches in caliper for each five (5) spaces. Trees within parking areas shall be in curb or berm protective plots of at least sixty (60) square feet per tree. No such protective plot shall be paved with any impervious material. In the BEP District, all required parking areas shall be located to the side or rear of each building served. No required parking area shall be located in a required side or rear yard.
(6)
No less than twenty-five percent (25%) of any lot area shall be retained as unoccupied space free of all buildings, parking, pavement including street access drives and walks or other conditions, precluding landscaping; such unoccupied area shall be landscaped or stabilized with plant material [except for multifamily dwellings, see § 200-5.1B(4)].
(7)
All commercial site plans shall show all proposed lighting on said site for exits and entrances and said lighting shall be erected and maintained by the owner of the property. In the BEP District, lighting shall be provided to secure pedestrian safety and comfort by the illumination of all walkways, parking areas, and other common areas with minimal overspill into the night sky or adjacent properties.
(8)
A common driveway shall be allowed for nothing other than two (2), one-family dwellings. Nor shall any common driveway exceed five hundred (500) feet in length. Common driveways serving two (2) lots shall not be permitted except by special permit from the Planning Board.
(a)
The Planning Board may grant a special permit for a common driveway provided that:
[2]
The driveway shall have a minimum eighteen-foot-wide paved surface, and shall not exceed a grade of twelve percent (12%).
[a]
The Planning Board may require the proposed driveway grade not to exceed seven percent (7%), upon a determination by the Fire Chief that said grade reduction is required to assure adequate fire apparatus response and mobility.
[b]
The common driveway shall have a turning area at the end for fire apparatus, designed to one (1) of the following design standards:
[i]
A cul-de-sac of a minimum seventy-five (75) feet in diameter; or
[ii]
A turning area eighteen (18) feet wide by thirty-five (35) feet deep, art a grade of no less than two percent (2%) in any direction, situated no closer than fifty (50) feet and no further than one hundred (100) feet from the end of the driveway.
[3]
The property owners permitted the common driveway shall execute an agreement as to responsibility for maintenance and as to mutual access over the driveway in a form acceptable to the Planning Board. The Planning Board, in reviewing the special permit application, shall consider, among other issues, public safety, sight line distances, topography and presence of wetlands. Common driveways permitted by this section shall not be considered private ways and shall not be further extended.
[4]
Each such common driveway shall have a minimum twenty-five-foot-wide right-of-way easement across all properties upon which such driveway is to be located.