A.

Off-Street Automobile Parking Spaces.

1.

The following are the maximum number of permitted off-street parking spaces for the land or building uses specified. There shall be no minimum requirements for parking.

a.

One- and two-family dwellings and all other residential uses. One and one-half parking space per bedroom.

b.

All other uses. One parking space per two hundred (200) square feet of floor area.

2.

For authorized uses not specifically mentioned, off-street parking facilities shall be in accordance with a use which the planning and zoning director considers similar in type.

3.

When units of measurements determining the maximum number of parking spaces result in a fractional space, any fraction shall allow one parking space.

4.

Off-street parking spaces shall be located within a rear or side yard, unless otherwise provided in this title. Off-street parking spaces shall not be permitted in any front yard or a required side yard except that uncovered parking may be located within a required side yard and limited front yard parking shall be permitted according to Section 16.28.060E. of this code. Provided, however, that the foregoing prohibition shall not apply to a lot at which any building situated thereon fronts on an adjacent street the posted speed limit for which is forty-five (45) miles per hour or greater. Where uncovered parking is located within a required side yard, said yard shall be not less than ten (10) feet wide. Residential off-street parking spaces shall consist of a parking strip, parking bay, driveway, garage, or combination thereof and shall be located on the premises they are intended to serve.

For those locations where parking abuts upon a public or private street, a decorative masonry wall or evergreen hedge screen of thirty (30) to forty-two (42) inches in height and a minimum of twelve (12) inches in width, or other comparable evergreen plantings approved by the planning department director, shall be established parallel to and not nearer than two feet from the right-of-way line. Screen plantings shall be of such size and number to provide the required screening within twelve (12) months after installation. The area between the wall or hedge screening and the street line shall contain the ten (10) foot wide landscape strip as required in the parking lot landscaping, Section 14.28.260 of this code. All vegetation shall be maintained in good condition, and the required wall or hedge screening shall be designed to allow for free and unimpeded access to the site and sidewalk by pedestrians.

In all areas, pedestrian access via sidewalks shall be provided from the front of the building(s) to all parking areas and to the road and public sidewalk. Adequate signage directing vehicular traffic to the rear of the building shall also be provided. Parking area(s) shall be lined with overstory trees at not more than fifty (50) foot on center and at least four-inch diameter at breast height at the time of planting.

5.

Lots containing less than five thousand (5,000) square feet in total lot area in the NM, CM, or TCM districts shall be permitted to have automobile parking located in parking lots within the front provided such parking lots are limited in area to a maximum of thirty (30) percent of the total lot.

6.

The storage of merchandise, motor vehicles for sale, trucks or the repair of vehicles is prohibited in areas designated as off-street parking.

7.

Front yard parking in residential zones must be done on an improved surface approved by the planning department and, if utilizing and engineered surface, approved by the engineering department.

8.

Commercial vehicles in residential zones can only be parked in compliance with Home Occupation supplemental regulations at Section 16.20.350 and, if allowed, on an improved surface.

B.

Bicycle Parking. No project in a CR, TCR, NM, CM or TCM district shall have fewer than three bicycle parking spaces nor be required to exceed a maximum of thirty (30) spaces.

C.

Allowance of Additional Parking Spaces. The planning and zoning director may authorize an increase in the total number of parking spaces permitted on a site when all of the following conditions are met:

1.

The request for additional parking shall show that the increase is justified on the basis of characteristics unique to the specifically proposed use in contrast to the characteristics of other uses;

2.

Adequate land area for meeting the basic parking requirements is located on the lot, whether at grade or in parking decks; and

3.

The planning and zoning director shall provide an applicant a written response to any request for an increase in parking space, stating specific reasons for the decision to grant or deny the request.

D.

Off-Street Parking Spaces, Layout, Standards, Construction and Maintenance. Wherever off-street parking is provided, such off-street parking lot shall be laid out, constructed and maintained in accordance with the following standards and regulations:

1.

No parking lot shall be constructed prior to the issuance of a permit for such construction. Applications for such permits, along with two sets of the applicable construction drawings showing compliance with this section, shall be submitted to the engineering department of the city.

2.

Paving Materials for Parking Lots.

a.

All parking areas shall be paved with asphalt, concrete, similar smooth material or pervious materials approved by the engineering department director. For properties within the M-1 and M-2 zoning districts, customer and employee parking shall be paved with asphalt, concrete or similar smooth material or pervious materials approved by the engineering department director. A gravel surface may be used for commercial vehicle and heavy equipment parking. Impervious surface calculations shall apply to gravel surface parking unless designed, constructed and maintained to pervious surface standards.

b.

Pervious Paving. Recommended pervious paving materials include those described in Volume 2-Technical Handbook of the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual (First Edition, August 2001), a copy of which is maintained in the city's engineering department office at 2116 Stallings Street in Covington, as the porous concrete or modular porous paver systems under the limited application stormwater structural controls.

c.

Paving areas shall be of sufficient size and strength to support the weight of service vehicles.

3.

All spaces shall be provided adequate access by means of maneuvering lanes. Backing directly onto a street from an off-street parking space shall be prohibited.

4.

Adequate ingress and egress to the parking lot by means of clearly limited and defined drives shall be provided for all vehicles. Ingress and egress to a parking lot lying in an area zoned CR, TCR, NM, CM, TCM, M1 or M2 shall not be across land zoned NR1, NR2 or NR3.

5.

All maneuvering lane widths shall permit one-way traffic movement, except that the ninety (90) degree pattern may permit two-way movement.

6.

The centerline of each entrance to and exit from any off-street parking lot located in an area zoned CR, TCR, NM, CM, TCM, M1 or M2 shall be at least twenty-five (25) feet from the nearest boundary line of any adjacent property located in a NR1, NR2 or NR3 district.

7.

Screening. The off-street parking area shall be provided with a continuous and obscuring wall not less than four feet and six inches in height measured from the surface of the parking area. This wall shall be provided on all sides where the adjacent zoning district is NR1, NR2, NR3, CR or TCR district and shall be subject further to the requirement that when a front yard setback is required, all land between said wall and the front property line or street right-of-way line shall be kept free from refuse and debris and shall be landscaped with deciduous shrubs, evergreen materials and ornamental trees. The ground area shall be planted and kept in lawn. All such landscaping and planting shall be maintained in a healthy, growing condition, neat and orderly in appearance.

8.

The entire parking area, including parking spaces and maneuvering lanes, required under this section, shall be provided with asphaltic or concrete surfacing in accordance with specifications approved by the engineering department director. The parking area shall be surfaced within one year of the date the building permit is issued. Off-street parking areas shall be drained so as to dispose of surface water accumulated in the parking area in such a way as to preclude drainage of water onto adjacent property or toward buildings, and plans shall meet the approval of the engineering department director.

9.

Parking facilities shall have adequate lighting if the facilities are to be used at night. All lighting used to illuminate any off-street parking area shall be so installed as to be confined within and directed onto the parking area only.

a.

Lighting shall be designed to preclude light spillover onto adjacent properties. All lighting shall be fully shielded, have recessed luminaries or be cut-off luminary fixtures mounted in such a manner that the cone of light is directed downward and does not cross any property line of the site.

b.

Only LED, incandescent, florescent, metal halide, low-pressure sodium or color-corrected, high-pressure sodium may be used. The same type of lighting must be used for the same or similar types of lighting on any one site.

10.

In all cases where a wall extends to an alley which is a means of ingress and egress to an off- street parking area, it shall be permissible to end the wall not more than ten (10) feet from such alley line in order to permit a wider means of access to the parking area.

11.

The board of appeals and adjustments, upon application by the owner of the off-street parking property, may modify the yard or wall requirements of this section where compliance would not serve the best interests of the city or the property owner.

12.

Driveways shall be a minimum of twenty (20) feet in length to prevent parked vehicles from blocking the sidewalk.

(Ord. dated 5/2/16(2), § 1; Ord. dated 6/6/22, § 30)

Whenever the normal operation of any development requires that goods, merchandise or equipment be routinely delivered to or shipped from the development, a sufficient off-street loading and unloading area shall be provided as follows:

A.

Loading dock approaches shall be paved with an asphalt or Portland cement binder so as to provide a permanent, durable and dustless surface.

B.

Retail Business. One space for each ten thousand (10,000) square feet of floor area or fraction thereof.

C.

Bus and Truck Terminals. Sufficient space to accommodate the maximum number of buses and trucks to be stored or to be loaded or unloaded at the terminal at any one time.

D.

All spaces in Ml manufacturing and wholesale shall be provided in the following ratio of spaces to floor:

E.

Location of Off-Street Loading Spaces. All required off-street loading spaces shall be located on the same lot as the building which they are intended to serve or on an adjacent lot where such spaces are shared with the use occupying said adjacent lot.

F.

Permanent Reservation. Areas reserved for off-street loading in accordance with the requirements of this title shall not be reduced in area or changed to any other use unless the permitted use which such areas served is discontinued or modified, except where equivalent loading space is provided and approved by the planning and zoning director.

(Ord. dated 5/2/16(2), § 1)

A.

For Uses Other Than Single-Family.

1.

Automobile parking shall be prohibited from being located between any building street frontage and the adjacent public street. Provided, however, that the foregoing prohibition shall not apply to a location at which any building situated thereon fronts on an adjacent street the posted speed limit for which is forty-five (45) miles per hour or greater.

2.

All parking areas shall be paved with asphalt, concrete or pervious materials approved by the engineering department director.

3.

Paving areas shall be of sufficient size and strength to support the weight of service vehicles.

4.

To the extent practicable, adjacent parking lots in NM, CM or TCM districts shall be interconnected and shall provide for future interconnectivity.

5.

Pedestrian Circulation. Parking areas shall be designed to facilitate safe and convenient use by pedestrians. Developments shall provide designated pedestrian pathways or sidewalks connecting the front entrance of the principal building to the sidewalk along the abutting street, including marked crosswalks across interior driveways.

6.

Wheel bumpers shall be placed at the head of all parking spaces that abut a landscape strip or sidewalk. When wheel bumpers are adjacent to a sidewalk, a two-foot extension of the sidewalk shall be permitted to be substituted in the place of the required wheel bumpers.

7.

No parking area may be used for the sale, repair, dismantling, servicing or long-term storage of any vehicles or equipment.

8.

All surface parking provided in excess of one hundred (100) percent of the minimum number of off-street parking spaces required by type of permitted use shall be "Grasscrete" or "Grasspave" or other porous paving or grass paving systems and as approved by the engineering department director. Pervious paving materials shall include those described in Volume 2- Technical Handbook of the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual (First Edition, August 2001) as the porous concrete or modular porous paver systems under the limited application stormwater structural controls.

9.

For specific parking area landscaping requirements, see Title 14: Chapter 14.28 Tree Preservation.

B.

Parking Decks and Parking Structures.

1.

Parking deck facades shall conceal automobiles from visibility from any public right-of-way or private drive or street that are open to the general public, and shall have the appearance of a horizontal storied building.

2.

Internal and external ramps associated with parking decks shall be concealed from visibility from any public right-of-way or private drive or street that are open to the general public.

(Ord. dated 5/2/16(2), § 1)

A.

All sidewalk paving materials shall be continued across any intervening driveway at the same prevailing grade and cross slope as on the adjacent sidewalk clear zone. A corresponding interior sign or painted bar on the driveway shall be provided adjacent to the sidewalk paving as it intersects the driveway which shall communicate that vehicles must stop or yield for the intervening sidewalk.

B.

No more than one curb cut shall be permitted for each residentially used parcel or in an area zoned NR-1, NR-2, NR-3, NM or TCM along the same road frontage unless otherwise permitted by the city engineer who shall make a decision based upon existing and proposed sight distance, topography, existing public utility infrastructure location and sound engineering principals.

Parcels in an area zoned CR, CM, M1 or M2 with a street frontage greater than four hundred (400) feet shall be permitted more than one curb cut provided that curb cuts are spaced a minimum of three hundred seventy-five (375) feet apart. Parcels that are zoned non-residential and have more than one street frontage may have one curb cut located on each street frontage. At no such time shall a curb cut for a non-residentially zoned parcel be allowed within two hundred (200) feet from the intersection of two or more public streets.

C.

Driveway curb cut widths shall be a maximum of twenty-four (24) feet for two-way entrances and twelve (12) feet for one-way entrances, unless otherwise required by the Georgia Department of Transportation or allowed by engineering department director. For the purposes of this section, two curb cuts serving two one-way driveways shall only be counted as one curb cut provided that each curb cut does not exceed one lane in width.

D.

Driveway curb cuts shall not be permitted on any street that functions as an arterial, collector or major thoroughfare streets when access may be provided from a side or rear street located immediately adjacent to a contiguous property, with the exception of hotel patron drop-off drives.

E.

Driveways, except for a driveway to reach the side yard or rear yard or an on-site parking facility, are not permitted between the sidewalk and a building, and shall be perpendicular to any adjacent street.

F.

A common or joint driveway may be authorized by the planning and zoning director upon a finding that it will decrease traffic congestion consistent with this title.

G.

All developments shall have pedestrian walkways a minimum width of five feet connecting ground level parking lots or decks to the public sidewalks and to all building entrances.

(Ord. dated 5/2/16(2), § 1)