East Earl Township City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XVIII
Off-Street Parking and Loading Requirements
§ 450-136 General parking regulations.
A.
Off-street parking facilities shall be provided to lessen on-street congestion. The facilities required herein shall be available to patrons throughout the hours of operation of the particular business or use for which such facilities are provided. As used herein, the term "parking space" includes either covered garage space or uncovered parking space located off the public right-of-way.
B.
All parking spaces shall be ample in size for the vehicles for which use is intended. The net parking space per vehicle shall be not less than the dimensions identified in § 450-141A(1). Parking spaces and the approaches thereto shall be paved surfaces or stabilized surface. For purposes of this chapter, "stabilized surface" is hereby defined as an approved all-weather, dustless surface.
C.
A garage or carport may be located wholly or partly inside the walls of the principal building or attached to the outer walls. If separated from the principal building, the garage shall conform to all accessory building requirements. A garage may be constructed under a yard, provided that the level of such yard shall conform to the general level of the other yards on the lot. The space above such an underground garage shall be deemed to be part of the open space of the lot on which it is located.
§ 450-137 Handicapped accessible parking.
Design standards for handicapped parking spaces: Handicapped accessible parking shall be designed and provided in accordance with the requirements of the applicable Township building code and the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
§ 450-138 Off-street parking facilities requirements.
Any of the following facilities erected or enlarged, any facility converted into one of the following facilities, and any open area used shall be provided with not less than the minimum parking spaces and loading/unloading areas as set forth below, together with adequate accessways, driveways or other means of circulation and access to and from a street.
A.
Specific parking space requirements.
(1)
Banks/financial institutions: one per 300 square feet gross floor area (GFA). Each drive-up window shall have sufficient stacking room for four cars and a bypass lane shall be provided.
(2)
Bowling centers: four per lane plus additional parking for other uses located within the center.
(3)
Convenience stores: four per 1,000 square feet GFA.
(4)
Campground: one dust-free ten-foot-by-thirty-foot space per campsite.
(5)
Dance halls, swimming pools, roller rinks, clubs, lodges and other similar uses: one per 100 square feet GFA or of surface water area in a swimming pool.
(6)
Day-care centers: one per employee, plus one safe passenger off-street loading/unloading space per five children.
(7)
Family care and group care facilities: one per four residents, plus one per employee in the maximum working shift.
(8)
Family day-care and group day-care homes: one per nonresident employee plus safe passenger off-street loading/unloading space per four resident children.
(9)
Funeral homes/mortuaries: one per 100 square feet GFA used for memorial services, view area, business office, and products display.
(10)
Furniture or appliance stores: one per 1,000 square feet GFA.
(11)
Home/farm occupations: one per 300 square feet GFA utilized for the home/farm occupation, plus one per nonresident employee, in addition to the requirement for the dwelling unit.
(12)
Home occupation/trucking operator: one space of sufficient size for truck and/or tractor and trailer, in addition to the requirement for the dwelling unit.
(13)
Hospitals: one per four beds, plus one per two employees of the maximum working shift, plus one per staff doctor.
(14)
Laundries: one per washing machines, plus one per employee on the maximum working shift.
(15)
Hotels, motels, boarding and lodging/rooming houses, bed-and-breakfast establishments: one per sleeping room, plus one per 200 square feet GFA in non-room areas.
(16)
Industrial uses: one per each employee in the largest working shift.
(17)
Junkyard/salvage yard: one per employee, plus one per 5,000 square feet of lot area, excluding required buffer areas.
(18)
Lumber yard: one per 500 square feet GFA, plus one per 1,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor storage area.
(19)
Medical facilities: one per 250 square feet GFA.
(20)
Nursery/greenhouse: one per 1,000 square feet of GFA, plus one per 2,000 square feet lot area, excluding buffer areas.
(21)
Nursing and convalescent homes: one per three beds, plus one per two employees in the maximum working shift, plus one per staff doctor.
(22)
Office: one per 1,000 square feet GFA.
(23)
Places of public assembly (churches, community centers, theaters, or similar meeting and assembly uses): one per five seats or one per 100 square feet where no seats are provided.
(24)
(25)
Restaurants, tea rooms, nightclubs, bars, and taverns: one per three seats. Fast food establishments (including drive-through establishments): one per 20 square feet GFA.
(26)
Retail stores and shops: one per 200 square feet GFA.
(27)
Roadside stands: three per 200 square feet GFA.
(29)
Shopping centers: 4.5 per 1,000 GFA.
(30)
Utility or communication station: one per vehicle normally required to service such facility.
(31)
Vehicular parts sales/service garages: three per bay, plus one for every 300 square feet of retail parts sales area.
(32)
Vehicular sales: one per 500 square feet of indoor GFA, plus one per 2,500 square feet of outdoor sales/rental area, plus two per service bay, plus one per employee, but never fewer than five spaces.
(33)
Vehicular wash: five per washing lane.
(34)
Warehousing/distribution: one per 5,000 square feet GFA, plus required spaces for any office or sales area.
B.
All other uses not provided for herein. For all other uses not provided for herein, required parking spaces shall be determined by a study to be prepared by the developer and approved by the Zoning Officer for any permitted use, by the Zoning Hearing Board for any special exception or variance use, or Board of Supervisors for conditional use. The study shall include the following:
(1)
Type of use and estimated number of total trips generated during peak conditions (inbound and outbound);
(2)
Estimated parking duration per vehicle trip (turnover rate);
(3)
Based on estimated number of trips generated and average parking duration per trip, calculate number of spaces required; and
(4)
Estimated number of employees; one space to be provided for every two employees working maximum shift.
§ 450-139 Bicycle parking facilities.
Bicycle parking facilities for nonresidential uses shall be provided in accordance with the following provisions:
A.
Five percent of the first 50 vehicular spaces shall be for bicycle use. If more than 50 spaces are to be provided, at least 3% of the number of spaces over 50 shall be for bicycle use.
B.
Each bicycle space shall be equipped with a device to which a bicycle frame and one wheel can be attached using a chain or cable. There shall be adequate separation between adjacent devices to allow bicycles to be attached or removed without moving other bicycles. The devices shall also be suitable for use by bicycles not equipped with kickstands, and the appearance of the device shall be generally consistent with nearby design.
C.
Bicycle parking spaces shall be convenient to the structure or use for which it is accessory. Such spaces shall be visible from at least one entrance to the structure or use and shall be lighted in accordance with parking facility lighting standards herein.
D.
Bicycle parking devices shall permit at least two feet of free space between any bicycle attached to the device and the edge of the curb or sidewalk. For roads having no curb or sidewalk, the minimum clearance shall be three feet between any bicycle attached to a parking device and the outside edge of the roadway shoulder.
§ 450-140 Location and management requirements.
A.
Existing parking. Structures and uses existing on the effective date of this chapter shall not be subject to the requirements of this article so long as the type or extent of use is not changed, provided that any parking facility now serving such structures or uses shall not in the future be reduced below such requirements.
B.
Changes in requirements. Whenever there is an alteration of a structure, a change or extension of a use which increases the parking requirements according to the standards contained herein, the total parking required for the existing structure and use, as well as the alteration, change or extension shall be provided in accordance with the requirements of that section.
C.
Conflict with other uses. No parking area shall be used for any use that interferes with its availability for the parking need it is required to serve.
D.
Continuing obligation. All required parking facilities shall be provided and maintained so long as the use exists which the facilities were designed to serve. Off-street parking facilities shall not be reduced in total extent after their provision. Reasonable precautions are to be taken by the owner or sponsor of particular uses to assure the availability of required facilities for the employees or other persons whom the facilities are designed to serve. Facilities shall at no time constitute a nuisance, hazard or unreasonable impediment to traffic.
E.
Drainage, surfacing and maintenance. Drainage, surfacing and maintenance of off-street parking areas, including driveways and access drives, shall be completed in accordance with Chapter 358, Stormwater Management, as amended, and the applicable Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, as amended.[1]
F.
Shared parking. Two or more uses may provide for required parking in a common parking lot, if the total space provided is not less than the sum of the spaces required for each use individually. The number of spaces required in a common parking facility may be reduced below this total only as a special exception, if it can be demonstrated to the Zoning Hearing Board that the hours or days of peak parking needed for the uses are so different that a lower total will adequately provide for all uses served by the facility.
G.
Computation of spaces. Where the computation of required parking space results in a fractional number, any fraction shall be counted as one.
H.
Location of spaces.
(1)
Single- and two-family residential off-street parking spaces shall be provided on the same lot or premises with the use served.
(2)
Parking spaces for multiple dwelling buildings and nonresidential uses shall be readily accessible to the buildings served thereby. Such spaces shall be in the same zoning district, as the principal building, or open area, and conform to the following regulations:
(a)
The required parking spaces shall be located within 600 feet of the principal building or open space in question measured from the edge of structure or open space to edge of parking lot closest to structure or open space.
(b)
The applicant for a use or building permit shall submit, with his application, an instrument duly executed and acknowledged which subjects such parcels of land to parking uses in connection with the principal use to which it is accessory. Upon issuance of a permit, the Zoning Officer shall cause such instrument to be recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds.
I.
Lighting.
(1)
All public parking areas shall be adequately lighted during after dark operating hours. All newly installed light standards shall be located on raised parking islands and not on the parking surface.
(2)
Any lighting used to illuminate off-street parking or loading areas shall be shielded from any street or residential use.
§ 450-141 Design standards.
A.
Parking facilities.
(1)
The minimum stall size shall be nine feet by 18 feet, except for parallel for parallel stalls. The minimum dimensions of parking facilities to be provided shall be as follows:
Parking | Aisle-Width | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Angle of Parking | Stall Width (feet) | Stall Depth* (feet) | One-Way (feet) | Two-Way (feet) |
90° | 9 | 18 | 24 | 24 |
60° | 9 | 20 | 18 | 20 |
45° | 9 | 18 | 15 | 20 |
30° | 9 | 18 | 12 | 20 |
Parallel | 8 | 24 | 12 | 20 |
NOTES: | |
* | Neither the depth (length) nor width of any parking stall shall be measured to include any part of the required dimensions of the aisle width or of any streets or access drives. |
(2)
Setbacks for parking areas shall be provided for multiple dwelling buildings and nonresidential uses as follows:
(a)
All parking spaces and access drives shall be at least 10 feet from any multiple dwelling building, or nonresidential building on the lot.
(b)
All parking spaces and access drives shall be at least five feet from any exterior lot line, except where buffer yards are required, in which case such parking spaces and access drives may not encroach on the buffer yard area.
(c)
No parking area shall be located within a public right-of-way.
(3)
Separation requirements for multiple dwelling buildings and nonresidential uses.
(a)
Except at entrance and exit drives, the parking area shall be physically separated from any public and/or private streets with a minimum six-foot-wide planting strip.
(b)
In no case shall parking areas be designed to require or encourage cars to back into a public or private street in order to leave the parking areas. When adjacent to a public or private street, a grassed buffer yard of at least 10 feet shall be provided and maintained.
(c)
All paved off-street parking spaces shall be marked so as to indicate their location.
(4)
Landscaping requirements for multiple dwelling buildings and nonresidential uses.
(a)
Buffer yards and screening shall be required for parking lots containing 10 or more parking spaces. Said buffer yard and screening shall be in accordance with buffer yard standards set forth in § 450-114 herein.
(b)
Five percent of the off-street parking and access area, exclusive of other required landscaped areas, shall be landscaped.
(c)
Parking lots containing 10 or more parking spaces shall be planted with a minimum of one tree for every eight parking spaces. Each tree shall be surrounded by a planting island consisting of no less than 50 square feet of permeable and unpaved surface. Plantings may be placed individually or collectively.
(d)
Planting islands shall be bounded by a concrete curb having a minimum height of six inches.
(e)
All plantings shall be properly maintained with dead plantings replaced in spring and fall planting seasons as needed.
(5)
Curb radius requirements for multiple dwelling buildings and nonresidential uses.
(a)
No less than a five-foot radius of curvature shall be permitted for all curblines in all parking lots.
(6)
Parking lots shall be graded to a minimum slope of 1% to provide for drainage. Adequately sized inlets, storm sewers, and or swales shall be provided to discharge stormwater in accordance with a stormwater management plan approved under the governing Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.[1]
§ 450-142 Marking of parking spaces and interior drives.
All parking lots shall be adequately marked and maintained for the purpose of defining parking spaces and interior drives. At a minimum, the lines of all parking spaces and interior drives (including directional arrows, etc.) shall be solid white and four inches in width. White paint for these lines shall comply with Township requirements. In the event parking lots are constructed of gravel or other dust-free, unpaved surface, the Township may allow, at its option, parking spaces marked with precast concrete bumpers or similar devices.
§ 450-143 Site plan approval.
A.
Each application for a zoning permit (for a use for which parking spaces are required) shall include a drawing (site plan) showing the proposed layout of the lot. The drawing shall clearly indicate all of the design elements as may be required for the particular parking proposal.
B.
No zoning permit shall be issued for any use for which parking spaces are required unless the site plan has been approved or necessary variances have been obtained.
§ 450-144 Prohibited uses of a parking lot.
Automobile parking lots are for the sole purposes of accommodating the passenger vehicles of persons associated with the use that requires them. Parking lots shall not be used for the following purposes:
§ 450-145 Off-street loading and unloading.
A.
Required spaces.
(1)
For all nonresidential uses requiring delivery or pickup of materials, a minimum number of off-street loading and unloading spaces shall be provided as follows:
Gross Floor Area (square feet) | Required Number of Loading Spaces |
|---|---|
6,000 or less | 1 loading/unloading space |
6,001 to 20,000 | 2 loading/unloading spaces |
Above 20,000 | 2 loading/unloading spaces, plus 1 additional space for each additional 50,000 square feet GFA |
(2)
Hotels shall have at least one loading space, with an additional loading berth when the floor area exceeds 50,000 square feet.
(3)
All off-street loading spaces shall be provided and maintained so long as the use exists which the facilities were designed to serve.
B.
Design standards. Off-street loading facilities shall be designed in accordance with the following specifications:
(1)
Each required space shall be not less than 12 feet in width, 45 feet in length and 14.5 feet in height, exclusive of drives and maneuvering space and located entirely on the lot being served.
(2)
There shall be appropriate means of access to a street or alley, as well as adequate maneuvering space.
(3)
The maximum width of driveway openings, measured at the street lot line, shall be 40 feet; the minimum width shall be 20 feet.
(4)
All accessory driveways and entranceways shall be graded, surfaced and drained in accordance with applicable ordinances and codes.
§ 450-146 Motor vehicle access.
Motor vehicle access to lots shall be provided as follows:
A.
Driveways. Driveways shall have the following characteristics:
(1)
Driveways shall be located as to provide sight distance at intersections with streets and shall not be located within any required clear sight triangle in accordance with the applicable section of Chapter 380, Subdivision and Land Development, as may be amended from time to time.
(2)
Driveways which intersect other than a minor street shall provide adequate turnaround within the lot so egress to the street is in a forward direction.
(3)
Only one driveway connection per 100 feet of lot frontage is permitted; no more than one driveway connection per lot shall be permitted.
(4)
The Board of Supervisors may limit the number of driveways providing access to collector or arterial streets. The Board may also require the use of shared driveways to provide ingress and egress to two residential units.
(5)
Driveways shall not connect with a public street within 40 feet of the right-of-way lines of any intersecting streets, nor within five feet of a fire hydrant.
(6)
Driveway access shall be provided to the street of lesser classification when there is more than one street classification involved.
(7)
All driveways shall be set back at least five feet from any adjacent side or rear lot lines unless a common or joint driveway location is proposed.
(8)
Driveway location shall be delineated on all land development plans; however, subdivision and land development plans may delineate location or provide a notice of conformity to this chapter.
(9)
A driveway shall not exceed a slope of 8% within 20 feet of the street right-of-way lines.
(10)
Driveways shall be paved with bituminous concrete or an equivalent stabilized material from the edge of the street cartway to the right-of-way line for the lot, or 10 feet, whichever is greater, and be provided in a manner consistent with the design, construction, and stormwater drainage of the street.
(11)
Driveways shall have a minimum width of 10 feet for single-family dwellings and 16 feet for shared driveways.