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Emory City Zoning Code

§ 22

PARKING SPACE REGULATIONS.

A. 
AUTOMOBILE PARKING SPACE REGULATIONS
Whenever any ordinance, regulation, or plan enacted or adopted by the City Council is for the purpose of providing off-street automobile parking spaces or of establishing requirements that such spaces be provided within any section or sections of the city, then such plan or requirements shall govern within such sections. Otherwise off-street automobile parking spaces shall be provided as follows, applicable to buildings hereafter erected and uses hereafter established, to such nonconforming uses as may be required to conform to the regulations hereof, and to extensions and enlargements of buildings and uses.
(1) 
Except as otherwise provided in this section, off-street parking spaces shall be provided as follows:
USE OF BUILDING SITE
MINIMUM NUMBER OF PARKING SPACES REQUIRED
Residential:
 
Single-Family
2.0 per dwelling unit
Multifamily:
 
Efficiency and one bedroom
1.0 per dwelling unit
Two or more bedrooms
1.5 per dwelling unit
Commercial:
 
Offices
2.0 per 1,000 sq. ft. gross floor area
Retail
3.0 per 1,000 sq. ft. gross floor area
Restaurants
1.0 per seat
Hotels, Motels
1.0 per rentable room plus 0.5 per employee on any one shift
Halls for meeting, dancing, social events
5.0 per 1,000 sq. ft. gross floor area
Industrial:
0.8 per employee on any one shift
Auditoriums and Theaters:
0.3 per seat
Churches:
1.0 per six seats
Elementary and Jr. High Schools:
1.0 per staff members
Hospitals:
1.2 per bed plus 1.0 per three staff members on any one shift
Nursing Homes:
1.0 per five beds plus 1.0 per two staff members on any one shift
The required yard setbacks for any building shall not be included in calculating the minimum space requirements for off-street parking.
(2) 
Where a building or a site contains two (2) or more uses, the off-street parking requirement shall be computed as the sum of the required off-street parking spaces for each individual use.
(3) 
Each business, commercial, manufacturing or industrial use having deliveries made by truck more than once a day between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., or where the time of loading and unloading materials or goods exceeds ten (10) minutes between those hours, shall provide off-street truck loading space on the lot, such space to be not less than thirty-five (35) feet in length, twelve (12) feet in width, and fifteen (15) feet in height.
(4) 
For the purpose of this subsection, one parking stall shall not be less than one hundred seventy-five (175) square feet in area, together with whatever area is required for means of ingress and egress thereto, except that in the case where attendants perform the act of parking in defined and adequate stalls then each such stall shall be considered a parking stall as required herein.
(5) 
A driveway for access to any single parking space or to a parking lot shall be not less than eleven (11) feet in width nor more than thirty (30) feet in width at the property line along the street and shall be so located as to minimize traffic hazard and congestion.
(6) 
All required parking stalls shall be located on the premises to which such requirement applies or within an off-street space distance not more than five hundred (500) feet from such premises, provided that such stalls as are required for employees and proprietors of any premises may be located within an off-street space distance not more than one thousand (1,000) feet from such premises except as otherwise provided in this subsection or other subsection of this Ordinance.
(7) 
Provision of parking stalls share[d] jointly by several persons in the same block or in the same vicinity is permissible, in which case the number of stalls required shall be the sum total of the individual requirements, provided that where it is found by the board of appeals, upon application thereto, that the parking demand generated by the different uses included in any joint arrangement to provide parking stalls required herein occurs at distinctly different times, as in the case of a theater generating demand for parking during such daytime hours, and in similar cases, the board may reduce the total number of parking stalls to be jointly provided.
(8) 
All parking spaces required for any use and provided in compliance with the provisions of this subsection on the same lot or plot as that occupied by such use shall be considered to be required spaces for the use or uses to which appurtenant and shall [not] be reduced or encroached upon in any manner.
(9) 
The surface of parking stalls and aisles, truck standing spaces, and access driveways therefor shall be treated, prepared and maintained for adequate drainage and the elimination of dust, dirt, and mud, according to the city specifications.
(10) 
In a case where existing off-street parking facilities have unused parking capacity and where such facilities are upon [open] to the use of the public free of charge or at reasonable rates, the board may reduce the parking space requirements for any use distance not more than eight hundred (800) feet from such facility or facilities, provided that the total number of stalls in such reduction shall be not greater than the total number of stalls of unused capacity.
(11) 
In a case where any public or private off-street parking facility, to be open to the use of the public free of charge or at a reasonable rate, is planned or is in process of development and where the board has reasonable assurance that such development will be carried to completion and will when completed relieve the parking demand in an area within five hundred (500) feet thereof in some measure or in full measure, the board may establish a reasonable time period within which any use or uses within such area shall provide required space for parking stalls. Upon completion of all or a portion of such development, the provision of paragraph (10) above may be applied by the board.
(12) 
In a case where the customary mode of transportation of a majority of the patrons, employees, and proprietors of any use, to and from the area in which such use is located, is other than by private automobile, the board may reduce by an amount not to exceed fifty percent (50%) the space required for parking stalls for such use.
(13) 
In a case where it is clearly shown by the applicant to the satisfaction of the board that the provision of the amount of space required herein for parking stalls, due to the particular nature of the proposed use or other condition, would be unnecessary hardship, the board may reduce such requirement.
B. 
RESIDENTIAL OFF-STREET PARKING
(1) 
Purpose
It is recognized that uncontrolled residential off-street parking, specifically in residential front yards, is a public nuisance. The purpose of this subsection is to provide for the regulation of residential off-street parking and to specify the requirements for residential off-street parking as they pertain to the appearance and the health, safety, and welfare of the city.
(2) 
Definitions and Restrictions
It shall be illegal for any person to park or to allow to be parked on any property under his control any automobile, bus, truck, motorcycle, motor home, camper, trailer, boat or any vehicle on any portion of a front yard of any area which is zoned under the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance unless:
(a) 
Said area is a part of a hard-surfaced driveway or parking area;
(b) 
Said area is part of a gravel driveway;
(c) 
Said area is part of a required driveway that provides access to a garage, carport or off-street parking area required by the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance;
(d) 
The term “vehicle” as used herein shall mean every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a street or highway, except devices moved exclusively by human power. The term “hard surfaced” as used herein shall include cement, asphalt, brick and other commonly accepted pavement which may be approved by the building official;
(e) 
A single-width driveway running from the street access to a garage or other parking area shall not utilize more than fifteen percent (15%) of any residential front yard, except for front yards with a front footage width of less than seventy (70) feet, in which case the maximum width for single driveway shall be eleven (11) feet;
(f) 
A double-width driveway running from the street access to a garage or other parking area shall not utilize more than twenty-seven percent (27%) of any residential front yard, provided that the maximum width of a driveway shall not exceed twenty-four (24) feet in any case and shall not exceed eighteen (18) feet for front yards with a front footage width of less than seventy (70) feet;
(g) 
A triple-width driveway running from the street to a garage or other parking area shall not utilize more than thirty-three percent (33%) of any residential front yard, provided that the maximum width of a driveway shall not exceed thirty (30) feet in any case, and shall not be permitted for front yards with a front footage width of less than eight [eighty] (80) feet;
(h) 
A drive apron means the connection between a driveway and the traveled portion of a street, in the public right-of-way, including any sidewalk area abutting thereon; or
(i) 
Circular driveways used for turnarounds or through traffic shall not utilize more than fifty percent (50%) of any residential front yards or corner side yards with a front footage or less than eight [eighty] (80) feet.
(Ordinance 4B-2005 adopted 3/15/05)