Expansion and intensification of use. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, all new buildings, and existing buildings that are either (1) altered or expanded to increase the gross floor area, or (2) seek to be converted to mixed-use status, or (3) where there is an intensification of use, shall provide off-street parking spaces as set forth in § 198-47.

Any commercially zoned property built upon at the time of this enactment, proximate to municipal parking facilities and seeking a special use permit pursuant to § 198-44(A), shall be credited with a number of parking spaces for commercial use of the property. The number of parking spaces to be credited shall be calculated as the number of spaces at the retail and personal services rate as set forth in § 198-47, which is one (1) parking space for every two hundred (200) square feet of gross floor area for one (1) story of building coverage for the entire property. This credit is inapplicable to residentially used mixed-use properties.

All residential development in commercial zoning districts shall be provided with on-site parking in accordance with § 198-47 and § 198-27(22) or § 198-46(B). Municipal parking lots and existing parking spaces providing parking for on-site commercial uses cannot be used to provide required parking for proposed residential uses; unless those mixed-use structures actually existed at the time of the within code change and the property had received prior relief to utilize the municipal lot and have continued such use pursuant to § 198-105.

[1]With respect to expansion of a building so as to increase the commercial or industrial gross floor area, a new building containing only commercial or industrial uses, or a change of use in an existing building to a commercial or industrial use requiring additional parking spaces, municipal parking facilities acquired by the Town before September 1, 2019 within three hundred (300) feet from the building in commercial districts and not more than five hundred (500) feet from the building in industrial districts may be used to satisfy all or part of the requirements as a special exception, subject to the approval of the Zoning Board of Appeals on findings that the conditions set forth in § 198-66 have been met. Municipal parking facilities acquired by the Town on or after September 1, 2019 and located in the Huntington Hamlet Center as defined in the Horizons 2020 Comprehensive Plan cannot be used to satisfy parking requirements.

In any commercial district, no building or part thereof shall be constructed with provisions for underground or aboveground parking structure(s), unless the gross floor area of such building is no greater than it would have been, meeting all required off-street parking requirements. Parking structure(s) shall not exceed either forty-six (46%) percent of the coverage of all other structures on the subject site or eleven (11%) percent coverage of the entire site, whichever is less, except where a parking structure is entirely at or below grade. Where a parking structure is entirely at or below grade, the maximum coverage for the combined buildings and structures shall not exceed the lot coverage requirement for the particular zoning district in which the property is located. That part of the parking structure(s) that will house the following will not be assessed for parking lot coverage but will be assessed for parking structure coverage (as defined in § 198-2 hereinabove):

In any industrial district, a parking structure is permitted as long as the lot coverage of all buildings and structures (including parking structures) does not exceed sixty (60%) percent of the lot area.

The requirements of this article do not limit more restrictive requirements which may be established in connection with the issuance of any special use permit.

Parking requirements for a use not listed in § 198-47 shall be the same as for a listed use of the same general characteristics of demand generation.

Where more than one (1) use occupies a building or premises, the parking requirements shall be equal to the sum of the requirements for each use.

Landbanked parking. When an applicant for a permit for a building or use shall find that required off-street parking is in excess of the demand generation of the use or building proposed, the Planning Board may reduce the extent of parking area to be improved upon a finding that any proposed modification shall be sufficient to serve the demand generation and that no hazard or traffic congestion shall result. The approved site plan shall show both the reduced area to be improved and the total requirement established by this chapter, with any unbuilt parking spaces replaced by landscaping. All landbanked parking spaces must conform to zoning requirements such as dimensions, setbacks, location, and steep slopes, but engineering work shall not be required until the spaces are proposed for construction. The applicant shall submit a Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions in a form approved by the Town Attorney, specifying that all required spaces shall be improved upon subsequent finding by the Planning Board that such improvement is needed as a result of increased demand generation or actual site conditions.

No rental or use charge shall ever be imposed for any parking spaces required by this article.

Whenever an existing accessory parking field is restriped or redesigned in order to be brought into compliance with the rules and regulations applicable to the provision of handicapped accessible parking spaces and such redesign is not accompanied by any building expansion or intensification of use requiring that additional parking be required, and as a result of such redesign there is a net loss in the number of parking spaces such that the site no longer provides parking as required by this chapter, the site plan review authority may:

Required parking spaces shall be located on the same lot as the use served, except that, where an increase is required or joint use of facilities by two (2) or more commercial establishments or two (2) or more industrial establishments has been provided, required spaces may be located not more than three hundred (300) feet from the building in business districts and not more than five hundred (500) feet from the building in industrial districts, provided that the business or industrial use is permitted or conditionally permitted in both locales. This provision shall not apply where properties are separated by four (4) or more travel lanes of a roadway, unless a pedestrian overpass or underpass is provided and the travel distance required for use of such a bypass is no greater than the distances listed within this section.

Residential uses. Required parking spaces shall be located on the same lot as the use served, except that where parking is needed for residential development as the sole use or part of a mixed-use development, required spaces for the residential use only may be located on a lot not more than one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet from the building, provided that the supported residential use is permitted or conditionally permitted on both lots, and the lot accommodating the required parking is not residentially zoned.

Upon application to and a public hearing by the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Board may find that up to fifty (50%) percent of the required parking for a theater, bowling alley, nightclub or similar use and up to one hundred (100%) percent of the required space for a church may be provided and used jointly by a bank, offices, retail stores and similar uses not normally open or operated during the same hours. Where cross easements are necessary between two (2) property owners, a formal agreement properly executed and in a form approved by the Town Attorney shall be filed with the Town.

Required off-street parking areas, including drives and accessways, shall be paved with an all-weather hard-surface material in conformance with applicable specifications of the Town, or alternate hard-surface material as approved by the Town Engineer. The Town Engineer may approve the use of gravel, stone blend or stone-paved drives and parking spaces for single- and two-family dwellings and home occupations, when there will be minimal pedestrian traffic over the area and aesthetics and drainage is a concern, as long as a method to contain loose materials from accumulation on public rights-of-way is proposed and found to be acceptable. The Town Engineer may approve the use of the similar materials or geo- or paver blocks for use in the C-9 Harbor Use District when high groundwater and drainage considerations make such a substitution desirable. This exclusion shall not apply to required handicapped accessible parking spaces in the C-9 Harbor Use District, which shall be paved.

Whenever a parking area of a commercial, office or industrial use, including any driveways leading to said parking area, adjoins a residence district, fencing, and a buffer strip of not less than ten (10) feet in width consisting of dense evergreen, shall be provided.

Any night lighting of parking areas shall be designed, located and placed in conformance with the provisions of Chapter 143.

No parking area shall be located within five (5) feet of a lot line nor within ten (10) feet of a residence district boundary, with the following exceptions:

A parking space shall be a surfaced area, enclosed in a building or unenclosed, having an area of not less than three hundred fifty (350) square feet, including driveways, designed for the temporary storage of one (1) automobile and connected to a street by an all-weather-surfaced driveway which affords satisfactory ingress and egress. Each space shall have dimensions of not less than nine (9) feet by twenty (20) feet, except that the stall length may be reduced when the stall is head-in to a required buffer, provided that the buffer is increased by a corresponding amount, and except that the stall length may be reduced to eighteen (18) feet inside a parking structure, and except that a width of eight (8) feet shall be considered adequate for one- and two-family dwellings. A maximum of up to ten (10%) percent of all required parking spaces, whether in a building or unenclosed, may be designated for small-car parking, providing an area of approximately three hundred (300) square feet per car, including backup space, aisle and driveway, on all site plans reviewed and approved by the Planning Board. Such spaces shall have a dimension of eight (8) feet in width and eighteen (18) feet in length, except that the stall length may be reduced when it is head-in to a required buffer, provided that the buffer is increased by a corresponding amount. Small-car parking area(s) shall be prominently marked with signs, designating such spaces for small-car parking only, and such restrictions shall be enforced by the property owner. Any area that is in excess of that which the Code would require without small-car parking shall be added to the areas to be landscaped, with trees, in accordance with all of the applicable provisions of the Subdivision Regulations Site Improvement Specifications.

Within a residence district, no parking area required for a nonresidential use, including permitted home occupations, shall be located in the front yard or street-side side yard, except that this shall not prohibit short-term parking in an existing driveway.

Driveway cuts through required buffer strips separating permitted nonresidential uses may be allowed by the site plan review authority, who may then modify the requirement for any parking spaces that may be lost by said parking lot consolidation, pursuant to § 198-43.

Every other double row of parking spaces shall have a landscaped center median. For every double row of parking spaces without a landscaped center median, every seventh front-to-front double space shall have a nine-foot-wide by eight-foot-deep treed landscaped island. The parking stalls at both ends of these islands shall be sixteen (16) feet long and shall be designated for subcompact cars only.

The Zoning Board of Appeals may reduce the requirements for off-street parking as set forth in the table of this article[1] upon a finding that the amount of space to be provided is adequate to reasonably serve the use proposed.[2]