Lansdowne City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VIII
Parking
§ 330-45 General requirements.
As a general requirement, each use in the Borough shall provide sufficient off-street parking and loading area to serve its uses.
§ 330-46 Off-street parking required.
A.
Off-street parking and loading provisions as set forth in this article shall be required in all instances, except the remodeling of existing buildings as follows:
(1)
In the event of a change of an existing use in an existing building, no additional off-street parking shall be required if the total floor space does not increase and if the new existing use does not require any more spaces under this article than the use it replaces.
(2)
On-street parking spaces immediately adjacent to the property line of existing buildings may be used to count toward the requirements of this article.
B.
All off-street parking and loading areas, whether required by this article or not, shall be developed, maintained, and used in accordance with the provisions set forth in this article.
C.
In the Central Business District, it is recognized that visitors may initially arrive by foot, motor vehicle or mass transit but, once arrived, pedestrian traffic will account for the principal mode of transportation. Accordingly, individual parking needs may be satisfied either individually or through common parking lots.
§ 330-47 Off-street parking standards.
A.
A parking spaces shall have a dimension of nine feet by 18 feet. Parking lots with 10 or more spaces may designate up to 20% of the spaces as compact spaces with dimensions of eight feet by 15 feet.
C.
Interior aisles or maneuvering lanes shall have a minimum width as follows:
Angle of Parking Space | Parking Aisle Width in Feet | |
|---|---|---|
Parallel | 12 | |
Less than 45° | 17 | |
60° to 45° | 19 | |
90° to 60° | 22 |
§ 330-48 Minimum required parking spaces.
The purpose of required parking spaces is to provide enough on-site parking to accommodate the majority of traffic generated by the range of uses which might locate at the site over time. Transit-supportive plazas and bicycle parking may be substituted for some required parking on a site to encourage transit use and bicycling by employees and visitors to the site. The required parking numbers correspond to broad use categories, not specific uses, in response to this long-term emphasis.
A.
The number of automobile parking spaces required is as follows:
Type of Use | Parking Spaces Required | |
|---|---|---|
Dwelling, single-family detached, semidetached, or attached (townhouse) — 1 bedroom | 1 space | |
Dwelling, single-family detached, semidetached, or attached (townhouse) — 2 or more bedrooms | 2 spaces | |
Dwelling, multifamily — studio apartment or 1 bedroom | 0.5 space per dwelling unit | |
Dwelling, multifamily — 2 bedrooms | 1 space per dwelling unit | |
Dwelling, multifamily — 3 or more bedrooms | 2 spaces per dwelling unit | |
Dwelling, multifamily — for ages 55 or older | 1 space per 4 dwelling units | |
Commercial, office, and institutional | 3 spaces per 1,000 square feet | |
Industrial | 1 space per 1,000 square feet | |
Warehouse | 0.25 space per 1,000 square feet |
B.
The number of bicycle parking spaces required is as follows:
Type of Use | Parking Spaces Required | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Residential Categories | |||
Dwelling, single-family detached, semidetached, or attached (townhouse) | None | ||
Dwelling, multifamily | 2 or 1 per 10 automobile spaces | ||
Commercial Categories | |||
Retail, sales, service, office | 2 or 1 per 20 automobile spaces, whichever is greater | ||
Institutional Categories | |||
Schools | |||
High | 4 per classroom | ||
Middle | 2 per classroom | ||
Elementary | 2 per 4th and 5th grade classroom | ||
Religious institutions, day-care uses, medical clinics | 2 or 1 per 40 automobile spaces | ||
Industrial Categories | 2 or 1 per 40 automobile spaces, whichever is greater | ||
C.
Every required parking space shall have direct access from or to a public street or alley without first requiring movement of another motor vehicle.
D.
The layout of any parking area shall be designed to allow vehicles to move forward when exiting onto a public street, except for the following:
E.
Garages located along any street or alley shall have their exit points located at least 22 feet from the opposite cartway limit of the street or alley onto which vehicles are exiting.
§ 330-49 Off-street parking surfaces.
A.
All off-street parking areas shall be properly graded and drained to dispose of all surface water accumulations within the area.
B.
No surface water from any parking or loading area shall be permitted to drain onto any adjoining property.
C.
Any parking area with access or egress directly onto a street 24 feet or wider in the Downtown District shall be surfaced with an asphaltic, bituminous, cement, brick, or other properly bound pavement so as to provide a durable and dustless surface. Other parking lots may be surfaced with pavement or gravel.
D.
Curbs, bumper guards, bollards or wheel stops shall be installed in parking and loading areas where there is a protective fence, wall or hedge to ensure that vehicles will not strike them or obstruct public rights-of-way.
§ 330-50 Overflow parking surfaces.
Off-street areas used for special event parking (to accommodate occasional overflow volumes) may be constructed of any dust-free compacted, pervious ground cover. The owner of the property shall be responsible for the maintenance of such parking in a clean and dust-free condition. Grass and mulch are examples of acceptable pervious ground cover.
§ 330-51 Lighting of parking areas.
A.
All parking areas for more than 10 vehicles serving business uses and collective residential parking shall be adequately illuminated during the hours between sunset and sunrise when the use is in operation. Any lighting used to illuminate any off-street parking area, whether required or not, shall be so arranged or shielded to protect any adjacent residential premises from the glare of the illumination.
B.
Fixtures shall be equipped with or be capable of being back fitted with light-directing devices or cutoff devices such as shields, visors or hoods when necessary to redirect offending light distribution. Lights shall be installed or aimed so that they do not project their output into the window of a neighboring residence, an adjacent use, directly skyward, or onto a roadway.
§ 330-52 Access driveways.
A.
Each separate use or group of buildings constructed and maintained on a lot as a unified development shall have no more than two accessways connecting a tract to any one street or highway for each 300 feet of frontage.
B.
The accessway shall be from eight feet wide to 20 feet wide in the Downtown and Conservation Districts.
C.
In the Downtown and Conservation Districts, the accessway shall be on a side street at the rear of the property, no less than 30 feet from the corner, unless this is physically not possible.
§ 330-53 Accessory parking lots.
Parking lots as accessory uses to provide required parking spaces may be located on a land parcel separate from the building or use it serves. All required parking spaces shall be:
§ 330-54 Shared parking lots.
A.
Multiple buildings or uses may share parking lots to meet the required parking spaces of this article, provided the lot is owned by one or more of the users.
B.
Before a parking lot may serve multiple users, a formal written agreement shall be signed by all the parties containing a site plan and the number of spaces to be allocated to each user. A copy of this agreement shall be kept on file by the Zoning Officer, who may revoke the zoning permits of the users if the agreement is not maintained.
C.
In order to encourage the maximum use of Lansdowne's parking lots, the following rules will govern:
(1)
If the applicants combine residential uses with nonresidential uses having normal business hours between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., each space may be counted for both uses.
(2)
If the applicants can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Borough that the peak business hours for each use are substantially different, such as an office having daytime hours combined with a restaurant having peak use in the evening, each space may be counted for both uses.
(3)
If the applicants' business hours are substantially the same, or if the applicants are all residential uses, the total spaces required shall be the total of all proposed uses.
§ 330-55 Off-street loading standards.
A.
Off-street loading and unloading space(s) with proper and safe access from a street or alley shall be provided in the rear yard of each lot used for business or other purposes where such facilities are necessary to adequately serve any such use within the district.
B.
Required off-street parking space, including aisles, shall not be used for loading or unloading purposes.
C.
Loading and unloading facilities shall be provided on a paved, all-weather surface.
§ 330-56 Parking structures.
A.
Structured parking facilities shall be architecturally integrated or designed with an architectural theme similar to the main building.
B.
Structured parking facilities must be designed so that the only openings at the street level are those to accommodate vehicle entrances and pedestrian access to the structure. The remainder of the street-level frontage must be either occupied retail space or an architecturally articulated facade designed to screen the parking areas of the structure to encourage pedestrian-scale activity and to provide for urban open space.
C.
Lights visible from the exterior of the structure shall be covered or screened with a diffusing lens and oriented to minimize the visual impact from the opposite side of the street.
§ 330-57 Parking lot design.
Lansdowne's downtown and many of its traditional neighborhoods were constructed in the era before automobiles became widely used. The Borough's development pattern of closely spaced buildings, often placed up against the street, give it the distinct neighborhood feel and identity it enjoys today. To retain that special feel in the automobile era, Lansdowne needs to accommodate cars without demolishing buildings or otherwise destroying the character of its downtown and residential neighborhoods.
A.
Where it is physically possible, parking lots shall be located behind buildings, such that buildings separate parking areas from the street. In cases where this is not possible, parking may be located to the side of the building, but in no case shall the parking area be wider than 50% of the lot frontage, and in no case shall parking be located in front of a building. Parking shall not be placed to the side of a building adjacent to a street unless there is no other feasible alternative.
B.
Parking lots visible from a street shall be continuously screened by a three-foot-high wall/fence or plantings. Parking lots adjacent to a residential district shall be continuously screened by a six-foot-high wall/fence or plantings. Screenings shall include:
(1)
Hedges, installed at 36 inches in height; or
(2)
Mixed planting (trees and shrubs); or
(3)
Wall/fence sections, with no wall break of more than nine feet, provided that it is constructed of wood, brick, stone, vinyl designed to look like wood, brick, stone, stucco over concrete block (capped with brick, slate or stone), or ornamental iron (or ornamental aluminum, steel or vinyl designed to look like iron), and landscaping to provide a continuous screen.
 |
§ 330-58 Parking lot landscaping and screening requirements.
Interior landscaping requirements. All parking areas containing 10 or more parking spaces and all loading areas shall be landscaped in accordance with the following requirements:
A.
At least 5% of the interior area of the parking facility (excluding parking structures) shall be landscaped. This does not include the perimeter planting provided for beautification or to satisfy screening requirements.
B.
Each planting area shall be at least 20 square feet in area and have no dimension less than four feet.
C.
Each planting area shall contain at least one tree and the facility as a whole shall contain at least one tree for every eight parking spaces.
D.
Trees used to satisfy parking lot landscaping requirements shall be a minimum caliper of 2 1/2 inches at planting and shall be suitable for location in parking lots, as defined by the Lansdowne Borough Shade Tree Commission.
E.
Existing trees shall be preserved wherever possible.
F.
Existing and new trees shall be protected by bollards, high curbs, or other barriers sufficient to minimize damage.
G.
Extensive unbroken pavement areas in large at-grade open parking facilities shall not be permitted. In parking lots containing 25 or more spaces, a row shall contain no more than 10 contiguous parking spaces without a densely planted landscaped buffer with dimensions of at least six feet by 18 feet.
§ 330-59 Special requirements applicable to Neighborhood Conservation District.
A.
No parking or parking space shall be provided in the front yard of any residential use.
B.
Except as permitted in § 312-20 of the Lansdowne Borough Code (Chapter 312, Vehicles and Traffic, Article II, Parking, § 312-20, commercial parking), no commercial vehicle (as that term is defined in § 312-20) shall be parked on or off street in the Neighborhood Conservation District.
[Amended 6-20-2012 by Ord. No. 1273]
C.
The outdoor parking of recreational vehicles (including campers, pop-up tents, motor homes, snowmobiles and their trailers) shall be permitted in the Neighborhood Conservation District only if: