Off-street parking and loading requirements are established in order to achieve the following purposes, among others:

   A.   To relieve congestion, so that the streets can be utilized more fully for movement of vehicular traffic;

   B.   To promote the safety and convenience of pedestrians and shoppers by locating parking areas to lessen car movements in the vicinity of intensive pedestrian traffic;

   C.   To protect adjoining residential neighborhoods from the impact of on-street parking;

   D.   To promote the general convenience, welfare, and prosperity of business, service, research, production, and manufacturing developments which depend upon off-street parking facilities; and

   E.   To provide regulations and standards for the development of accessory off-street parking and loading facilities.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   Off-street parking facilities, including access driveways, shall be provided in accordance with this chapter as a condition precedent to occupancy of a residential, institutional, business, commercial or manufacturing use, in conformity with the following provisions of this chapter:

   A.   Whenever a building is constructed or a new use is established;

   B.   Whenever an existing building is altered and there is an increase in the number of dwelling units, seating capacity and/or floor area of buildings; or

   C.   Whenever the use of an existing building is changed to a use requiring more off-street parking facilities.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   All existing off-street parking facilities, or those required as accessory to a use of a proposed or altered building, shall continue unobstructed in operation, shall not be used for automobile service or repair and shall not be reduced below the required size as long as the main use remains, unless an equivalent number of spaces is provided for such use in another approved location.

   In order to ensure the continued use for automobile parking purposes of any areas established therefor, the Planning Commission may require, before approval of same, evidence in writing that the owner of the land to be included in such automobile parking areas has, by covenant, agreed to continue the use of such land for off-street parking accessory to the residential, institutional, business, commercial or industrial use for which such parking area is required, such covenant to be filed among the records of the County.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   As used in this chapter:

   A.   "Parking space" means an open or enclosed area, accessible from a street, with not less than 180 square feet (nine (9) feet by twenty (20) feet) of standing space, exclusive of drives and other accessways, for parking of motor vehicles of the owners, occupants, employees, customers or tenants of the main building use.

   B.   "Floor area," for the purpose of determining requirements for accessory off-street parking spaces, means the total area of all the floors used by the public, measured from the exterior faces of the building. Any floor or part thereof used for storage or packaging of merchandise, not to exceed twenty (20) percent of the total area used by the public, may be excluded, subject to approval of the Planning Commission.

   C.   "Seat" means the number of seating units installed or indicated, or each twenty-four lineal inches of benches, pews or space for loose chairs or similar seating facilities. Spacing of rows shall be thirty (30) inches on center.

   D.   "Employees" means the maximum number of employees on any two (2) successive shifts.

   E.   "Fractional unit," where the computation results in a fractional unit, means one (1) additional off-street parking space shall be provided.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   A.   All off-street parking facilities including entrances, exits, circulation areas and parking spaces shall be in accordance with the following standards and specifications:

      1.   Parking Space Dimensions

   Each off-street parking space shall have the following dimensions and shall be of useable shape and condition:

 

 

      2.   Accessways to Parking Areas

   Accessways to off-street parking areas shall be as follows:

         a.   The location and width of entrance and exit driveways to accessory parking facilities, except for single-family and two-family dwellings, shall be planned in such a manner as to interfere as little as possible with the use of adjacent residential property and with pedestrian and vehicular traffic on adjacent streets.

         b.   With exception of the Neighborhood Commercial District, accessways to non-residential districts shall be not closer than 100 feet to adjoining residential use districts.

         c.   With exception of the Neighborhood Commercial District, non-residential uses adjoining Single-Family and Two-Family Districts shall have a buffer strip which may not be devoted to any part of the main or accessory use of such property except landscape screening of a type to be approved by the Planning Commission which is adequate to effectively screen the non-residential land use from the adjoining residential use.

         d.   Accessways to parking areas in all nonresidential districts must be approved by the Director of Safety.

      3.   Surface Improvements of Parking Areas

   All parking facilities and accessways shall be asphalt or concrete with adequate drainage so that added injury will not be caused to adjacent property and water will not drain across a public walk.

      4.   Barriers

   Wherever a parking lot extends to a property line, fencing, wheelstops, concrete curbs or other suitable barriers shall be provided in order to prevent any part of a parked vehicle from extending beyond the property line and/or from destroying the screening materials. Furthermore, Appropriate bumper guards or curbs shall be provided where needed in order to define parking spaces or limits of paved areas.

      5.   Separate or Combined Use of Facilities

   A building containing one use shall provide off-street parking spaces as required for the specific use. A building or group of buildings containing two or more uses operating normally during the same hours, and which have different off-street parking requirements, shall provide spaces for not less than the sum of the spaces required for each use or the spaces required for a large development of business buildings.

   Institutions and places of amusement or assembly may assume that up to, but not more than, fifty percent of their requirements may be provided in adjacent parking areas which are accessory to business establishments and which normally have different hours of operation. However, where there is a combined use of facilities under separate owners, there shall be a contract governing a period of time as may be required by the Planning Commission. Should either of the combined uses be changed or discontinued, then the required spaces for the use remaining shall be provided elsewhere as a condition precedent to the continued use of such remaining building.

      6.   Signs Pertaining to Parking Areas

   No signs, except those indicating the operator, the purpose or business served or instructions for parking shall be permitted. Such a permitted sign shall be limited to not more than one (1) such sign on each street which abuts the area, shall not exceed twenty (20) square feet in area, shall not extend more than ten (10) feet in height above the ground and shall not be located outside the part of the lot used for parking or less than twenty-five (25) feet from a lot line of a residential district.

      7   Visibility

   Access of driveways for parking areas shall be located in such a way that any vehicle entering or leaving such parking area shall be clearly visible by any pedestrian or motorist approaching the access or driveway from a public street, private street or alley. Furthermore, any vehicle entering or leaving an off-street parking facility shall be traveling in a forward motion.

      8.   Marking

   All parking areas for more than five (5) vehicles shall be marked with paint lines or in some other manner approved by the City and shall be maintained in a clearly visible condition. Restriping shall be required when necessary.

      9.   Illumination of Parking Areas

   Parking areas shall be thoroughly illuminated whenever the public street lights are lit and when the buildings served are in operation. Such illumination shall be so designed and located that light sources shall be shielded from adjoining residential districts and streets and shall not be of excessive brightness. Flickering, moving or intermittent illumination shall not be permitted.

      10.   Location of Parking Facilities

         a.   Residential Buildings. Parking facilities shall be located on the same lot as the dwelling service. Except for driveways and turn-arounds, paved areas that may be used for parking shall not be located within the required front or side yard or where a building is not permitted. Group parking facilities in Multi-Family Districts shall be kept available to each dwelling unit.

   In residential districts, only one truck, not exceeding three-quarters of a ton in rated capacity, may be stored in a garage, provided such truck is used solely by the occupant.

         b.   Institutional, Amusement and Assembly Use. Parking facilities shall be located on the same lot as the use served. However, where no such adjacent land is available, the nearest point of the lot shall be located within a walking distance of 200 feet of such use, but not across a major thoroughfare.

         c.   Business Use. Parking facilities shall be located on the same lot or adjacent to the business use served in retail districts. However, where no such adjacent land is available, the nearest point of the lot shall be located within a walking distance of 200 feet of such use, but not across a major thoroughfare.

         d.   Commercial and Industrial Use. Parking facilities shall be located on the same lot as the main use served in a Commercial Service or Industrial District. However, where no such adjacent land is available, the nearest point of the lot shall be located within a walking distance of 300 feet of such use.

         e.   Yard Regulations and Protection of Adjacent Areas

            (1)   Front yard depth for off-street parking areas shall be not less than eight (8) feet when adjacent to, or across the street from, a residential district. Side or rear yards abutting a residential district shall be not less than ten (10) feet. If abutting other use districts, no side or rear yard is required.

            (2)   Off-street parking areas having a capacity of more than six (6) automobiles, when adjacent to or surrounded by a residential district, shall have bumper guards or curbs placed on the aforesaid yard (limits of parking area) lines, and the area between yard lines and side or rear lot lines shall be landscaped with a hedge or shrubs or screened by a substantially solid fence, uniformly painted, at least five (5) feet high above the finished grade. The location and type of structural or landscape features such as bumper guards, curbs, walls, fences, shrubs, ground cover or hedges, shall be approved by the City Planning Commission. Such features shall be maintained adequately at all times.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00; Ord. 2010-06. Passed 2-3-10.)

   Parking facilities serving buildings and facilities required to be accessible to the physically disabled shall have conveniently located designated parking spaces as required by the Americans With Disabilities Act and as it may be amended from time to time.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   The parking of business and commercial vehicles shall be regulated as follows:

   A.   Commercial vehicles with or without signage shall not be parked in a parking area. Such vehicles shall be parked or stored in the required off-street loading space(s) or to the rear of the building, out of view of the public right-of-way.

   B.   No motor vehicle shall be parked or stored on any area not improved in accordance with this chapter. Both the owner of any such improperly parked or stored motor vehicle and the owner or occupant of the property on which the vehicle is parked or stored shall be considered in violation of this section.

   C.   Truck parking (except the temporary parking for the delivery of goods and/or services) and the outdoor storage of trucks over 7,500 lbs. gross vehicle weight and eight (8) feet in height, busses, mobile homes and semi-tractor and/or trailers shall not be permitted as an accessory use in any Residential, Neighborhood Commercial, General Commercial, Broadway Commons Overlay, or Institutional/Office Districts.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   Accessory loading and unloading facilities shall be provided as a condition precedent to occupancy and use of any business, service, or industrial building hereafter erected and altered, and shall be maintained as long as such building is occupied or such use is continued unless equivalent facilities are provided in conformance with the regulations of this Code.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   All off-street loading spaces shall be in accordance with the following standards and specifications:

   A.   Dimensions

   Each loading space shall have a minimum dimension not less than twelve (12) feet in width, forty (40) feet in length and shall have a vertical clearance of not less than fourteen (14) feet in height.

   B.   Location of Facility

   All required accessory loading facilities shall be related to the building and use to be served to provide for loading and off-loading of delivery trucks and other service vehicles, and shall be so arranged that they may be used without blocking or otherwise interfering with the use of accessways, parking facilities, public streets, and sidewalks. A required loading space shall not face or be visible from the frontage street, and shall not be located in a required front yard or a side or rear yard which adjoins a residential district or a residential use. If a loading space is entirely enclosed, it may be located in such side or rear yard, if approved by the Planning Commission.

   C.   Screening

   In addition to the setback requirements specified above, screening shall be provided on each side of an off-street loading space that is visible from any residential district or use or public right-of-way. Screening shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 1294, Bufferyard and Landscaping of this Code.

   D.   Access

   Each required off-street loading space shall be designed for direct vehicular access by means of a driveway, or driveways, to a public street in a manner which shall not interfere with adjacent traffic movements and interior circulation. All required off-street loading spaces shall have access designed such that any vehicle leaving the premises shall be traveling in a forward motion.

   E.   Paving and Drainage

   Any off-street loading area and its access drives shall be graded and drained so that the natural flow of surface water shall not be changed or concentrated onto adjacent property by means other than a designated drainage course. Off-street loading areas and access driveways shall be improved with asphalt, concrete, pavers or cement pavement.

   F.   Lighting

   Lighting fixtures shall be designed and located so as to prevent the casting of direct rays of excessive brightness upon adjoining residential districts or cause a glare hazardous to pedestrians or operators of motor vehicles on nearby public streets and roads.

   G.   Allocation of Use

   Space required and allocated for any off-street loading facilities, maneuvering space, and access driveways, shall not, while so allocated, be used to satisfy the space requirements for off-street parking. Furthermore, no off-street loading space shall be used for repairing or servicing motor vehicles.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   In any district with the exception of the Broadway Corridor Overlay District, in connection with every building or part thereof hereafter erected and having a gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or more which is to be occupied by manufacturing, storage, warehouse, goods display, retail store, wholesale store, market, hotel, hospital, funeral home, laundry, dry cleaning or other uses similarly requiring the receipt or distribution by vehicles of materials or merchandise, there shall be provided and maintained, on the same lot with such building, at least one off-street loading space plus one additional such space for each 20,000 square feet or fraction thereof of gross floor area so used in excess of 20,000 square feet.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   Detailed drawings shall be legible and prepared to scale indicating the location, width and number of entrance driveways to necessary parking and off-street loading facilities shall be submitted to the Planning Commission, for approval prior to the granting of any building permit. Such drawing shall show the number of spaces and locations, dimensions and descriptions of all features enumerated in this Section or as required elsewhere in this Zoning Code.

   The Planning Commission may require, in addition to those Sections enumerated, further structural or landscaping features such as bumper guards, curbs, walls, fences, shrubs, trees, ground cover or hedges to further the intent and purposes of this Zoning Code. The Planning Commission, in addition, may recommend such changes in location, width and number of driveways as it shall determine are necessary to eliminate any potential traffic hazards for the proposed off-street parking and/or loading facilities.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)

   The Planning Commission may authorize a modification, reduction, or waiver of the foregoing requirements if it should find that the peculiar nature of the residential, business, trade, industrial, other use, exceptional situation or condition would justify such action. Such action from the applicant shall also show that the strict regulations of this article can be met at a later date should conditions of the property change.

(Ord. 2000-128. Passed 12-6-00.)