Newburgh City Zoning Code
ARTICLE IX
Off-Street Parking and Loading
§ 300-66 General requirements.
A.
Applicability. In any district, if a new structure is constructed, the use of any structure is enlarged or extended, and the use of any lot is established or any existing use is changed after the effective date of this chapter, off-street parking and off-street loading spaces shall be provided in accordance with the requirements of the bulk and area tables[1] for the appropriate district as well as the requirements of this article.
B.
Exemption. If a structure or use in existence prior to the effective date of this chapter is expanded or enlarged, it shall not have to comply with the requirements of this article if such expansion or enlargement would require less than a fifteen-percent increase in the number of parking spaces that would have been required of the use as it existed on the effective date of this chapter.
C.
When units or measurements determining the number of required parking or loading spaces result in a requirement of a fractional space, any fraction equal to or greater than 1/2 shall be rounded up.
E.
Off-street parking in front of the building will only be permitted with site plan approval from the Planning Board. The plan shall include trees and plantings that adequately screen the parked cars from street views. All residential dwellings for which front yard parking is proposed will have to have obtain site plan approval even if no significant construction is occurring.
§ 300-67 Off-street parking standards.
C.
New buildings shall include off-street parking plans as part of the design of the building. Uses that are particularly parking dependent, such as theaters and supermarkets, shall include the number of parking spaces associated with their use as outlined in the Schedule of Use Tables accompanying this chapter.[2]
D.
New buildings that require site plan approval shall include off-street parking plans for bicycles as part of the design of the building. The number of spaces and design of the facilities shall be determined in consultation with the Planning Board as part of the site plan review process.
§ 300-68 Design, layout and construction of parking areas.
A.
Standards for parking and loading spaces. When five or more parking spaces or two or more loading spaces are required, said spaces shall meet the following standards, and the plans shall be approved by the Building Inspector.
(1)
Each perpendicular parking space shall not be less than nine feet by 18 feet. No less than 300 square feet of parking area, including space for maneuvers, shall be provided per parking space, and the arrangement of parking spaces shall be approved by the Building Inspector.
(2)
Each loading space shall be not less than 1,000 square feet in horizontal area nor less than 14 feet in height, including space for maneuvering, and the arrangement of layout of off-street loading areas shall be approved by the Building Inspector.
(3)
Any portion of any entrance or exit driveway shall not be closer than 20 feet to the curbline of an intersecting street nor closer than five feet to any lot line, and both distances shall be maintained by a curb.
(4)
Any two driveways leading from a street to a single lot shall not be within 30 feet of each other at their intersections with the front lot line for an interior lot and 40 feet for a corner lot.
(5)
Any entrance or exit driveway for a residential use shall not exceed 20 feet nor be less than 12 feet in width at its intersection with the front lot line. Any entrance or exit driveway for a nonresidential use shall not exceed 24 feet nor be less than 12 feet in width at its intersection with the front lot line.
(6)
Exits and entrances shall be a minimum of 50 feet from any entrance or exit located on the same side of the street on which the entrance or exit abuts, unless the Planning Board determines that this distance may be reduced without impacting public safety.
(7)
Exits and entrances shall be a minimum of 200 feet, as measured along the side of the street on which they abut, from any school, public playground, church, public library, hospital, or institution for dependents or children.
B.
Location and screening.
(1)
All off-street parking shall be located behind or to the side of the principal building, except as provided in §§ 300-31H(2), 300-33D, 300-66E, and 300-157, and except for the parking of bicycles. Parking spaces located in a side yard shall, if possible, be screened from public view. Adjoining parking areas shall be connected directly to one another or to a service road or alley wherever feasible to reduce turning movements onto roads.
(2)
If a parking lot containing five or more spaces lies within or borders the WPO or any R District, a buffer zone at least five feet wide shall be planted with trees or dense vegetation to provide screening along all boundary lines, unless the adjoining properties are in the CD, PO, or IND Districts.
(3)
No portion of the area used for parking within the Commercial, Industrial, or Planned Office Districts shall be within 20 feet of a residential dwelling on an adjoining lot. The Planning Board may reduce this setback requirement based on the unique circumstances of the site plan application or the inclusion of additional mitigation, such as appropriate landscaping, fencing, or similar measures designed to screen and buffer the parking lot from the residential dwelling.
C.
Construction of parking areas. Parking areas shall be surfaced with a suitable durable dustless surface, including but not limited to asphalt, concrete, paving stones, or Belgian block, which shall meet the approval of the City Planning Board. Parking areas shall be constructed with adequate drainage. Surfacing, grading, and drainage shall facilitate groundwater recharge by minimizing impermeable pavement and runoff. Overflow or peak period parking surfaces shall be permeable. Oil traps may be required for larger paved parking lots.
D.
Landscaping and screening.
(1)
Parking areas shall be designed and landscaped to avoid long, uninterrupted rows of vehicles by breaking them into separate parking lots divided by tree lines, alleys, pedestrian areas, or buildings. Parking lots containing more than 40 spaces shall be divided into smaller areas by landscaped islands at least five feet wide located no more than 120 feet apart. All islands shall be planted with three-inch minimum caliper shade trees at a density of at least one tree for every 20 linear feet of island. Parking lots containing fewer than 40 spaces shall provide at least one three-inch minimum caliper shade tree per eight spaces.
(2)
The screening shall consist of a solid fence or wall not less than three feet nor more than six feet in height or shrubbery planted not more than three feet apart on center, at least two feet from the lot line, and all maintained in good condition. No portion of an area used for parking shall be closer than five feet to a sidewalk.
(3)
A substantial bumper of masonry, steel or heavy timber shall be placed near all interior lot lines to protect structures and property abutting a parking or loading area for parking areas with five vehicles or more.
E.
Lighting. Lighting within parking lots shall be on low poles of 12 to 15 feet maximum height, with color-corrected lamps and cutoff luminaires designed to minimize glare and light pollution. Design of poles and luminaires shall be compatible with the style of the architecture and adjoining streetscape treatment. Sidewalks leading from parking lots shall be lit with bollard lighting and indirect illumination of buildings and vegetation.
F.
Nonconforming parking lots shall be brought into conformity with this section to the extent practical whenever a site plan or special use permit application is filed for an expansion or change of use.
§ 300-69 Off-street loading space requirements.
A.
General requirement. Loading docks and service areas shall be located to minimize visual intrusion on public spaces and ensure pedestrian and automobile safety by separating truck traffic and loading operations from pedestrian and automobile circulation. Where appropriate, loading docks shall be screened by walls extending from a building face or placed within arcades or other architectural features assigned to blend them with the architecture of the building. Adjacent buildings shall be sited to allow shared access to loading docks through the use of common loading zones or service alleys.
B.
In any district, in connection with every building or building group or part thereof hereafter erected and having a gross floor area of 10,000 square feet or more which is to be occupied by industrial, distribution, or commercial uses, there shall be provided and maintained on the same zone lot with such building off-street loading berths in accordance with the following requirements:
Use | Floor Area (square feet) | Required Off-Street Loading Berths |
|---|---|---|
Retail, commercial, wholesale, industrial storage | 10,000 to 25,000 | 1 |
25,000 to 40,000 | 2 | |
40,000 to 60,000 | 3 | |
60,000 to 100,000 | 4 | |
For each additional 50,000 | +1 | |
Marinas, boat repair | Per 10,000 | 1 |
C.
Each loading space shall be not less than 10 feet in width, 25 feet in length, and 14 feet in height and may not occupy any part of a required front or side yard.
§ 300-70 Shared parking and special off-street parking permit.
A.
The use of the same off-street parking or loading spaces by two or more uses is allowed, subject to the provisions of Article XII or when an applicant has been granted a special off-street parking permit pursuant to the requirements of this section.
B.
When an application made pursuant to this chapter does not require site plan approval, an applicant may apply for a special off-street parking permit from the City Planning Board. The City Planning Board may grant a special off-street parking permit to an applicant in order to modify the number of parking spaces otherwise required by this chapter.
C.
In order to grant the special off-street parking permit and modify the required off-street parking requirements, the City Planning Board must find that:
D.
When off-street parking or loading serves two or more uses, whether such uses are on the same lot or on separate lots within 500 feet, the City Planning Board may reduce the number of off-street parking spaces required of each use if it finds that the number of off-street parking spaces proposed will substantially meet the intent of this article by reason of variation in the probable time of maximum parking demand for each use. In such event, the City Planning Board may condition the special off-street parking permit on certain hours of operation for each use.
E.
Procedure.
(1)
Applications for a special off-street parking permit shall be submitted to the Building Inspector in the manner and form prescribed by the City Planning Board, accompanied by the fee as listed in Chapter 163 of the Code of the City of Newburgh.
(2)
Complete applications for a special off-street parking permit that are received by the deadline stipulated in the approved City Planning Board Policies and Procedures, which is available in the office of the Building Inspector, will be reviewed by the City Planning Board at the next regularly scheduled meeting.