Every parcel of land hereafter used as a parking area, loading or unloading area, parking lot, or stacking area, for the purposes of this Article, may be referred to collectively as "parking area" or "parking areas." Every parking area shall be developed and maintained in accordance with the following requirements:

13.11 Size, Shape, Access. Off-street parking areas shall equal or exceed the number of spaces or area required and shall be of useable shape and surface, and shall have appropriate ingress and egress. Aisles and access drives shall be designed so as to provide adequate vehicular maneuvering upon the property being served and in no case shall off-street parking areas be permitted which encourage or require the backing onto or maneuvering within any public right-of-way, unless otherwise specifically permitted in this Zoning Ordinance.

13.111 Specific Provision to Allow Backing onto Local or Minor Collector Street Public Rights-of-Way. In all residential zones except R-1T, driveways and parking areas for dwelling units not sharing a common parking area may allow the backing onto a public right-of-way that is designated by the OMPC as a local street or minor collector street, provided that said driveways or parking areas shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) coverage of the total required front yard or side-street yard. In planned residential development projects, any individual driveway or common parking area may allow the backing onto internal public or private street rights-of-way, as delineated on the development plans approved by the OMPC.

13.112 Specific Provision to Allow Backing onto Public Alleys. In any zone, any parking area, except a loading or unloading area, may allow the backing onto public alleys. Vehicular use area perimeter landscape easements may be eliminated where continuous pavement would preclude the application of the landscape easement along the alley.

13.12 Paving. Except for single-family residential uses and A-U, A-R, and EX-1 zones, where parking areas are provided they shall be improved within six (6) months of application of any base material with an asphalt, concrete, brick or other properly bound surface, so as to be durable and dustless, unless otherwise specifically permitted in this Zoning Ordinance.

13.13 Lighting. Any lighting used to illuminate off-street parking areas shall be arranged so as to reflect away from any adjoining Residential zone or uses and any public right-of-way.

13.14 Drainage. Every parking area shall be graded and drained so as to dispose of all surface water within the parking area without carrying the accumulated water over a public sidewalk. Piping the water to a suitable outfall may be required. For any parking area, permanent storm water retention may be required by the official storm drainage engineer having jurisdiction, upon the determination that the lack of said retention would cause or aggravate flooding or other drainage problems on surrounding or downstream properties.

13.15 Landscaping. Off-street parking areas shall be landscaped and screened as required by other provisions of this Zoning Ordinance. Landscaping and screening for off-street parking areas within the Downtown Overlay District shall meet the standards in Article 21.

13.16 Size and Arrangement of Parking Spaces. The minimum width of a parking space shall be nine feet (9'). The minimum length shall be based on the parking angle. Parking space and parking area dimensions shall comply with the specifications in the following exhibit. ADA parking standards shall comply with current federal ADA parking sizes and requirements.

A maximum of ten percent (10%) of off-street parallel parking spaces may be included as required parking spaces. Parallel spaces exceeding ten percent (10%) of the total required off-street parking shall be considered as accessory parking spaces and shall not count toward the required number of spaces needed for a use.

13.161 Parking Space and Parking Area Dimensions

13.17 Location of Parking Spaces. Wherever possible, parking spaces shall be provided on the same lot as the building being served. In the event off-street parking requirements cannot be met on the lot, the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission may approve a final development plan with required parking spaces provided on a separate lot under the following criteria: For residential properties, parking shall be provided on the same lot with the building it is required to serve; for uses located or permitted in the Professional/Service or any Business zone, not more than two hundred (200) feet from the lot the parking spaces are required to serve; for hospitals, nursing, convalescent and rest homes, orphanages, private clubs, dormitories and churches, not more than three hundred (300) feet from the lot the parking spaces are required to serve; for uses permitted in the Industrial zones, not more than five hundred (500) feet from the lot the parking spaces are required to serve. Legal documentation tying the required parking to the permitted use must be submitted with the final development plan. No portion of off-site parking designated for a lot containing the use for which the parking is designated may be located at a greater distance than allowed by these regulations. The Owensboro Metropolitan Board of Adjustment shall not have the authority to grant dimensional variances from this requirement.

[13.18] Right-of-Way Construction Permits. No curbs on streets shall be cut or altered without written approval of the City Engineer, County Engineer, or state highway department, as appropriate to the situation.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010)

The locations of vehicular access points along streets shall be based on the functional class of each street. The widths of driveways shall be based upon the uses they serve.

13.21 Access Management for Major Streets. Access to building developments located along arterial or major collector streets in the Owensboro Urban Service Area shall be subject to the driveway spacing standards and the policies for applying those standards, as specified in the adopted "Access Management Manual for the Owensboro-Daviess County Urban Area."

13.22 Access on Other Streets. Access to building developments located along all minor collector or local streets, and along major streets or roads outside the Urban Service Area, shall be limited as follows: The total width of all driveways shall not exceed forty percent (40%) of the lot width as measured at the building setback line. For residential development, no point of access shall be allowed within ten feet (10') of the right-of-way line of an intersecting street. For non-residential development, no point of access to a street or to a shared development driveway shall be allowed within fifty feet (50') of the right-of-way line of an intersecting street (disregarding alleys), unless less existing lot frontage exists, in which case it shall be located as far from the intersecting street as possible.

13.23 Maximum Driveway Widths. The width of each driveway along any street, as measured at the property line, shall not exceed the maximum dimensions in the following exhibit. All driveway widths in the Downtown Overlay District shall conform to Article 21.

13.231 Maximum Driveway Widths
as measured at the property line

13.24 Access Exceptions. The foregoing provisions of this section may be superseded in the following cases.

13.241 Alleys. Access points to any lot where it adjoins an alley may be established as necessary.

13.242 Planned Developments. The OMPC may apply less restrictive access standards along internal public or private local street rights-of-way for planned development projects, as delineated on the development plans approved by the OMPC.

13.243 Subdivision Plats. The OMPC may apply more restrictive access standards to subdivision plats, depending on lot arrangement, as provided in the metropolitan subdivision regulations and public improvement specifications.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010)

13.31. In any zone every building hereafter erected that is to be occupied by uses requiring the receipt or distribution by large vehicles of material objects or merchandise, there shall be provided and maintained not less than one (1) loading and unloading space.

13.32. Each loading space shall not be less than ten (10) feet in width, twenty-five (25) feet in length and a minimum vertical clearance of fourteen (14) feet, except that the minimum vertical clearance for funeral homes may be reduced to eight (8) feet. Except in the B-2 zone, each space shall be so located with respect to access drives and aisles so as to preclude backing onto or occupying any public right-of-way.

13.33. Each loading space may occupy all, or any part, of any required yard space, except as otherwise provided in this Zoning Ordinance. No such space shall be located closer than fifty (50) feet to any other lot in a Residential zone unless wholly within a completely enclosed building or enclosed on all sides by a wall or a uniformly painted solid board fence not less than five (5) feet in height. Location of loading spaces for all properties within the Downtown Overlay District shall comply with standards in Article 21.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010)

13.41 Existing Parking Areas. Any parking or loading spaces established prior to the adoption or amendment of this Zoning Ordinance and which are used or intended to be used in connection with any principal building, structure or use, or any spaces designed and intended to comply with the requirements of this Zoning Ordinance for any principal building or structure erected after the adoption or amendment date shall hereafter be maintained so long as said building, structure or use remains, unless the owner provides and maintains in another location an equivalent number of required spaces in conformance with the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance.

13.42 Change of Use and Off-Site Accessory Parking. Where the principal use is changed and additional parking space is required under the terms of this Zoning Ordinance as a result of the change, it shall be unlawful to begin or maintain the altered use until the required off-street parking is provided. If the additional parking area cannot be consolidated into the lot containing the principal building due to intervening street rights-of-way, the OMPC may approve a development plan that binds additional parking located off-site to the principal use, as "off-site accessory parking." However, off-site accessory parking shall be regulated as a "parking lot" for the purposes of the Zones and Uses Table of this Zoning Ordinance.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010)

13.51 Automobile, Manufactured Housing or Other Vehicle Sales Lots, Automobile Service Stations, and Farm Equipment Dealers. Every parcel of land hereafter used to display, rent, sell, or service automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, boats, recreational vehicles, manufactured homes, farm equipment, or used for the minor repair thereof, or used as an automobile service station shall be subject to the requirements of this Zoning Ordinance concerning paving, lighting landscaping, drainage, and minimum yards and setbacks, and shall be considered, in the application thereof, as the equivalent of a parking area for more than six (6) vehicles, regardless of size.

13.511 Paving Exception for Display of Manufactured Homes and Large Contractor Equipment and Farm Vehicles. As an exception to the foregoing, the surface of parking spaces designated for the display of manufactured homes or large contractor and farm vehicles may be exempted from the full paving specification, subject to the following conditions: A development plan is approved by the OMPC; the plan designates the location of areas to display the large vehicles; the spaces are surfaced in some manner so that the large vehicles to be displayed thereon will not deform wet ground; entrance aprons shall be paved a minimum of fifty (50) feet from the property line and all drive aisles that are used to access required parking shall be paved; all required parking spaces shall be paved and screening/buffering shall be installed as follows:

- Where adjacent to any residential, MHP, professional/service or agricultural zoned property that is under ten (10) acres with a house, a ten (10) foot easement with a six (6) foot tall solid wall or fence with one (1) tree every forty (40) linear feet shall be installed.

- Where adjacent to the road right-of-way, a three (3) foot wide easement with a continuous three (3) foot tall element and one (1) tree every forty (40) linear feet shall be installed.

- Where adjacent to any commercial, industrial, coal mining or large agricultural parcel, the screening requirements may be waived.

13.52 Stacking Area for Uses with Drive-up Facilities. For any use with drive-up facilities where vehicles line up awaiting use of those facilities, such as at fast-food restaurants, bank teller machines, car-washes, etc., a vehicular stacking area shall be provided so that a minimum of four (4) vehicles may line up behind one (1) vehicle while it is standing at the facility's first stopping point (such as an order board, etc.). Each vehicular stacking area shall be provided wholly on the property, shall not occupy any street right-of-way, shall be arranged so as to allow vehicles entering the property from the right-of-way to bypass any stacking area, and shall be subject to all other requirements of a vehicular use area as contained in this Zoning Ordinance. A stacking area shall not apply to designated parking spaces at drive-in restaurants from which food is ordered and to which food is delivered.

13.53 Dwelling Units Permitted Tandem Parking Spaces. For any dwelling unit requiring two (2) off-street parking spaces, one space may be behind the other only if said dwelling unit does not share a common parking area with other units.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010; Ord. No. 30-2014, § 2, 11-18-2014)

13.61 Where Permitted. Off-street parking areas may be located in any required yard unless prohibited in the subsection below or by minimum distance requirements from non-compatible uses as specified elsewhere in this Zoning Ordinance. Location of parking areas for all properties within the Downtown Overlay District shall be governed by Article 21.

13.62 Where Prohibited. Off-street parking areas shall be prohibited in the following yards or portions of yards, except for permitted access drives:

13.621 R-1T Zones. In the R-1T Zone, driveways or parking areas shall not be permitted in required front or side-street yards, and access to driveways and parking areas shall be gained only from public alleys.

13.622 Roadway Buffers. In all zones other than R-1T or B-2, all off-street parking areas and all other vehicular use areas shall be subject to a roadway buffer that specifies a minimum parking and landscaping setback requirement in any yard adjacent to major streets. No portion of parking areas or other vehicular use areas (except for permitted access drives), and no associated landscape areas and materials that are required by this Zoning Ordinance, shall be located within the roadway buffer. The following exhibit specifies the minimum dimensions for required roadway buffers and the streets to which they apply.

13.6221 Minimum Dimensions of Required Roadway Buffers along Major Streets *1 *3

*1 Roadway buffers shall not apply along any streets in B-2 and R-1T zones.

*2 Projected ADT shall mean the projected Average Daily Traffic volumes, measured in vehicles per day, derived from the Long-Range Transportation Plan, as adopted by the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Owensboro-Daviess County Urban Transportation Study. For roadways not included in the Transportation Plan. ADT shall be derived from current volumes.

*3 Major streets and their associated ADTs that shall apply to Roadway Buffers are shown in the map at the end of Article 8 of this Zoning Ordinance.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010)

In all zones the following off-street parking space minimum requirements shall apply to each permitted principal, conditional or accessory use, as provided.

13.71 B-2 Zone. In the B-2 Zone the only off-street parking required is that listed in the following table for principal and accessory residential dwellings. Refer to Article 21 for parking requirements within the Downtown Overlay Zones.

13.72 P-1 and B-4 Zones. In the P-1 and B-4 Zones the off-street parking space minimum requirements in the following table shall apply. Refer to Article 21 for parking requirements within the Downtown Overlay Zones.

13.73 B-1 and B-3 Zones. In the B-1 and B-3 Zones, the off-street parking space minimum requirements in the following Table 13.8 shall apply.

13.74 All Other Zones. In all zones other than those provided for in the subsections above, the off-street parking space minimum requirements in the following table shall apply. Refer to Article 10 and Article 11 for additional spillover parking requirements for planned residential development projects and manufactured housing parks. Refer to Article 21 for parking requirements within the Downtown Overlay Zones.

13.75 Where Use Not Specifically Mentioned; Combined Uses. Parking requirements for a use not specifically mentioned shall equal the minimum required for a similar use. If different uses are combined and the requirements of the following table apply, then required minimum off-street parking shall be calculated as follows: First, for each type of use respectively, total the appropriate measurement for all areas occupied by that use (for example, total retail square footage); second, apply the appropriate parking space ratios from the table to those measured totals; finally, sum the resulting parking space amounts to arrive at the required parking space total.

13.76 Units of Measurement for Parking Areas. For the purposes of this Zoning Ordinance, "floor area" as used in computing the required off-street parking or loading areas shall mean "parking floor area" as defined in this Zoning Ordinance. In stadiums, sports arenas, churches, schools, and other places of assembly where the required parking ratio is based on seats, one (1) seat shall equal the following: (a) Each fixed seat with arms; (b) each twenty-four (24) inches of fixed seating without arms; (c) each seven (7) square feet of seating area without fixed seats where only chairs will be used; (d) each fifteen (15) square feet of seating area without fixed seats where both tables and chairs will be used. When units of measurement determining the number of required parking spaces result in the requirement of a fractional space, any fraction up to one-half (½) shall be disregarded, and fractions of one-half (½) or more shall require one (1) parking space.

13.77 Deviations from Minimum Parking Requirements. Deviations from the minimum parking requirements shall be allowed only for planned residential development projects or planned multi-family developments and shall be presented to the OMBA for approval.

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010)

(Ord. No. 36-2010, § 2, 8-3-2010; Ord. No. 14-2024, § 2(Exh. A), 9-3-2024)