Where required by other provisions of this chapter, off-street parking, loading and unloading facilities shall be required to lessen congestion in the streets. The facilities required herein shall be available throughout the hours of operation of the particular business or use for which such facilities are provided. As used herein, the term "parking space" includes either a covered garage space or an uncovered parking lot space located off the public right-of-way.

The net parking space per vehicle shall not be less than nine feet wide and 18 feet long.

A garage or carport may be located wholly or partly inside the walls of the principal building or attached to the outer walls. If separated from the principal building, the garage shall conform to all accessory building requirements.

Off-street parking and loading areas for fewer than five vehicles and the approaches thereto shall be either paved or covered with gravel, crushed shells, such as oyster or clam shells, or cinders; off-street parking and loading areas for more than five vehicles and the approaches thereto shall be finished so as to provide a durable and dust-free surface, such as gravel, crushed shells, such as oyster or clam shells, concrete or bituminous concrete [approved by the Code Enforcement Officer or his or her designee].

General. Unless otherwise expressly stated, the regulations of this article apply to all districts and uses.

Except as otherwise expressly stated, off-street motor vehicle parking spaces must be provided in accordance with Table 103.1.

At least one half of the minimum required parking in the B-1 District shall be provided unless otherwise reduced by the Planning Commission as provided in § 200-104F(2).

Multiple uses. Unless otherwise expressly allowed in accordance with the shared parking regulations of § 200-106B, lots containing more than one use must provide parking in an amount equal to the total of the requirements for all uses on the lot.

Fractions. When measurements of the number of required spaces result in a fractional number, any fraction of less than 0.5 is rounded down to the next lower whole number, and any fraction of 0.5 or more is rounded up to the next higher whole number.

Area measurements. Unless otherwise expressly stated, all area-based (square footage) parking standards must be computed based on the sum of the gross horizontal areas of a building devoted to a use requiring off-street parking. The following areas are not counted as floor area for the purpose of calculating off-street parking and loading requirements: floor space devoted primarily to the housing of mechanical or electrical equipment, elevator shafts, stairwells, storage (except as otherwise noted), commercial kitchen areas, ramps, aisles, and maneuvering space devoted to off-street parking or loading facilities, or basement floor space unless the basement area is devoted to merchandising activities, the production or processing of goods, business or professional offices or dwelling uses.

Bench seating. Each 20 inches of seating area in bleachers, pews or similar bench-seating arrangement counts as one seat for the purpose of calculating seating-based parking requirements. See Figure 104.D.

Occupancy- or capacity-based standards. For the purpose of computing parking requirements based on employees, students, members, residents or occupants, calculations must be based on occupancy standards established by the Building Code.

Flexibility in administration required.

The Planning Commission is authorized to establish required minimum off-street parking ratios for unlisted uses and in those instances where authority to establish a requirement is expressly granted.

Such ratios may be established on the basis of a similar use/parking determination (as described in § 200-103), on parking data provided by the applicant or information otherwise available to the Planning Commission.

Parking data and studies must include estimates of parking demand based on reliable data collected from comparable uses or on external data from credible research organizations [e.g., Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) or American Planning Association (APA)]. Comparability will be determined by density, scale, bulk, area, type of activity and location. Parking studies must document the source of all data used to develop recommended requirements.

Parking exemptions. There shall be no off-street parking requirements in the B-1 District.

Shared parking.

General. Except as otherwise expressly stated, required off-street parking spaces must be located on the same lot and under the same control as the building or use they are required to serve.

Setbacks. Except as otherwise expressly stated, off-street parking areas are subject to the principal building setbacks of the subject zoning district.

Off-site parking.

Off-street parking facilities may not be used for the parking of vehicles for the purpose of displaying the same for sale unless the principal use of the property on which the parking facility is located is the business of selling or leasing used or new vehicles. This provision is not intended to prohibit an owner or occupant of R-zoned property from displaying vehicles for sale on the property's off-street parking facilities provided the vehicle is owned by the owner or occupant of the residential property. Except for flagrant or repeated violations, the Town will endeavor to obtain voluntary compliance with the restrictions on displaying cars for sale prior to initiation of enforcement proceedings.

No vehicle repair or service of any kind shall be permitted in conjunction with off-street parking facilities in a residential or business zoning district, except for minor repairs or service on vehicles owned by an occupant or resident of the premises. The sale of gasoline and motor oil in conjunction with off-street parking facilities is not permitted in any residential zoning district.

Not more than one recreational vehicle and one piece of recreational equipment or utility trailer may be parked or stored in the rear or side yard of any lot in a residential zoning district unless approved by the Planning Commission. For the purpose of this provision, one piece of recreational equipment is equal to a single non-motor vehicle with no more than one watercraft, personal watercrafts or specialty prop-crafts. Recreational vehicles, recreational equipment and utility trailers may not be stored in the required front yard setbacks.

Notwithstanding the regulations of § 200-109A, recreational vehicles, recreational equipment and utility trailers may be temporarily parked in the rear or side yard, in the street yard if stored on a driveway, or on an adjacent street provided that the Code Enforcement Officer is given prior notice of the dates for such temporary parking. For purpose of this provision, temporary parking is the parking of vehicles or equipment during any period not exceeding 10 days in aggregate (which may or may not be consecutive) within any period of 30 consecutive days.

Recreational vehicles, recreational equipment and utility trailers stored or parked in residential zoning districts must be owned by the owner or occupant of the subject property.

The recreational vehicle, recreational equipment, or utility trailer must be properly licensed.

No recreational vehicle, equipment, or utility trailer may have its wheels removed or be affixed to the ground so as to prevent its ready removal.

No parked or stored recreational vehicle may be used for living, sleeping or business purposes.

Tandem and valet parking arrangements. Parking areas must be designed and constructed to allow unobstructed movement into and out of required parking spaces without interfering with fixed objects or vehicles except in the case of allowed tandem parking which may be used to satisfy residential parking requirements if the tandem spaces are assigned to the same dwelling unit.

Stall sizes and parking lot geometrics.

Striping. In all parking lots containing five or more parking spaces, striping consisting of parallel lines, four inches in width must be provided for each parking space. Striping must be yellow or white. Accessible parking spaces must be painted with the standard ADA white symbol on blue background. See Figure 110-2.

Surfacing. All outdoor parking spaces must be properly engineered and improved with a compacted stone base and surfaced with asphaltic concrete, or other comparable all-weather, dustless material approved by the Code Enforcement Officer.

Wheel stops. In all parking lots containing five or more parking spaces, wheel stops must be installed where necessary to prohibit vehicle overhang onto adjacent pedestrian ways or landscape areas.

Curb and gutter. Combination concrete curb and gutter or concrete barrier curbs are required around the perimeter of all parking lots containing five or more parking spaces and around all landscape islands and divider medians. Alternatives to curb and gutter that comply with the Town's best management practices for stormwater management may be approved at the sole discretion of the Code Enforcement Officer.

Landscaping. All off-street parking lots containing five or more spaces must be landscaped in accordance with Article XII.

Access.

The number, location and design of accessible parking spaces for people with disabilities must be provided in accordance with this section and the Maryland Accessibility Code.

Accessible spaces must be provided in accordance with Table 111-1.

Accessible parking spaces count towards the total number of parking spaces required.

Each accessible parking space, except on-street spaces, must be at least 16 feet in width, with either an eight-foot or five-foot wide diagonally striped access aisle. The access aisle may be located on either side of the vehicle portion of the accessible space. Abutting accessible parking spaces may not share a common access aisle. See Figure 111-1.

Accessible parking spaces must be signed in compliance with applicable state law and must identify the current fine amount for violations. The sign must be fabricated to be two separate panels; one for the disability symbol and one for the current fine amount as established by the Town.

Accessible parking spaces and accessible passenger loading zones that serve a particular building must be the spaces or zones located closest to the nearest accessible entrance on an accessible route. In separate parking structures or lots that do not serve a particular building, parking spaces for disabled persons must be located on the shortest possible circulation route to an accessible pedestrian entrance of the parking facility.

The regulations of this section apply to required spaces and to spaces that are voluntarily designated for accessible parking.

Purpose. The regulations of this section are intended to help ensure that:

Applicability. The regulations apply to new developments, the addition of drive-through and drive-in facilities to existing developments and the relocation of existing drive-through facilities.

Stacking spaces required. Stacking lanes must be provided in accordance with the minimum requirements of Table 112.1.

Stacking lane dimensions, design and layout.

Setbacks. Stacking lanes must be set back at least 50 feet from any abutting residential zoning district and at least 25 feet from all other lot lines.

Noise. Sound attenuation walls, landscaping or other mitigation measures may be required to ensure that drive-through facilities will not have adverse noise-related impacts on nearby residential uses.

Site plans. Site plans must show the location of drive-through windows and associated facilities (for example: communications systems and access aisles), as well as adjacent residential uses.

Minimum ratios. Off-street loading spaces must be provided in accordance with Table 113-1.

Design and location.