Three Oaks Township
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XIII
Off-Street Parking and Loading
§ 380-13.01 Number of off-street parking spaces required.
For each principal building or establishment hereafter erected or altered and located in any zoning district, including buildings and structures used principally as places of public assembly, there shall be provided and maintained suitable space off the public right-of-way which is adequate for the parking or loading of motor vehicles in the proportions shown below.
A.
Uses in general.
Use | Number of Parking Spaces Per Unit of Measure |
|---|---|
Dwellings | 2 spaces for each dwelling unit for single family, and 2-unit attached |
Townhomes/multifamily | 2 per dwelling unit |
Hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts | 1 space for each room |
Hospitals, nursing and personal care facilities | 1 space for each 4 beds, and 1 space for each employee |
Places of public assembly | 1 space for each 4 seats of legal capacity |
Medical clinics and medical and dental offices | 3, and 1 space for each 285 square feet of office space |
Offices, other than medical or dental clinics, including financial institutions | 1 space for each 250 square feet of office space |
Eating and drinking establishments | 1 space for each 3 seats of legal seating capacity |
Retail establishments | 1 space for each 450 square feet of floor area dedicated to retail activity, exclusive of storage areas |
Industrial and warehouse uses | The greater of 1 space for each 1,000 square feet of floor area, or 1 space for each employee in the largest shift |
Theaters | 1 space for each 4 seats |
Funeral home/mortuary | 1 space for each 100 square feet of floor area used for services |
B.
Uses not listed. In the case of uses or businesses not addressed in Subsection A hereof, the required parking shall be determined by the Zoning Administrator, subject to Planning Commission concurrence. The latest edition of the Institute of Traffic Engineers' Parking Generation shall be consulted in determining a parking requirement for any such use or business.
§ 380-13.02 Parking dimensions.
The minimum dimensional standards for parking spaces and aisles shall be as follows:
Minimum Parking Space and Maneuvering Lane Standards | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lane Width | Parking Space | Total Width of Two Tiers Plus Lane | ||||
Parking Pattern | One-Way (feet) | Two-Way (feet) | Width(1) (feet) | Length(2) (feet) | One-Way (feet) | Two-Way (feet) |
Parallel | 11 | 18 | 9 | 23 | 40 | 36 |
30° to 53° | 12 | 20 | 9 | 19 | 50 | 56 |
54° to 74° | 13 | 24 | 9 | 19 | 51 | 57 |
75° to 90° | 15 | 26 | 9 | 18 | 51 | 56 |
(1) | Measured perpendicular to the space center line. |
(2) | Measured along the space center line. |
§ 380-13.03 Location of parking.
A.
The approval of the Berrien County Road Commission shall be obtained for the location of exits and entrances to parking areas and for the design and construction thereof.
B.
The off-street parking facilities required for single-family dwellings, two-unit dwellings, multiunit dwellings and townhomes shall be located on the same lot or parcel of land as the buildings they are intended to serve.
C.
Parking facilities for manufactured housing communities shall be located on each manufactured home site, or in parking lots within 300 feet from the entrance to manufactured homes.
D.
Parking facilities for commercial or industrial uses shall be located on the same lot or parcel of land as the buildings they are intended to serve.
E.
Parking areas shall not be provided within any setback area or transition strip.
§ 380-13.04 Parking design and landscaping.
A.
Required surface. Off-street parking areas for uses in all districts, except AG-RR, shall be paved with concrete or bituminous material or other approved, dust-free surfaces and provided with approved curbing or other effective stormwater control structures and painted parking-space lines.
B.
Landscaping. Parking areas with 10 or more spaces shall include landscaped planting islands and perimeter buffers in accordance with § 380-12.11, as augmented by the following requirements:
(1)
When off-street parking and loading areas abut the R-1, R-2 or R-3 Districts, or a residential PUD, the parking lot and loading area shall be screened from the residential uses by a solid, ornamental masonry wall or fence at least four feet tall meeting the requirements of § 380-12.08, Fences, in addition to following requirements for landscape plant materials:
(a)
In lieu of a wall, the Planning Commission may permit or require one evergreen tree at least five feet in height planted every 10 feet in staggered rows along the adjacent residential property boundary.
(b)
In lieu of a wall, berming may be installed that shall reduce the amount of required landscaping material by 20%.
(2)
In addition to required screening around off-street parking and loading areas, all off-street parking areas containing greater than 10 spaces shall provide the following landscaping within the "parking lot envelope," described as the area including the parking lot surface and extending 18 feet from the edge of the parking lot.
(a)
Two canopy trees shall be required for each 900 square feet of the total of the paved driveway and parking lot surface. At least 40% of the landscape material required shall be installed in landscape islands within the paved parking lot area.
(b)
Landscaped areas in and around parking lots shall be no less than 10 feet in any dimension and no less than 150 square feet in area per tree. Landscaped areas shall be protected with curbing or other means to prevent overhang encroachment of vehicles.
(c)
Required landscaping elsewhere on the parcel shall not be counted in meeting the parking lot landscaping requirements.
(d)
Whenever possible, parking lot landscaping shall be designed to improve the safety of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, guide traffic movement, and improve the appearance of the parking area. Landscaping shall be installed such that, when mature, it does not obscure traffic signs or lighting, obstruct access to fire hydrants, interfere with adequate sight distance for motorists, nor disrupt drainage patterns on the site or adjacent properties.
(e)
Landscaped areas shall be covered by grass or other living ground cover. Wood chips or similar material, a minimum depth of three inches, is permitted for planting beds immediately surrounding plant material. Such material should be identified on the landscape plan and/or site plan.
C.
Recreational vehicle (RV) storage. Parking areas required under this section to serve other land uses shall not be used for the storage of, camping within, or continuous parking or storage of recreational vehicles, trailers, motor vehicles and junk for more than a twenty-four-hour period.
D.
Shared parking. Within the C-1 and I Districts, the Planning Commission may approve shared parking arrangements among various uses when it can be demonstrated that parking in sufficient quantities for all such uses as set forth in this section shall be available at all times.
E.
Excess parking. In no instance shall the number of spaces provided exceed the number of spaces required by this article; provided, however, snow storage areas may be provided so long as the area designated for snow storage does not exceed 20% of the surface area of a parking lot.
F.
Accessibility. All parking areas shall meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.
G.
Interconnection. In the C-1 Commercial District, adjoining parking lots shall be designed to interconnect to enable motorists to safely move between parcels without needing to return to the public road network. Such interconnections shall be established by mutual cross-access easement agreements between the property owners and shall be established at the time of site plan approval. Such cross-access easements may be established by both landowners simultaneously or one at a time as site plan review occurs on one of the lots.
§ 380-13.05 Residential garages; covered parking; parking pad required.
All residential subdivisions and lot divisions created within any residential zoning district shall provide a minimum of a one-car parking pad or enclosure, covered parking space or garage, the location of which shall be limited to the side or rear yard, if not incorporated as part of the principal permitted use structure, with adequate on-site access and street ingress/egress as approved by the Zoning Administrator.
§ 380-13.06 Loading areas.
A.
In all districts, every building or part thereof hereafter erected which is to be occupied for manufacturing, storage, retail sales, warehousing, wholesale sales, or a hotel, hospital, mortuary or laundry, or uses similarly requiring the receipt or distribution in vehicles of materials or merchandise shall provide and maintain, on the same premises, paved off-street loading spaces in relation to floor area as follows:
(1)
Up to 20,000 square feet equals one space.
(2)
Twenty thousand one square feet to 50,000 square feet equals two spaces.
(3)
Fifty thousand one square feet to 100,000 square feet equals three spaces.
(4)
One additional space for each additional 100,000 square feet or part thereof.
B.
The following shall apply with regard to off-street loading and unloading spaces:
(1)
Each loading space shall be at least 10 feet in width, 25 feet in length, and 14 feet in height.
(2)
Such space may occupy all or any part of any required side or rear yard.
(3)
No such space shall be located closer than 50 feet to any residential use unless within a completely enclosed building or enclosed on all sides by a wall or fence not less than six feet in height.
C.
Such loading spaces shall be considered separate and distinct from required off-street parking areas but shall be constructed of a hard surface material.