Off-Street Parking Standards

Overview

Regulations regarding off-street parking are found in Section 63.300 of the Zoning Code and are summarized below. See Accessory Buildings for a summary of regulations applying to garages.

Sec. 60.217 provides definitions of relevant terms:

• Parking: The placement of automobiles, trucks, trailers, semitrailers, intermodal cargo containers, or other vehicles for five (5) or fewer days.
• Off-street parking facility: All areas, spaces and structures designed, used, required or intended to be used for the parking of more than three (3) motor vehicles. This definition is intended to include adequate driveways, accessways, parking bays, garages, of a combination thereof, but does not include public roads, streets, highways and alleys.
• Parking space: An area of definite length and width designed for parking of motor vehicles; said area shall be exclusive of drives, aisles or entrances giving access thereto.
• Structured parking: Off-street parking that is placed within a ramp, deck, underground, enclosed building, or tuck-under garage.

Parking Location

(See Sec. 63.303)

• Parking for one- and two-family dwellings must be located on the same zoning lot that they are intended to serve.
• Parking for all other uses must be located on the same zoning lot that they are intended to serve or within five hundred feet of the building it is intended to serve and in the zoning district where the principal use is also an allowed use.

Minimum Layout Dimensions

(See Sec. 63.305)

• The front two feet of the standard parking space may be landscaped (instead of paved) with ground cover plants which the vehicle can overhang. Landscaped portions of parking spaces count toward parking lot interior landscaping requirements and overall site landscaping requirements, but do not count toward perimeter landscaping requirements.

Compact Parking Spaces

(See Sec. 63.306)

• Accessory parking facilities may designate up to 50% of the spaces for compact cars
• Minimum layout dimensions for compact parking spaces: 8 feet in width and 16 feet in length
• Minimum signage for compact car space designation:1 sign for every 4 compact spaces  

Accessible Parking Spaces and Passenger Loading Zones

(See Sec. 63.307)

• Parking spaces and passenger loading zones for persons with disabilities shall be designed in accordance with the provisions of the Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Paving Material and Maximum Lot Coverage

(See Sec. 63.316)

• All parking spaces, driveways and off-street parking facilities must be paved with standard or pervious asphalt or concrete, or with brick, concrete or stone pavers, or material comparable to the adjacent street surfacing, in accordance with specifications of the zoning administrator, within 1 year of the date of the permit except as provided in Sec. 61.402(e).
• Total amount of paving for surface parking spaces and driveways for lots with up to 6 principal dwelling units:
  • 10% of the lot area for lots adjoining a public alley and corner lots
  • 15% of the lot area for all other lots

Maneuvering Lanes and Driveways

(See Sec. 63.308)

Off-street parking facility access

• Driveways accessing off-street parking facilities should be designed and arranged so as to avoid requiring vehicles to back into traffic on arterial and collector streets, except where it is determined impractical, unreasonable, or harmful to the public safety by the zoning administrator.
• Requirements for off-street parking facilities for more than 4 dwelling units on a lot:
  • Access must be provided by a maneuvering lane so that any vehicle leaving or entering the parking facility from or onto a public street is traveling forward.

Driveway widths

• Requirements for parking for up to 4 principal dwelling units on a lot:
  • Driveways must be minimum of 8 feet in width or driveway pavement may be limited to wheel tracks at least 2 feet wide.
  • Driveways that access a public street in a front yard are limited to a width of 12’. Exceptions: within 30 feet of the garage door, driveways may be up to 4 feet wider than the garage door; for dwellings in which any portion of the building is more than 150 feet from the street, a driveway up to 20’ in width is permitted to meet fire access requirements.

Alley access and maneuvering

• Off-street parking facilities may be permitted access to an alley except where it is determined in the review of a site plan by the zoning administrator that allowance of alley access would create or aggravate an unsafe condition or is impractical, unreasonable, harmful to the public safety, or where maintenance of alley surfaces and/or where erosion control and protection of water quality may be impaired.
• Regulations for parking facilities of 7 or fewer parking spaces:
  • The spaces may be directly off of the alley and the maneuvering lane may include the alley.
• Regulations for parking facilities of 8 or more parking spaces:
  • The spaces may be directly off of the alley and the maneuvering lane may include the alley, provided notice is sent to adjacent property owners (see requirements in Sec. 61.402(b)(5) and there is an opportunity for them to comment.
  • If the spaces are directly off the alley and the maneuvering lane includes the alley, the spaces must be set back a minimum of 10 feet from the centerline of the alley.

Entrances and Exits

(See Sec. 63.310).

• Adequate entrances and exits to and from a parking facility must be provided by means of clearly defined and limited drives.
• When a driveway no longer leads to legal off-street parking, the driveway and curb cut must be removed, and landscaping and curbing must be restored.
• The number of curb cuts must be minimized, and shared curb cuts for adjacent parking areas on adjacent lots are encouraged, except where it is determined in the review of a site plan that consolidating curb cuts would create or aggravate an unsafe condition.
• Entrances and exits to and from a parking facility must be at least 30 feet from the point of intersection of curb lines of 2 or more intersecting streets and at least 5 feet from existing or planned boulevard trees.

Setbacks and Required Distances from Lot Lines and Alleys

(See Sec. 63.312)

• Surface off-street parking spaces are not permitted within a required front or side yard.
  • Per Sec. 60.227, “required yards” are the portions of the yard that extend along a lot line and to a depth or width specified in the yard setback requirements for the zoning district.
• Surface off-street parking spaces must be a minimum of 4 feet from all lot lines. Exception: parking spaces using an alley for maneuvering shall be a minimum of 10 feet from the centerline of the alley.
• Regulations regarding garages and other accessory buildings and other residential parking standards are found in Section 63.501 of the Zoning Code.

Wheel Stops

(See Sec. 63.311)

• Provisions must be made to prevent vehicles from damaging or overhanging adjacent property or public rights-of-way, or damaging required landscaping by use of such devices as curbs, wheel stops, or other protective barriers.
• A two-foot landscaped vehicle overhang is allowed in accordance the minimum parking layout dimensions (Sec. 63.305).

Visual Screening

(See Sec. 63.313)

• For off-street parking facilities that adjoin a residential use or zoning district, a visual screen shall be provided and maintained as required in Sec. 63.114.
  • Per Sec. 60.104, "Adjoin" means having a common boundary or relationship at a common property line.
• For off-street parking facilities that abut a residential use or zoning district across an alley, one of the following shall be provided and maintained as determined by the zoning administrator as part of site plan review:
  • A visual screen as required in Sec. 63.114; or
  • An ornamental metal fence or other non-screening, durable fence where security concerns make this preferable to a visual screen.

Landscaping

(See Sec. 63.314)

• Requirements for any parking facility, other than structured parking:
  • Landscaping shall be provided to buffer the facility from adjacent properties and from the public right-of-way; reduce the visual glare and heat effects of large expanses of pavement; and provide areas for the retention and absorption of stormwater runoff.
  • All required yards and any underdeveloped space shall be landscaped using materials such as trees, shrubs, sod, groundcover plants, or stormwater landscaping (defined in Sec. 60.213) as required for facilities with greater than ¼ acre of total disturbed area per Sec. 63.319.
  • Any landscaped area shall be planted and maintained in accordance with Sec. 63.115.