A. Determination of required number of spaces:
1. Fractional spaces: When determination of the number of off-street parking spaces required by this regulation results in a fractional space, the fraction of one-half or less may be disregarded, and a fraction in excess of one-half shall be counted as one parking space.
2. Floor area: Floor area, when used as a measurement for determining the number of parking spaces for office, merchandising, or service uses, shall mean the gross floor area used, or intended to be used for service to the public as patrons or patients, including areas occupied by fixtures and equipment used for display or sale of merchandise. It shall not include areas used principally for non-public purposes such as storage, processing or packaging of merchandise, show windows, or rest rooms or utilities, dressing, fitting, or alteration rooms. Within restaurants, kitchen areas will not be included. The burden shall rest with the applicant to provide the detailed information necessary to prove what should or should not be included.
3. Beds: Bassinets shall not be counted as beds in determining the number of parking spaces based upon the number of beds.
4. Employees: Employees, when used as a measurement for determining the number of parking spaces for a new or established expanding business, shall be considered the total number of employees present upon the property during the maximum shift.
B. Parking exception for churches: Off-street parking facilities required for churches may be reduced by 50% where churches are located in nonresidential districts and within 300 feet of usable public or private off-street parking areas, and further provided that an agreement filed on record with the County Recorder is provided reflecting that the use of such accessory parking facilities by the church will be permitted by the property owner. For the purposes of this ordinance, the term “church” shall be considered a building used principally for religious worship, but shall not include or mean an undertaker's chapel, funeral building, a religious educational building, day care center, group home of any nature, or any other similar venture.
C. Parking for multiple use buildings: The number of parking spaces required for land or buildings used for two or more purposes, shall be the sum of the requirements for various uses, computed in accordance with this ordinance. Parking facilities for one use shall not be considered as providing the required parking facilities for any other use, except churches.
D. Use of required parking spaces: Required accessory off-street parking facilities provided for the commercial and industrial uses hereinafter listed (in § 10.05 B. and C. of this chapter) shall be solely for the parking of motor vehicles in operating condition of patrons, occupants, or employees of such uses and shall not be used for the storage of other vehicles, boats, motor homes, campers, mobile homes, or materials or for the parking of delivery trucks or tractor trailers used in conducting the business or use. In no case shall any parking spaces devoted to the principal use of a lot be leased, rented, or sold for the purpose of use by any other person, firm, company, corporation, or use other than those located upon the property.
Exception: In the event of special limited time sales or seasonal events, the Board of Public Works and Safety may grant a temporary permit for a specified period, with the opportunity for renewal for a longer period.
E. Number of entrances and exits: There shall be not more than one entrance and one exit or one combined entrance and exit along any street. In the instance of multiple properties along street frontage, the Director of Community Development and/or the Board of Public Works and Safety may require the use of joint access points and the recording of appropriate cross-easements at their discretion. Concerning corner lots located at the intersection of a major and minor road, the access to the parking area shall be limited to the minor road. In the instance of the intersection of two major roads, the access to the parking area shall be as approved by the Director of Community Development and/or the Board of Public Works and Safety for the alleviation of traffic congestion and interference of traffic movement along the related street.
F. Accessory parking lots: All required off- street parking or loading spaces shall be provided on the same parcel of land occupied by the use or building to which it is appurtenant; provided, however, that where there are, in the judgment of the Board of Zoning Appeals, practical difficulties in satisfying the requirement for parking space and/or if the public safety or convenience would be better served by another location, the Board of Zoning Appeals may authorize an alternate location for any portion of the required parking for a nonresidential use which will adequately serve the conditions:
1. Required accessory off-street parking facilities may be provided elsewhere than on the lot on which the principal use served is located, provided that the property occupied as parking is in the same possession as the principal use served, either by deed, by easement, or by long-term lease which has a term equal to or exceeding the projected life of the facility occupied by the principal use, and further provide that the owner shall be bound by covenants filed on record in the office of the Whitley County Recorder, requiring the owners, heirs, or assigns, to maintain the required number of off-street parking spaces during the existence of such principal use is provided to the Planning and Building Department.
2. Pedestrian access shall be available within a walking distance of not more than 300 feet measured from the nearest point of public access accessory parking area.
3. Such separated parking space shall be usable without causing unreasonable traffic congestion, detriment to any residential neighborhood or hazard to pedestrians or vehicular traffic.
4. All accessory parking lots shall be located on property zoned within the same, or similar, zoning district.
G. Changes in use: No off-street parking space required under this ordinance shall be used for any other purpose. Where a change in use creates greater parking requirements than the amount being provided, an occupancy permit shall not be issued until provision is made for the increased amount of required off-street parking.
H. Additions to buildings, structures, or uses: Where an addition is made to an existing structure served by an existing, nonconforming parking lot, only the additional parking required for the proposed addition shall conform to all of the requirements of the ordinance. The existing parking area shall not be required to be reconstructed to come into conformance with the current off-street parking requirements as a result of the addition, with the exception of the paving requirements of § 10.03 of this chapter. However, these paving requirements shall only apply to customer or tenant parking and the access drives to the street.
I. Existing parking: No parking area or parking space which exists at the time this ordinance becomes effective or which subsequent thereto is provided for the purpose of complying with the provisions of this ordinance shall thereafter be relinquished or reduced in any manner below the requirements established by this ordinance.
J. Maintenance of parking facilities: Any persons operating or owning a parking lot shall keep it free, as may be practical, of dust, loose particles, trash, debris, and broken glass, and shall promptly remove the snow and ice from the surface of the parking lot. Such persons shall also keep all adjacent sidewalks free from dirt, ice, sleet, and snow and shall keep the sidewalks in a safe condition for use by pedestrians. All signs, markers, or any other methods used to indicate direction of traffic movement and location of parking spaces shall be maintained in a neat and legible condition. Likewise any walls, landscaping, including trees and shrubbery, as well as surfacing and curbing of the parking lot, shall be maintained in good condition throughout its use for parking purposes, and the Director of Community Development and/or the Board of Public Works and Safety shall have the authority to prohibit the use of the area for parking purposes unless and until proper maintenance, repair, or rehabilitation is completed, including the replacement of any landscaping material which may die from time to time, or the failure of the landscape irrigation or surface drainage system within the parking area.
K. Shared parking: Notwithstanding the parking requirements set out in § 10.05 of this chapter, the number of parking spaces may be reduced by 20%, at the discretion of the Board of Zoning Appeals, if the developer demonstrates that the parking required is so located and designed such that shared parking within the purposed development meets the minimum requirements of this chapter. A reduction in required parking shall not be permitted in those instances where the Board of Zoning Appeals determines that there is a potential for changes in use, over the short term, creating a change in the basic mixture of uses upon which the justification for shared parking is based.
Note: For the purposes of this section, adequate data shall be considered a professionally prepared survey, conducted under replicable conditions, which yield a statistically significant result.
(1980 Code, Ch. 156, § 10.05) (Ord. 1995-7, passed 6-5-1995)