A. This chapter provides standards for parking and loading facilities to ensure adequate parking areas for various uses, minimize traffic hazards and congestion, promote vehicular and pedestrian safety and efficient land use, and mitigate impacts on surrounding properties.
Parking is a key element of any development. An oversupply can result in excess environmental and physical impacts while an undersupply can result in vehicles intruding onto adjoining properties and neighborhoods. The goal is to find the balance between providing adequate parking to support approved uses while minimizing the negative effects of excessive land area or resources devoted to parking. A well planned and executed parking program is essential to establishing and maintaining a human scale environment that emphasizes parking efficiency over parking supply.
Shared parking is encouraged and is a critical factor in the design and success of a mixed use project such as Spring Valley. A shared parking program versus traditional parking standards reduces parking requirements, enhances community character and vitality, increases streetscape appeal, reduces impervious surface area and decreases stormwater and pollution runoff, reduces the "urban heat island effect", reduces conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians, and provides better pedestrian flow and connectivity.
B. In the interpretation of this chapter, the following shall govern:
1. Parking For Uses Not Listed: Parking spaces for other permitted or conditional uses not listed herein shall be determined by the administrator. Among the factors for determining the number of spaces to be required for a use not listed herein, the administrator shall compare the proposed use with a use which has similar traffic generating characteristics as outlined in the most recent version of the Institute Of Transportation Engineers "Trip Generation Manual".
2. Fractional Numbers: Fractional numbers shall be increased to the next whole number.
3. More Than One Use Conducted On A Site: When more than one use is conducted on a site, the total number of parking spaces shall be the sum of the requirements for each use unless shared parking is approved.
4. Parking Requirements Based On Square Footage: When computing parking requirements based on the amount of square footage in buildings, all calculations shall be on a gross floor area (gfa) basis, unless specifically stated otherwise.
5. Parking Based On Seating: When the parking requirements are based on seating and the seating consists of benches or pews, each twenty four (24) linear inches of bench or pew shall be considered one seat.
6. Parking Based On Employees: For the purpose of computing parking requirements based on the number of employees, calculations shall be for the largest number of persons working on any single shift.
7. Residential Parking: Driveways may be used to satisfy minimum on site parking requirements, beyond the covered parking requirements, for residential dwellings, provided that sufficient length is available to satisfy the minimum design standards. (Ord. 710, 1-14-2014)