A. Design Issues. Vehicle dealerships are establishments that specialize in the sale of one or more lines of new automobiles (including used vehicles) and in the servicing of that line or lines. Dealerships are regional in nature and can have a market radius well in excess of twenty (20) or thirty (30) miles.
The major portion of a vehicle dealership site is typically used for outdoor storage and display of vehicles and a relatively minor portion is used for structures and customer parking. By their nature, vehicle dealerships tend to be poor neighbors for residential uses and this relationship should be avoided, if possible.
B. Site Planning.
1. Showrooms shall be oriented toward major public streets.
2. Outdoor vehicle display areas shall occur only on permanent at-grade display areas or low-rise platforms (four feet maximum) that are architecturally compatible with the project. Rotating vehicle display plat-forms are not allowed.
3. Provisions shall be made onsite for the unloading of vehicles from carriers. Vehicle unloading on non-residential streets may occur in the right-of-way only if special turn-outs are provided.
4. Screened storage areas shall be provided for vehicles awaiting repairs.
5. Potentially noisy activities, (e.g., vehicle repair, cleaning, or testing) shall not be located near or oriented towards residential.
6. Customer parking shall be provided for the sales, service, and parts areas.
7. Sufficient space shall be provided for service drop-offs to prevent stacking of waiting vehicles onto a public street.
8. All storage areas shall be screened from view from the public street and any adjacent residential area. No storage, except vehicle storage, shall occur that is visible from a public street.
C. Building Design.
1. Buildings shall be stylistically consistent on all sides, carefully detailed. and architecturally related to each other.
2. Service uses shall be wholly contained within a building of solid (e.g. masonry) construction. All vehicle access to the individual service bays shall be from within the building itself with no more than two or three exterior doors to provide access to the building. The access points to the service building shall not be visible from or face toward a public street or any adjacent residential uses.
3. Walls and fences shall be architecturally compatible with the buildings.
D. Special Requirements.
1. All outdoor lighting shall be consistent with the Mount Palomar dark sky provisions regarding lighting see Section 16.18.110 (Mount Palomar Lighting Standard).
2. Public address systems, shall not be used in outdoor areas. Beepers and/or personal pagers can be used if necessary to contact employees outdoors.
3. Wash racks shall be located so that they are not visible or audible from a public street or residential area. Wash areas shall be designed to comply with city requirements for stormwater/urban runoff management and discharge controls.
4. All storage areas shall be screened from public view from adjoining properties and from public rights-ofway by appropriately designed walls and landscaping.
5. Compressors and similar equipment shall be located in the interior of the site to minimize impacts on adjacent properties.
6. Because landscaping along display perimeters is typically minimal and low level, other landscaped areas shall be designed to compensate for the absence of vertical landscape elements. Building perimeters shall be heavily landscaped and parking lots shall contain significantly more landscaping than is required for retail commercial parking lots.
7. All new dealerships whose sales consist primarily of new vehicles shall submit a comprehensive sign program application consistent with § 16.38.060. If no sign program is approved, the dealership will be subject to the sign standards of the zone.
(Ord. 182 § 2 (part), 1997; Ord. 524 Exhibit B, 2017)