A. Purpose: The following design guidelines are intended as reference to assist the designer in understanding the town's goals and objectives for parking and loading design. These guidelines complement the mandatory parking and loading regulations contained in this chapter by providing good examples of potential design solutions and by providing design interpretations of various regulations.
The design guidelines are general and may be interpreted with some flexibility in their application to specific projects. The guidelines will be utilized to encourage the highest level of design quality while at the same time providing the flexibility necessary to encourage creativity on the part of project designers.
B. General Design Principles: A well designed parking facility depends on a variety of desirable elements, including:
1. Ease and convenience to all users;
2. The best utilization of available space;
3. Ease of access;
4. Good internal circulation;
5. Easy parking maneuvers;
6. Public transit;
7. Safety; and
8. Aesthetics.
C. Access:
1. Locate driveways with left turn movements with special attention to spacing driveways relative to the nearest point of street traffic control, especially a signal. Left turn movements are relatively hazardous.
2. Locate driveways with right turn entry movements with special attention to their location relative to street traffic control. Such movements which may impede through traffic shall be minimized.
3. Driveway design should be directly related to the layout of the parking area, amount of stacking distance (e.g., drive-in service facilities), type of loading facility, circulation pattern, building placement, and relation to the design of the public street, traffic control devices, traffic volumes and placement of other driveways.
4. Driveway "throat" distance should be sufficient to minimize any effect on traffic movements on adjacent streets.
5. Avoid locating entry and exit points where vehicles entering or leaving the site would conflict with large numbers of pedestrians.
6. The access points should be limited to minimize the number of potential conflict points with public streets.
7. Driveway distance should be sufficient to prevent vehicles from backing into the public street.
8. Access roads and aisles for parking should be kept at the maximum distance possible from residential units.
D. Parking Lot Layout:
1. When possible, segregate employee parking from customer parking. Employees will generally walk farther from parking to their work destinations than shoppers will walk from parking to stores.
2. Larger parking lots should be broken into smaller modules to reduce the size and visual impact of expansive parking areas or should be designed with additional shade trees/landscaping and other material to assist in minimizing the visual effect of large parking facilities.
3. Minimize the number of continuous parking spaces without interruption.
4. Consolidated parking lots for multiple uses are encouraged where practical.
5. Parking should be designed so that backing and turning movements associated with parking layout will not obstruct or conflict with traffic, either on or off site.
6. Parking lots shall be designed with adequate room to allow vehicles to turn around within the parking lot and enter an adjoining street in a forward direction.
7. Parking shall be provided with curbs, wheel stops or other barriers to prevent vehicles from extending beyond the perimeter of the parking lot and to prevent vehicles from contacting a wall, a fence or a sidewalk.
8. Access aisles should be designed to allow the user to walk directly toward, rather than parallel to, the building front.
9. End islands should be used to enhance the functional and aesthetic qualities of a parking lot in the following ways:
a. Delineating on site circulation roadways;
b. Ensuring adequate sight distance at the intersections of the parking aisles and driveways;
c. Defining the area and geometry of intersections of parking aisles and driveways;
d. Protecting the vehicles at the end of a parking bay; and
e. Providing aesthetic enhancement of the site design.
E. Parking Stalls:
1. In apartment parking lots, parking stalls should be located to protect the privacy of residents by providing buffers, e.g., fences, walls or landscaping, from the effects of engine noise, automobile headlights and vehicle emissions.
2. Apartment parking stalls should generally be located no farther than one hundred fifty feet (150') from the entrance to each dwelling unit to avoid cars from parking on the street and to provide convenient access for unit residents.
3. Whenever possible all parking stalls should be aligned with the same orientation. Having one section at right angles to another tends to create confusion and can produce accident prone intersections.
F. Loading:
1. Loading and unloading facilities should be located on site and not within public right of way. There shall be no backing of vehicles onto the public right of way from loading areas.
2. Loading areas should be screened from entrances and other highly visible areas of the site. Adequate turnaround and backing areas shall be provided without disruption of circulation or parking facilities.
G. Lighting:
1. All parking lot and loading facility lighting shall be shielded in accordance with title 8, chapter 8.70, "Outdoor Lighting", of this code so that substantially all the directly emitted light falls within the property line.
2. No illumination is to be designed or used which produces direct, or reflected light that interferes with the safe movement of motor vehicles on public streets including:
a. Any light fixture not designed for street illumination that produces light that could interfere with the operation of a motor vehicle;
b. Any light that may be confused with or construed as a traffic control device; or
c. Any animated, flashing, or changing intensity lights, except for temporary holiday displays.
H. Pedestrian:
1. A system of interior pedestrian paths or sidewalks integrated with the parking lot should link the different parts of the development with one another and with transit stops.
2. Provide clearly discernible pedestrian walkways where there is adequate vehicular sight distance. The use of textured or colored pavement and signage should be used.
I. Transit:
1. Large scale commercial developments and employment centers should provide transit access as near as possible to the main entrance to the facility.
2. Transit stops should be designed as an integrated component of the site and feature pedestrian amenities and shelter. Secured transit information centers or kiosks with bus routes and schedule information should be provided if feasible.
3. Nonresidential development should orient the front or main entrance to the facility toward major streets with transit facilities.
4. Where parking areas separate the front or main entrance of the building from the transit facility, a separate pedestrian walkway or sidewalk may be required.
J. Bicycles:
1. Bicycle parking facilities should be located outside of a vehicular or pedestrian way and be protected and separated from motor vehicle traffic and parking lots by either a five foot (5') separation distance or a curb or other physical barrier.
2. Bicycle parking facilities should be made out of a durable and strong material, be permanently anchored to the ground and be designed so as to allow bikes to be locked to it.
3. Bicycle parking facilities should be sufficiently illuminated.
K. Landscaping Requirements For Parking Areas:
1. Precast and other masonry planters may be used to provide for some buffering for existing parking areas. Landscaping should be used to enhance the safety of parking lots by guiding the circulation of cars and people and by ensuring that the driver's vision is unobstructed.
2. Use of landscaping to control access to parking lots, to make traffic diverters prominent and to direct the flow of traffic within the lot.
3. Parking lots should be screened from surrounding public streets, sidewalks, parks and other public properties. Berms, walls, fences, plants, planters or similar means should be used to create the parking lot screen.
4. Whenever structures such as walls or fences are used to create a screen, plants should be located on the sides of the structure which can be seen from surrounding streets, sidewalks, parks and other public properties.
5. All areas within the perimeter of parking lots not used for parking, loading, circulation, transit or pedestrian facilities should be landscaped to minimize the feeling of expansive hard surfaced areas and to improve the parking lot appearance. Landscape design shall provide for adequate plant aeration and traffic safety.
6. Plant materials should be placed on islands, entry drives, pedestrian walls and along end islands which separate parking from drive aisles. Xeriscape landscaping shall be used.
7. Two feet (2') at the end of landscape islands should be left unplanted. The use of cobbles, patterned concrete, or brick pavers should be considered in these end areas.
8. Protect the root zones of trees at maturity by retaining a planted area encompassing the drip line. (Ord. 254, 12-16-2014)