Chapter 17.64
OFF-STREET PARKING AND OFF-STREET LOADING
Sections:
17.64.020 Off-street parking facilities required.
17.64.030 Standards for off-street parking facilities.
17.64.040 Off-street loading facilities required.
17.64.050 Standards for off-street loading facilities.
17.64.060 Fences, barriers and lighting.
17.64.070 Landscaping requirements.
17.64.080 Drive-through facilities.
17.64.100 Reduction of off-street parking and off-street loading facilities.
17.64.010 Purpose.
In order to alleviate or prevent traffic congestion and shortage of curb spaces, off-street parking and off-street loading facilities shall be provided incidental to new land uses and major alterations and enlargements of existing land uses. The number of parking spaces and the number of loading berths prescribed in this chapter shall be in proportion to the need for such facilities created by the particular type of land use. Off-street parking and loading areas are to be laid out in a manner which will ensure their usefulness, protect the public safety and, where appropriate, insulate surrounding land uses from their impact. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.020 Off-street parking facilities required.
A. A parking space shall be an area for the parking of a motor vehicle, plus additional areas required to provide for the safe ingress and egress from said space. The area set aside to meet these provisions must be usable and accessible for the type of off-street parking need which must be satisfied.
B. In any residential district, recreation vehicles, boats or pick-up campers may be stored or parked within a side or front yard; provided, that:
1. The vehicle is operable and in good exterior repair;
2. Pick-up campers may not be stored on temporary supports;
3. All recreational vehicles shall conform to California Health and Safety Code Sections 5411 and 5461.
C. In any residential district, all motor vehicles incapable of movement under their own power, other than in cases of emergency, shall be stored in an entirely enclosed space, garage or carport. In any residential district, there shall be no parking, storage or other similar uses within required front yard landscaped areas.
D. In any residential district, there shall be no parking, storage or other similar uses within required front yard landscaped areas.
E. The provisions of this chapter shall not require additional parking in the case of reconstruction or structural alteration of any of the following buildings, provided such building was in existence at the time the ordinance codified in this title was adopted, subject to the following exceptions:
1. In C or M district, provided such reconstruction or alteration does not add more than five hundred square feet of usable floor space to the building in the aggregate, and that the use is located within a parking district;
2. In cases of churches, provided no addition is made to the auditorium seating capacity.
F. Except as provided above, off-street parking facilities in accordance with the requirements of this section shall be provided at the time of initial occupancy of a site, or of construction of a building, or of a major alteration, or enlargement of a site or building, or a change in use of property that requires additional parking shall be provided.
G. Parking Space Schedule.
1. Residential Uses.
a. One-family dwellings, two spaces for each dwelling unit within a garage or carport;
b. Multifamily dwellings, in accordance with the following schedule:
|
Type of Unit |
No. of Spaces |
|---|---|
|
Studio (no bedroom) |
1.5 |
|
One bedroom |
1.5 |
|
Two or more |
2.0 |
c. Guest parking, one space per five dwelling units for multifamily dwellings. Such spaces shall be clearly identified by the appropriate marking of each space on the asphalt/concrete surface of appropriate signage;
d. Housing for the elderly, one space for each dwelling unit; provided, that sufficient space shall be set aside for one and one-half spaces for each dwelling unit in the event of a change of use to nonelderly housing;
e. Private clubs, fraternity houses, sorority houses, lodging houses, bed and breakfasts, and rooming houses, one space for each two beds;
f. Motels and hotels, one space for each guest room, plus one space for each employee.
2. Uses within the Downtown Commercial District. Commercial and office uses within a parking district within the area designated as the downtown commercial business district by the general plan, one space for each eight hundred square feet of floor area.
3. Uses within Integrated Shopping Centers.
a. Uses within an integrated shopping center located within an area designated neighborhood, downtown, or community commercial by the general plan, involving a combination of any three or more retail uses for which building area, off-street parking, off-street loading, landscaping, lighting and other features are developed, managed and maintained as if a single unit, one space for each two hundred fifty square feet of floor space;
b. Uses not within an integrated shopping center as defined under subsection (G)(3)(a) of this section, the number of spaces otherwise required of the type of use by provisions of this chapter.
4. Commercial and Industrial Uses.
a. Banks: one space for each four hundred square feet of floor area;
b. Business and professional offices (not including medical or public administrative offices): one space for each four hundred square feet of floor area;
c. Retail stores, food: one space for each one hundred square feet of floor area; mini-market food stores: one space for each three hundred square feet of floor area for stores under two thousand square feet of gross floor area;
d. Retail stores, other than food, and personal service establishments: one space for each two hundred square feet of floor space;
e. Retail stores which handle only bulky merchandise such as furniture, household appliances, motor vehicles, farm implements and machinery: one space for each six hundred square feet of floor area;
f. Service commercial establishments, repair shops and wholesale establishments: one space for each five hundred square feet of floor space;
g. Commercial and industrial uses conducted primarily outside of buildings: one space for each three employees of the maximum working shift plus one space for each four hundred square feet of enclosed office or sales area;
h. Manufacturing plants and other industrial uses: one space for each seven hundred square feet of floor space.
5. Utility Uses. Electric distribution substations, electric transmission substations, gas regulator stations, public utility pumping stations, reservoirs, water or gas storage tank farms, sewage treatment plants and other public utility buildings and uses: one space for each three employees of the maximum working shift, plus one space for each company vehicle stored on the site. Where such facility is unmanned, no spaces need be provided.
6. Health Uses.
a. Medical and dental offices or clinics, including but not limited to chiropractors, dentists, doctors, physical therapists, optometrists, psychiatrists and similar professions: one space for each two hundred square feet of floor area;
b. Rest homes, nursing homes, convalescent homes, homes for the aged: one space for each three beds;
c. Charitable and religious institutions providing sleeping accommodations: one space for each three beds;
d. Hospitals: one space for each three beds.
7. Places of Assembly.
a. Cafe, restaurant or other establishments for the sale and consumption on the premises of food and beverages having less than one thousand square feet of gross floor area: one space for each two hundred square feet; having less than four thousand square feet of gross floor area: one space for each one hundred square feet; having more than four thousand square feet of gross floor area: forty spaces plus one space for each fifty square feet in excess of four thousand square feet;
b. Drive-in restaurants: one space for each two seats;
c. Auditoriums (except school auditoriums), churches, mortuaries, sports arenas and stadiums, dance halls, private clubs and lodges: one space for each fifty square feet of floor area used for seating if seats are not fixed, or one space for each five seats. In addition, one space for each five hundred square feet of gross floor area not considered primary hall/meeting area;
d. Theaters: one space for each five seats, or one space for each forty square feet in the main auditorium, whichever provides the greater number of spaces;
e. Bowling alleys: four spaces for each alley, plus one space for each one hundred square feet devoted to restaurant and/or cocktail lounge;
f. Other places of assembly without fixed seats: one space for each forty square feet of floor area used for assembly.
8. Educational Uses.
a. Public and private elementary and junior high schools: two spaces per classroom, plus sufficient space for safe and convenient bus loading and unloading of students;
b. High schools: nine spaces per classroom, plus sufficient space for safe and convenient bus loading and unloading of students;
c. Colleges, business schools, professional schools, and trade schools: eleven spaces for each classroom;
d. Nursery schools: one space for each three hundred square feet of floor area plus sufficient space for safe and convenient loading and unloading of students.
9. Public Uses.
a. City, county, special district, state and federal administrative offices: one space for each four hundred square feet of floor area;
b. Public buildings and grounds other than administrative offices and educational uses: one space for each two employees of the maximum working shift, plus the number of additional spaces required by the planning department.
10. Miscellaneous Uses. For a use not specified in the above parking spaces schedule, the same number of parking spaces shall be provided as are required for the most similar specified use.
11. Recreation Vehicle Parking. Within multifamily developments involving fifty or more units, centralized parking for recreation vehicles shall be provided at the ratio of one RV parking space for each ten dwelling units. Such RV parking area shall be provided with security fencing and shall be located where it will have the least visual impact. RV parking within yard spaces of individual dwelling sites shall be prohibited, unless such parking spaces are within enclosed side or rear yards and where the yard requirements for light, air and open space are not compromised with respect to the rights of adjacent owners or tenants.
H. Units of Measurement.
1. For the purposes of this chapter, “floor space” shall mean that area used for service to the public including areas occupied by fixtures and equipment used for the display or sale of merchandise. It shall not include areas used principally for nonpublic use, including storage, or administrative offices incidental to a commercial use.
2. If, in the application of requirements, a fractional number is obtained, one parking space shall be provided for a fraction one-half or more, and no parking space shall be required for a fraction of less than one-half.
I. Change in Use—Additions and Enlargements. Whenever there is a change in use, or increase in floor area, or other unit of measurement specified herein, and such change, increase or other unit of measurement is such that it creates a need for an increase in the number of off-street parking spaces by ten percent or more, such increase in off-street parking facilities shall be provided on the basis of the increased requirements of the new use, or on the basis of the total increase in floor area, or in other units of measurement; provided, however, that in case a change in use creates a need for an increase of two or less off-street parking spaces, no additional parking facilities shall be required.
J. Joint Use. Parking facilities may be used jointly with parking facilities for other uses when operations are not normally conducted during the same hours, or when hours of peak use vary. Requests for use of shared parking are subject to the following conditions:
1. A parking study shall be presented demonstrating that substantial conflict will not exist in the principal hours or periods of peak demand for the uses which the joint use is proposed.
2. Parking facilities designated for joint use should not be located further than three hundred feet from any structure or use served.
3. A written agreement shall be drawn by the applicant to the satisfaction of the city and executed by all parties concerned assuring the continued availability of the number of stalls designated for joint use.
K. In-Lieu Payments for Uses within the Downtown Residential Overlay District. In lieu of furnishing the parking spaces and facilities required by the provisions of this section for uses within the downtown residential overlay district (Chapter 17.61), the requirements thereof may be satisfied by paying the fees stipulated in Council Resolution No. 91-51. (Ord. 2015-08 § 2 (part), 2015; Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 2003-4 § 1, 2003; Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.030 Standards for off-street parking facilities.
Off-street parking facilities shall conform to the standards in Title 10, Vehicles and Traffic, as well as the following standards:
A. All parking areas shall have adequate ingress and egress to and from a street or alley. Sufficient room for turning and maneuvering vehicles shall be provided on the site. Bumper rails or other barriers shall be provided where needed for safety or to protect property, as determined by the city.
B. Entrances and exits to parking lots and other parking facilities shall be provided only at locations approved by the city.
C. Each parking space shall be not less than twenty feet in length and nine feet in width, exclusive of aisles and access drives, except that up to thirty percent of all spaces may be provided for compact cars with such spaces not less than seventeen feet in length and eight feet in width, and marked for compact cars. Spaces for the handicapped shall meet state standards.
D. All single-family dwellings shall have a covered off-street parking area of not less than four hundred square feet. Each parking area shall have a width of not less than twenty feet and a depth of not less than twenty feet, exclusive of aisles or drives.
E. Multiple-family dwellings shall have a minimum of one-half of the required parking spaces covered.
F. Dwellings, including multiple-family dwellings, boarding and lodging houses, fraternities and sororities, shall have all required parking facilities on the same lot or building site.
G. All garages and carports in an R district facing a side street shall maintain a minimum setback of twenty feet from property line to face of garage or carport.
H. Parking lot lighting shall be deflected away from abutting sites so as not to cause annoying glare to such sites.
I. No commercial repair work or servicing of vehicles shall be conducted on a parking site.
J. The parking area, aisles and access drives shall be paved by concrete, asphaltic concrete, asphalt, or other material which provides structural support for vehicles, so as to provide a dustless surface and shall be so graded and drained as to dispose of surface water, with the design and specifications of such work subject to city standards and the approval of the city engineer.
K. Facilities with twenty-five or more parking spaces shall provide at least one designated parking area for use by motorcycles. Developments with over one hundred spaces shall provide motorcycle parking at the rate of one space per one hundred parking spaces or increment thereof.
L. All commercial and office areas shall provide adequate locking facilities for bicycle parking at any location convenient to the facility for which they are designated at a ratio of one bicycle facility for each twenty required parking spaces or increment thereof.
M. The requirements of this section shall apply to all uses for which an administrative site plan must be approved in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 17.80. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.040 Off-street loading facilities required.
In any district, in connection with every building or part thereof hereafter erected and having a gross floor area of forty thousand square feet or less, which is to be occupied by manufacturing, storage, retail store, wholesale store, market, hotel, hospital, dry cleaning or other uses similarly requiring the distribution by vehicles of materials or merchandise, there shall be provided and maintained, on the same parcel with such building, at least one off-street loading space. For uses greater than forty thousand square feet, one additional off-street loading space for each twenty thousand square feet or major fraction thereof of gross floor area shall be provided. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.050 Standards for off-street loading facilities.
A. The provisions of this chapter shall only apply to buildings erected, or reconstructed or structurally altered after the date of passage of the ordinance codified in this title, so as to add more than five hundred square feet of usable floor space to the building in the aggregate and where reconstruction is actually begun within one year following the removal of such existing building.
B. No loading space shall be required in connection with the construction of a new building or addition on a lot on which there is an existing building being lawfully maintained so as to prevent the establishment of the loading space or access required by the provisions of this chapter, due to occupancy by such existing building of the only available space for access or required loading space.
C. No building shall be erected or so structurally altered, nor shall any other structure be erected, so as to reduce any existing space reasonably available for the purpose of loading and unloading, unless there shall remain upon said lot the loading space required by this chapter.
D. Every required loading space shall have a minimum area of four hundred square feet. The minimum width shall be ten feet.
E. Whenever any building within the provisions of this chapter shall have a gross floor area of forty thousand square feet or less, the minimum required loading space above-mentioned shall be provided.
F. Whenever any building within the provisions of this chapter shall have a gross floor area of more than forty thousand square feet, there shall be one additional loading space for each additional twenty thousand square feet, or fraction thereof.
G. On lots less than forty feet in width, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the required loading space may be reduced to less than four hundred square feet; provided, that in case of such reduction, the required loading space shall extend across the entire width of the lot parallel to the alley line or street line, but need not exceed ten feet in depth.
H. Each required loading space shall be so located and arranged that delivery vehicles may be driven into said space, to and from a public street or alley; in no case shall an access be less than ten feet wide and fourteen feet high.
I. The required loading space may be within a building provided with access required by subsection (H) of this section.
J. Required parking space shall not be counted as required loading space, and required loading space shall not be counted as required parking space.
K. No off-street loading space shall be required where buildings are served by a public alley. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.060 Fences, barriers and lighting.
A. Where any parking lot or area abuts property in any R district, it shall be separated from such property by a screen fence or wall not less than six feet high; provided, that such screen fence or wall shall be forty-two inches high from the front property line to a depth equal to the required front yard on the abutting R district property.
B. At all points along streets or sidewalks (except points of access to the parking lot or area), a concrete curb or timber barrier not less than six inches high shall be installed and maintained.
C. Where any parking lot or area abuts property in any R district, no lights or reflectors erected on the parking lot shall be permitted to shed light onto the property in such R district. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.070 Landscaping requirements.
The submission of any plan for off-street parking facilities shall be accompanied by a detailed landscape plan as part of the permit review process. All off-street parking facilities shall conform to the landscaping standards identified in Chapter 17.71 and consistent with the Dinuba Landscape Design Guidelines. In addition, all off-street parking facilities shall conform to the following requirements:
A. The project plot plan shall indicate the location of all landscaping.
B. Not less than six percent of a parking lot comprising up to twenty parking spaces shall be landscaped and continuously maintained.
C. Not less than ten percent of a parking lot comprising more than twenty parking spaces shall be landscaped and continuously maintained.
D. Not more than ten consecutive parking stalls shall be allowed without an approved landscaped tree well of twenty square feet or more.
E. A planting list shall be shown on the required plot plan to obtain a grading permit, or building permit, for the buildings for which the parking lot is provided. The planting list shall give the botanical and common names of the plants to be used, the sizes to be planted, the quantity of each and the spacing to ensure balance and design.
F. The director shall approve all landscaping plans within a parking area and shall have the right to require additional landscaping if he deems it necessary to improve the aesthetic character of the project. (Ord. 2021-04 § 2 (Att. A § 14), 2021; Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.080 Drive-through facilities.
Drive-through facilities require special consideration as their design can significantly impact vehicular circulation on a site. The following requirements apply to any use with drive-through facilities:
A. Each drive-through lane shall be separated from the circulation routes necessary for ingress or egress from the property, or access to any parking space.
B. Each drive-through lane shall be striped, marked or otherwise distinctly delineated.
C. The vehicle stacking capacity of the drive-through facility and the design and location of the ordering and pick-up facilities will be determined by the director and city engineer based on appropriate traffic engineering and planning data. The applicant shall submit to the city a traffic study addressing the following issues:
1. Nature of the product or service being offered;
2. Method by which the order is processed;
3. Time required to serve a typical customer;
4. Arrival rate of customers;
5. Peak demand hours;
6. Anticipated vehicular traffic. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.090 Existing uses.
No existing use of land or structure shall be deemed to be a nonconforming use solely because of the lack of off-street parking facilities or off-street loading facilities prescribed in this chapter; provided, however, that facilities being used for off-street parking and off-street loading at the time of the adoption of the ordinance codified in this title shall not be reduced in capacity to less than the number of spaces or reduced to less than the minimum standards prescribed in this chapter. Where an existing use is expanded, the parking requirements of this chapter shall apply only to the addition. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)
17.64.100 Reduction of off-street parking and off-street loading facilities.
A. No existing off-street parking facility or off-street loading facility provided in compliance with this chapter shall be reduced in capacity or area without sufficient additional capacity or area being provided to comply with the regulations of this chapter.
B. Alternative provisions to any of the off-street parking regulations may be permitted subject to the approval of a use permit application approved in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 17.80. Any such application may be approved, provided the approving authority finds:
1. Applicable off-street parking requirements are excessive or inappropriate due to the nature of the specific use involved or because of special circumstances applicable to the property; and
2. The proposed off-street parking facilities comply with the intent of these regulations as specified by this chapter. (Ord. 2008-05 § 1 (part), 2008: Ord. 93-6 § 3 (part), 1993)