§ 10.2. Required off-street parking

Off-street parking, in conjunction with all land and building uses shall be provided as herein prescribed:

a. The minimum number of off-street parking spaces shall be determined in accordance with the following table in section 10.3. For uses not specifically mentioned therein, off-street parking requirements interpreted by the planning commission from requirements for similar uses.

b. The requirements for providing off-street parking, contained in this appendix, shall not apply to nonresidential uses located within the central business district. The CBD district for purposes of this article shall be all of the area contained within Wide Track Drive.

c. Any area once designated as required off-street parking shall never be changed to any other use unless and until equal facilities are provided elsewhere. Off-street parking existing at the effective date of this appendix in connection with the operation of an existing building or use shall not be reduced to an amount less than would by this appendix be required for such building or use.

d. The off-street parking may be provided either by individual action or by a parking program carried out through public action, whether by a special assessment district or otherwise.

e. Two or more buildings or uses may collectively provide the required off-street parking, in which case the required number of parking spaces shall not be less than the sum of the requirements for the several individual uses computed separately. However, in cases of dual functioning of off-street parking where operating hours do not overlap, the planning commission may grant a special exception permit based on the peak hour demand.

f. Landscaping of off-street parking lots; shall be subject to the standards and conditions as apply in the wall, buffering, and landscaping requirements (article IX, section 9.2).

g. Required off-street parking shall be for use of occupants, employees, visitors, and patrons and shall be limited in use to motor vehicles; the storage of merchandise, motor vehicles for sale, or the repair of vehicles is prohibited.

h. Privately provided off-street parking for nonresidential uses shall not be located within the required open space in excess of one parking space per 20 feet of frontage of such lot.

i. For those uses located outside the central business district, all off-street parking, whether publicly or privately provided for nonresidential uses shall be either on the same premises as the building or within 300 feet of the building it is intended to serve, measured from the nearest point of the building to the nearest point of the off-street parking lot without crossing any major thoroughfares, except that where there is a parking program for a specified area carried out with public action in accordance with subsection k., below, the latter requirement is waived. Within the central business district, there shall be provided prior to the occupancy of any residential building either erected, enlarged, or increased in capacity, off-street parking spaces on the same premises as the building or within 300 feet of the building it is intended to serve, as measured above.

j. Single-family residential off-street parking shall consist of a parking strip, garage or combination thereof and shall be located on the premises they are intended to serve. Such single-family residential off-street parking is exempt from the regulations of this article governing a parking lot.

k. Where off-street parking in permanent public ownership and operations exist within the central business district (area contained within Wide Track Drive) in quantity and location greater than would be necessary to fulfill the parking needs of nonresidential uses located within the district, such excess number of parking spaces may be prorated to the land area within the central business district, to the extent that the parking requirements for residential uses contained therein are met. The planning commission shall determine such proration calculation. To the extent of such proration calculation, the planning commission may grant a special exception permit to the minimum number of off-street parking spaces required to be provided prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for any new residential use or changed residential use.

l. Off-street parking shall be provided as hereinafter required, prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy; provided that where a parking program for a specified area to be carried out by public action is established by an official plan that proposes parking spaces comparable to the quantitative requirements of this appendix and includes a time schedule of land acquisition and construction, certificate of occupancy for all land or building uses within such officially planned area shall not be contingent upon prior provision of off-street parking.

m. For the purpose of computing the number of parking spaces required, the definition for nonresidential useable floor area, section 2.10 shall apply. In stadia, sports arenas, churches and other places of assembly in which patrons or spectators occupy benches, pews or other similar seating facilities, each 20 inches of such seating facilities shall be counted as one seat. When units of measurement determining number of required parking spaces result in requirements of a fractional space, any fraction up to and including one-half shall be disregarded and fractions over one-half shall require one parking space. Except the planning commission, if it determines that sufficient documentation exist may allow, up to 50 percent of the required parking to be land banked and held in landscaped open space as a condition of site plan approval.