Standards.
§ 218-58. Standards.
Off-street parking lots of more than two motor vehicles capacity shall conform to the following standards of construction:
A. The area shall have a dust free, hard surface and shall be provided with bumper guards, as needed. Vehicles shall not extend over property lines, pedestrian areas or bump any wall or landscaping.
B. Where such area adjoins an exclusively residential district or use, a landscaped fifteen foot setback and an opaque evergreen hedge or fence not less than five feet high shall be erected at the edge of the setback and maintained between such area and the adjoining residential district or use.
C. Lighting fixtures shall be so arranged as to be directed downward and away from abutting property and away from adjacent roadways, and shall be at an intensity not greater than that of existing lighting in the area. In addition to these regulations, exterior lighting shall also be regulated by the provisions of 155-15, et seq.
D. Provisions for temporary bicycle parking are encouraged for all off-street parking areas. The minimum number of required parking spaces for automobiles may be reduced when bicycle parking is provided. For every five bicycle parking spaces provided, the requirement for automobile parking spaces may be reduced by one.
E. On any business or industrial use, parking shall not be permitted within any front yard or required buffer.
F. Plans and specifications for the required parking facility and its access drives shall be submitted during development plan review, if applicable, or, at the time of a building permit application.
G. Each parking space shall have a minimum width of nine feet, a minimum length of eighteen feet and shall be served by ten feet wide minimum aisles to permit access into all parking spaces. Parking spaces may be drawn on various angles in relation to driveways or aisles, so long as the parking spaces contain the area required.
H. Circulation areas shall be designed so that vehicles can proceed safely without danger to pedestrians, other vehicles and without interfering with other parking spaces.
I. Landscaping Standards. Parking areas shall be landscaped before a final approval or Certificate of Occupancy can be issued by the Building Official to the following standards:
(1) Landscape Plan. All proposed landscaping shall be shown on a separate plan entitled "Landscape Plan" as required by Section 218-74 of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2) Required Plantings.
(a) The minimum required amount of interior landscaping shall be ten percent of any newly installed parking area, which includes driveways, borders, sidewalks, parking stalls and travel lanes.
(b) Double rows of parking spaces shall be terminated at each end by landscaped borders which extend the entire length of the adjacent parking stalls. The borders shall have a minimum width of ten feet, however, a tapered design is allowed provided the border measures ten feet at its widest point.
(c) The interior of parking lots shall have, at a minimum, landscaped center islands at every other double row. Pedestrian paths may be incorporated within center islands provided a minimum total width of four feet is maintained for vegetated areas.
(d) Interior islands and divider medians shall be appropriately marked with reflectors to protect them from encroachment of motor vehicles in a manner approved by the Planning Commission or Town Planner.
(e) The interior of parking areas and all internal circulation areas to the site shall be shaded by deciduous trees either retained or planted by the developer. As indicated on the landscape plan, each tree shall provide a canopy with a radius of at least fifteen feet, and the total tree canopy shall be sufficient to cover at least thirty percent of the parking area under conditions of mature growth.
(f) Shade trees shall be located so that they are surrounded by at least twenty-five square feet of evenly distributed unpaved area, which may be counted towards calculating the required landscaped area. Trees located in sidewalks shall be selected to mature within the space designed for them without eventually disrupting the sidewalk from below.
(g) Raised islands shall be required to protect landscaping and to channel traffic safely. Where depressed landscaped islands are proposed to be used as part of the overall stormwater treatment approach, perforated curbing or some similar protective measure shall be used to ensure automobiles do not trespass into these areas.
(h) All parking areas of ten or more spaces shall include shade trees planted forty feet on center around the perimeter of the parking area. Such distance may be increased or decreased in development plan review for the purposes of ingress and egress drives.
(i) All trees planted shall be nursery certified as disease and pest free.