City of Monessen, PA Off-Street Parking and Loading

Number of spaces. Each use that is newly developed, enlarged, significantly changed in type or increased in number of establishments shall provide and maintain off-street parking spaces in accordance with Table 6.1[1] and the regulations of this article.

Editor's Note: Said Table 6.1 is included at the end of this chapter.

Uses not listed. Uses not specifically listed in Table 6.1 shall comply with the requirements for the most similar use listed in Table 6.1, unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer that an alternative standard should be used for that use.

Multiple uses. Where a proposed lot contains or includes more than one type of use, the number of parking spaces required shall be the sum of the parking requirements for each separate use, except as may be allowed under § 375-45B.

Calculation. Where the calculation of required parking spaces does not result in a whole number, the calculation shall be rounded to the closest whole number.

Reduction of parking requirements as a conditional use.

Purposes. To minimize impervious surfaces, while ensuring adequate parking; to recognize that unique circumstances may justify a reduction in parking.

The City Council may permit a reduction, through the conditional use process of § 375-18, of the number of parking spaces required to be developed if the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the City Council that fewer parking spaces are needed.

(a)

Proof. To prove that fewer parking spaces are needed, the applicant shall provide existing and projected employment, customer, resident or other relevant data. Such data may include a study of parking at similar developments during peak periods of use.

(b)

Shared parking. Under this section, an applicant may seek to prove that parking permanently shared with another use or another lot with shared internal access will reduce the total amount of parking needed because the uses have different peak times of parking need or overlapping customers.

(c)

Reservation of future parking areas. If a reduction is permitted under this section, the City Council may require as a condition of the approval that the lot include the reservation, permanently or for a specified number of years, of areas for use if needed in the future for additional parking.

Such reservation shall be provided in a legal form acceptable to the City Solicitor.

In such case, the applicant shall be required to submit site plans to the Zoning Officer showing where and how the additional parking could be accomplished.

[3]

Such additional parking shall be required to be provided within one year by the owner of the lot at that time after the Zoning Officer may determine in writing to such owner that such parking has become needed to meet actual use. Such determination shall be based upon the Zoning Officer's on-site review on at least three different days.

§ 375-46 General regulations for off-street parking.

General. Parking spaces and accessways shall be laid out to result in safe and orderly use and to fully take into account all of the following: vehicular access onto and off the site, vehicular movement within the site, loading areas, pedestrian patterns and any drive-through facilities. No parking area shall cause a safety hazard or impediment to traffic off the lot.

Existing parking. Any parking spaces serving such preexisting structures or uses at the time of adoption of this chapter shall not in the future be reduced in number below the number required by this chapter.

Change in use or expansion. A structure or use in existence at the effective date of this chapter that expands or significantly changes in use of an existing principal building shall be required to provide all of the required parking for the entire size and type of the resulting use, except as follows:

If the use expands in total building floor area by a aggregate total maximum of 5% in the applicable measurement (such as building floor area) beyond what existed at the time of adoption of this chapter, then no additional parking is required; or

If the change in use would increase the number of required parking spaces by fewer than 20 spaces beyond what was required by the previous use, then an applicant may choose to only add the additional number of spaces required by the new use compared to the previous use.

Continuing obligation of parking and loading spaces. All required numbers of parking spaces and off-street loading spaces shall be available as long as the use or building which the spaces serve still exist and such spaces shall not be reduced in number below the minimum required by this chapter. No required parking area or off-street loading spaces shall be used for any other use (such as storage or display of materials) that interferes with the area's availability for parking.

Location of parking. Required off-street parking spaces shall be on the same lot or abutting lot with the principal use served, unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer that a permanent method of providing the spaces is available using area of a lot within 250 feet of the entrance of the principal use being served.

§ 375-47 Design standards for off-street parking.

General requirements.

No parking area shall be designed to require or encourage parked vehicles to back into a public street in order to leave a parking space, except for a single-family or two-family dwelling with its access onto a local street or parking court.

Every required parking space shall be designed so that each motor vehicle may proceed to and from the parking space provided for it without requiring the moving of any other vehicle, except for spaces of a single-family detached dwelling.

Parking areas shall not be within any of the following: a required buffer yard, a future or existing street right-of-way or a required paved area setback.

Defined traffic ways. All parking areas shall include clearly defined and marked traffic patterns. In any lot with more than 30 off-street parking spaces, raised curbs and landscaped areas shall be used to direct traffic within the lot. Major vehicular routes shall be separated as much as is reasonable from major pedestrian routes within the lot.

(5)

Separation from street. All areas for off-street parking, off-street loading and unloading and the storage or movement of motor vehicles shall be physically separated from the street by a raised curb, planting strip, wall or other suitable barrier against unchanneled motor vehicle entrance or exit. except for necessary and approved vehicle entrances and exits to the lot. All commercial and industrial parking areas approved after the adoption of this chapter shall be separated from the street by a grass or landscaped strip of land.

Size and marking of parking spaces. Each parking space shall be a rectangle with a minimum width of 10 feet and a minimum length of 20 feet, except:

The minimum length shall be 22 feet for parallel parking.

All spaces shall be marked to indicate their location, except those of a single-family or two-family dwelling.

Aisles.

Each aisle providing access to stalls for one-way traffic only shall be at least the minimum aisle width specified as follows:

	Angle of Parking	Minimum Aisle Width (feet)
	Parallel or 30°	12
	45°	14
	60°	18
	90°	20

Each aisle providing access to stalls for two-way traffic shall be at least 24 feet in width, except a width of 20 feet may be allowed for areas of parking that are clearly primarily for employees or parking areas with spaces that are parallel or involve an angle of parking of 45° or less.

Maximum length of parking aisle: 250 feet.

Access drives and driveways.

Width.

	Width of Driveway/Accessway at Entrance onto Public Street (at the edge of the cartway)*	1-Way Use	2-Way Use
	Minimum	12 feet	20 feet
	Maximum	35 feet	50 feet

	Notes:
	* Unless a different standard is required by PennDOT for an entrance to a state road.

Maximum grades of driveway. See the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.[1]

Editor's Note: See Ch. 345, Subdivision and Land Development.

Drainage. Adequate provisions shall be made to maintain uninterrupted parallel drainage along a public street at the point of driveway or access drive entry.

Separation between driveways. At least 80 feet shall be provided between the center lines of any two accessways or driveways along one street within one lot.

(5)

State permit. Where there will be new or intensified access to a state street or other work within the right-of-way of a state street, a state highway occupancy permit shall be obtained, as applicable.

(6)

Sight distance for driveways. See § 375-64.

Paving, grading and drainage.

Parking and loading facilities and driveways shall be graded and adequately limited to prevent erosion or excessive water flow across streets or adjoining properties.

Except for landscaped areas, all portions of required parking, loading facilities and driveways abutting dwellings shall be surfaced with asphalt or concrete or decorative paving blocks.

Lighting of parking areas. See light and glare control in § 375-42.

Paved area setbacks (including off-street parking setbacks).

Intent. To ensure that parked or moving vehicles within a lot do not obstruct sight distance or interfere with pedestrian traffic, to aid in stormwater management along streets and to prevent vehicles from entering or exiting a lot other than at approved driveways.

Uses within the paved area setback.

(a)

The paved area setback required by this section, together with any existing legal street right-of-way area that is not used as a cartway, street shoulder or on-street parking, shall be maintained in natural groundcover (such as grass) and shall not be used for any of the following:

Paving, except for approved driveway/access drive entrances and except any concrete sidewalks or asphalt bike paths of eight feet wide or less;

Fences; or

[3]

Parking, storage or display of vehicles or items for sale or rent.

(b)

A paved area setback may include the following:

Permitted freestanding signs,

Stormwater facilities that are primarily vegetated.

[3]

Concrete sidewalks or asphalt bike paths of eight feet wide or less.

[4]

Approved driveway crossings.

Width of paved area parking setbacks. Any commercial, industrial, institutional, townhouse or low-rise apartment use shall provide paved area setbacks as follows:

If a Paved Area Abuts:		Minimum Paved Area Setback (measured from the proposed edge of paving and gravel of the street after development)
Arterial or collector street:
	For lot with 2 acres or less of impervious coverage	10 feet
	For lot with more than 2 acres of impervious coverage	15 feet
Local street:		5 feet

Buffer areas between uses. See § 375-64.

Paved area landscaping (parking lot trees).

Intent. This section is primarily intended to reduce the thermal pollution of surface waters from parking lot runoff.

Any lot that would include more than five parking spaces shall be required to provide landscaped areas within the paved area.

One deciduous tree shall be required for every 3,000 square feet of paved area. This number of trees shall be in addition to any trees required by any other section of this chapter or by the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.[2]

Editor's Note: See Ch. 345, Subdivision and Land Development.

Trees required by this section shall meet the following standards:

(a)

Type of trees permitted. Required trees shall be chosen from the following list of approved street trees, unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer that another type of tree would shade paved areas, be resistant to disease, road salt and air pollution and be attractive. (This chapter only regulates the species of trees that are used to meet requirements of the City. The species of trees that are not required by City ordinances are not regulated.)

	Types of Deciduous Trees Permitted to Meet Ordinance Requirements
	Acer rubrum	American red maple
	Acer saccharum	Sugar maple
	Ceitis occidentalis	Common hackberry
	Fagus sylvatica	European beech
	Fraxinus americana	White ash
	Fraxinus pennsylvanica	Green ash
	Ginko biloba fastigiata (male only; female has noxious odor)	Maidenhair tree
	Gleditsia triacanthos	Thornless locust
	Liriodendron tulipifera	Tulip poplar
	Quercus alba	White oak
	Quercus acutissima	Sawtooth oak
	Quercus borealis	Red oak
	Quercus coccinea	Scarlet oak
	Quercus macrocarpa	Bur oak
	Quercus imbricaria	Shingle oak
	Quercus montana	Chestnut oak
	Quercus velutina	Black oak
	Quercus phellos	Willow oak
	Sophora japonica	Chinese scholar tree
	Tilia americana	American linden
	Tilia cordata	Littleleaf European linden
	Tilia euchlora	Crimean linden
	Tilia petiolaris	Silver linden
	Zelkova serrata	Zelkova

(b)

Minimum size. The trunk diameter (measured at a height of one foot above the finished grade level) shall be a minimum of two inches or greater.

Handicapped parking spaces.

Number of spaces. Any lot including four or more off-street parking spaces shall include a minimum of one handicapped space. The following number of handicapped spaces shall be provided, unless a revised regulation is officially established under the Federal Americans With Disabilities Act:

	Total Number of Required Parking Spaces on the Lot	Required Minimum Number or Percent of Handicapped Parking Spaces
	4 to 25	1
	26 to 50	2
	51 to 75	3
	76 to 100	4
	101 to 150	5
	151 to 200	6
	201 to 300	7
	301 to 400	8
	401 to 500	9
	501 to 1,000	2% of required spaces
	1,001 or more	20, plus 1% of required number over 1,000

Location. Handicapped parking spaces shall be located where they would result in the shortest reasonable accessible distance to a handicapped accessible building entrance. Curb cuts shall be provided as needed to provide access from the handicapped spaces.

Minimum size. Each required handicapped parking space shall be 10 by 20 feet. In addition, each space shall be adjacent to a five-foot-wide access aisle. Such access aisle may be shared by two handicapped spaces by being placed between them. However, one out of every eight required handicapped parking spaces shall have an adjacent access aisle of eight feet width instead of five feet.

Handicapped parking spaces shall be located in areas of less than six-percent slope in any direction.

(5)

Marking. All required handicapped spaces shall be well-marked by clearly visible signs or pavement markings. Blue paint is recommended.

§ 375-48 Parking and storage of junk vehicles and tractor-trailers.

[Amended 10-15-2003 by Ord. No. 12-2003]

The parking of junk vehicles is regulated under Article V, § 375-33C. Refer to § 375-33C.

Tractor-trailers may not be parked or stored on private property or on the street in any residential district.

§ 375-49 Off-street loading.

General requirements.

Each use shall provide off-street loading facilities, which meet the requirements of this section, sufficient to accommodate the maximum demand generated by the use.

At the time of site plan or land development review, the applicant shall provide evidence to the Planning Commission, who may advise the Zoning Officer, on whether the use will have sufficient numbers and sizes of loading facilities. For the purposes of this section, the words "loading" and "unloading" are used interchangeably.

Design and layout of loading facilities. Off-street loading facilities shall meet the following requirements:

Each off-street loading space shall be sufficient in size to accommodate the largest vehicle that can reasonably be expected to use such space.

Each space shall have sufficient maneuvering room to avoid conflicts with parking and traffic movements within and outside of the lot. No facility shall be designed or used in such a manner that it threatens a safety hazard, public nuisance or a serious impediment to traffic off the lot.