Off-street parking and loading areas shall be provided and satisfactorily
maintained in accordance with the following provisions of this article
and the parking and driveway provisions of the Subdivision and Land
Development Ordinance of Towamencin Township,[1] as last amended.
Structures and uses in existence at the date of adoption of
this chapter shall not be subject to the requirements of this article
providing that the kind and/or extent of use is not changed, altered,
extended or enlarged and provided further that any parking facility
now serving such structures or uses shall not in the future be reduced
below its current extent or below what is now required by this chapter.
Whenever there is an alteration or change in use which increases
the parking requirements, the total additional parking required for
the alteration, change or extension shall be provided in accordance
with this chapter.
Two or more uses in any single business or commercial development may provide for required parking in a common parking lot if the total of the spaces provided is not less than the sum of the spaces required for each use individually, provided that, however, the number of spaces required in a common parking facility may be reduced below this total if it can be adequately demonstrated to the Board of Supervisors that the hours or days of peak parking needed for the uses are so different that a lower total will provide adequately for all uses served by the facility. Area for spaces which are required, but not built, under this provision shall be reserved in accordance with § 153-704 below.
The Board of Supervisors may approve, as a conditional use, the placing of open space in "reserve" for use as future parking areas. Under such conditional use, the applicant would be permitted to construct reduced parking facilities in accordance with his demonstrated need provided that space is reserved for the construction of the necessary parking facilities needed to satisfy the full parking requirement of this chapter and that the conditional use plan satisfies the provision of § 153-705 below.
In order to prevent the establishment of a greater number of
parking spaces than is actually required, the Board of Supervisors
may permit a conditional reduction of parking spaces if the following
conditions are satisfied:
A.
The applicant shall show by documented evidence that the full parking
required for the proposed use would be excessive and that a conditional
reduction in parking would have a clear and definite public benefit.
B.
The design of the parking lot, as indicated on the conditional use
plan, shall designate sufficient space, and illustrate an appropriate
layout and circulation plan to meet the full parking requirement of
the Zoning Ordinance. In addition, the conditional use plan shall
indicate which parking areas will be constructed, and which areas
will be reserved as open space.
C.
The conditional use plan shall provide for the establishment of no less than 80% of the required number of parking spaces as specified in Article V, Use Definitions and Regulations, herein for the use or uses proposed. Provided, however, that for manufacturing facilities of at least 100,000 square feet combined with a warehousing facility of at least 100,000 square feet, the conditional use plan shall provide for the establishment of no less than 50% of the parking requirement, provided, further, that a minimum of 1.1 spaces per employee on the largest shift and one space for each vehicle normally stored on the premises is constructed and not reserved.
D.
The balance of the parking area shall be reserved and shall not include
areas for required buffer yards, setbacks, or areas which would otherwise
be unsuitable for parking spaces due to the physical characteristics
of the land, or other requirements of this chapter or the Towamencin
Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance,[1] as last amended.
E.
The parking area which is reserved shall be located and have characteristics
so as to provide amendable open space should it be determined in the
future that additional parking spaces are not required. The developer
shall provide a landscaping plan for the reserve area with the conditional
use plan submission.
F.
The applicant shall prepare, to the satisfaction of the Township
Solicitor, a covenant to be attached to the property deed establishing
the reserved parking area as open space until such time as the Board
of Supervisors may require the construction of said reserved area
as parking in accordance with the conditional use plan.
G.
The applicant shall submit, to the satisfaction of the Township Solicitor,
a letter of credit or performance bond from an acceptable financial
institution in the amount required to construct the reserved parking
as may be required. The letter of credit or performance bond shall
be issued and renewed for an aggregate period of 10 years from the
date of the final certificate of occupancy, or until the reserved
parking is constructed, whichever occurs first.
H.
In the event that the Board of Supervisors believes that the construction of the reserved parking areas is necessary, or upon completion of the ten-year period as specified in Subsection G, the Township shall hold a public hearing after public notice at which time the Township, the property owner(s) and their duly authorized representatives, and any interested party may provide testimony upon which the Board of Supervisors shall consider when rendering a decision to continue or discontinue the conditional reduction in parking as previously granted. The applicant shall bear all costs associated with the public notice and hearing including all related technical, administrative and legal fees required by the Township in the administration of this section.
I.
A note shall be placed on the record plan indicating that the owner, his successor or assign shall be responsible, without cost to the Township, for the construction of the reserved parking in accordance with the conditional use plan upon finding and decision to that effect by the Board of Supervisors as provided in Subsection H herein.
Off-street parking areas, including access thereto, shall be
so designed and so located that:
A.
Vehicles from nonresidential uses shall not be permitted to back
out directly onto a public or private street.
B.
For single-family detached dwellings and single-family semidetached
dwellings on a corner lot, the driveways shall be located as far away
from the street intersection as possible, and onto the lower classification
street.
C.
Driveways for all multifamily and nonresidential uses shall be located
not less than 30 feet from a street intersection, measuring from the
near side of the driveway to the near curbline of such street.
A.
Adequate off-street loading and unloading space, with proper access
from a street, highway or service driveway, shall be provided for
all nonresidential uses. Such space shall be sufficient in size and
design to accommodate the maximum demand generated by the use or uses
of the lot. All required off-street loading areas shall be in addition
to, and shall be separate and distinct from, the required parking
spaces for said use.
B.
All areas for the loading and unloading of delivery trucks and other
vehicles and for servicing of establishments and/or shops by refuse
collection, fuel or other service vehicles, shall have adequate and
unobstructed access from a street or service driveway and shall be
so arranged that they may be used without blocking or otherwise interfering
with the use of automobile accessways, parking facilities, or pedestrian
ways or would require backing out onto a street.
C.
All loading berths shall be located at the side or rear of the property
and shall be screened from view by fencing and/or other landscaped
buffers. On properties in the IN Institutional District which have
frontage on at least two streets, the Board of Supervisors may, by
conditional use approval, permit a loading berth to face a street
where the loading berth has a setback of a minimum of 200 feet from
any street, provided that such loading berth shall be screened from
view by fencing, walls and/or landscaped buffers.
[Amended 1-26-2022 by Ord. No. 22-01]
In addition to the requirements herein, all facilities required
under this article shall be constructed in accordance with the standards
set forth in the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance of Towamencin
Township,[1] as last amended, unless such requirements have been formally
waived by the Board of Supervisors at the time of subdivision and/or
land development approval.
A.
For all nonresidential parking areas, the area not landscaped shall
be graded, surfaced with asphalt or other suitable material, and drained
to the satisfaction of the Township Engineer to the extent necessary
to prevent dust, erosion, or excessive water flow. All parking spaces
shall be marked so as to indicate their location.
C.
All automobile parking facilities shall provide parking spaces for
the handicapped or disabled in accordance with the Township's Subdivision
and Land Development Ordinance, as last amended.
D.
Where a contradiction arises in the application of the above standards,
the most stringent requirements shall govern.
Any establishment which furnishes carts or mobile baskets as an adjunct to shopping shall provide definite areas within the required parking space area for the storage of such carts. Areas for the storage of shopping carts shall be in addition to the area required for off-street parking as established by this article and Article V herein. Each designated storage area shall be clearly designed and marked for said storage.
Every parking lot shall be subject to the buffer yard and landscaping
requirements of the Towamencin Township Subdivision and Land Development
Ordinance, as last amended, unless such requirements have been formally
waived by the Board of Supervisors at the time of subdivision and/or
land development approval, and the following: No off-street parking
space shall be located within any required buffer yard as determined
by the Towamencin Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance,
as last amended.
All lighting shall be in accordance with the requirements of
the Towamencin Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance,
as last amended, unless such requirements have been formally waived
by the Board of Supervisors at the time of subdivision and/or land
development approval.
In the event that parking requirements are not listed in Article V for a proposed use type, and the Zoning Officer is unable to align the proposed use with a listed use, the applicant shall provide, to the satisfaction of the Zoning Officer, documentation regarding the parking requirement for the proposed use by utilizing the most recent edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Parking Generation Standards or other acceptable standard for the proposed use.
