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Town of Barnstable, MA
Barnstable County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Code
New Laws (7) Index
It is the purpose of this article that all new, expanded or intensified uses within the Town provide adequate off-street parking.
No use shall be intensified, except for single-family detached dwellings, without providing adequate off-street parking as provided herein.
Existing parking spaces may be counted to meet the minimum off-street parking requirements for an intensified use only if it can be demonstrated that they are not used as of right by existing uses and are exclusively available as of right for said proposed intensification.
[Amended 11-15-2001 by Order No. 2002-029; 7-21-2016 by Order No. 2016-166]
A. 
All off-street parking spaces required by this article shall be located on the same lot as the use for which such spaces are required, except that in nonresidential districts, parking spaces may be located on another lot within 300 feet of, and in the same zoning district as, the use for which such spaces are required.
B. 
Parking facilities, including those governed by § 240-24.1.11. The site development standards in §§ 240-24.1.11A(4)(d) and 240-24.1.10, Hyannis Parking Overlay District, may operate parking lots in other locations and propose shuttle service to transport patrons from these remote lots to their desired destination. Such proposals shall be subject to site plan review.
[Amended 3-11-1999 by Order No. 99-056]
A. 
Each off-street parking space shall have minimum dimensions of nine feet by 20 feet excluding the driveway to such space.
B. 
Drainage facilities for each parking area shall be designed and constructed to contain stormwater runoff on the premises.
C. 
Parking areas for five or more cars shall be designed with enough maneuvering space so that vehicles need not back onto a public way.
D. 
No parking lot shall be illuminated so as to cause glare for motorists, pedestrians or neighboring premises.
A. 
In all Single Family Residential Districts, where a legal use or a combination of legal uses requires the provision of five or more parking spaces pursuant to § 240-56, Schedule of Off-Street Parking Requirements, the following requirements shall apply:
(1) 
All the requirements of § 240-53, Landscape Requirements of Parking Lots, Subsections C, D, E and F below; and
(2) 
A landscaped setback shall be provided from the surfaced area of a parking lot and all entrance and exit drives to the road lot line, a distance equal to the required front yard building setback requirement, or a maximum of 50 feet, whichever is lesser. Existing trees and shrubs shall be retained within the road right-of-way and within the required front yard landscaped setback and supplemented with other landscape materials, in accordance with accepted landscape practices. Where natural vegetation cannot be retained, the required front yard landscaped setback shall be landscaped with a combination of grasses, trees and shrubs commonly found on Cape Cod. A minimum of one street tree with a minimum caliper of three inches shall be provided per 30 feet of road frontage distributed throughout the front yard setback area. No plantings shall obscure site at entrance and exit drives and road intersections. All landscaped areas shall be continuously maintained, substantially in accordance with any site plan approved pursuant to Article IX herein.
B. 
In all office and commercial districts, a parking lot shall conform to the following requirements:
(1) 
The surfaced area of a parking lot and all entrance and exit drives shall be set back from the side and rear lot lines, by a landscaped buffer, as follows:
[Amended 6-28-20001 by Order No. 2001-036; 7-19-2001 by Item Nos. 2001-037, 2001-038, 2001-039; 11-15-2001 by Order No. 2002-029]
Landscape Buffer Setbacks (in feet)
to Parking Lots and Drives
Zoning District
Side
Rear
B-1 Business
5
5
HO Highway Office
10
20
MA-1 Business
—
5
MA-2 Business
5
5
O-1, O-2, O-3 Office
5
5
OR Office Residential
5
10
PR Professional Residential
5
5
All other office and commercial districts
10
10
Uses requiring 5 or more spaces in single-family residential districts
10
10
(2) 
A ten-foot minimum, landscaped perimeter buffer shall be maintained between a building and the surfaced area of a parking lot or drive, except at entrances, building loading and utility locations. A walkway may be located within the landscaped perimeter buffer, provided that the landscape area is not reduced to less than 40% of the area of the perimeter buffer.
(3) 
Screening from residential districts: Where a parking lot containing five or more spaces abuts a residential district, or is located across the road from a residential district, it shall be screened as follows: (a) retention or planting of a sufficient area of natural vegetation to provide a dense screen; and/or (b) a dense hedge providing year-round screening, and/or (c) where vegetative screening is not practical, a fence, with not more than 50% open space between the panels. Such screening shall be maintained in good condition at all times, and no advertising shall be placed upon the screening. In an Historic District, fences and hedges may be subject to other regulation.
C. 
In all office and commercial districts, at least 10% of the interior of a parking lot with 21 or more parking spaces shall be landscaped. Planting along the perimeter of a parking area shall not be considered as part of the 10% interior landscaping. Interior landscaped islands shall be distributed throughout the parking lot. At least one tree with a minimum three-inch caliper or larger shall be provided per eight spaces or any portion thereof, located within interior landscaped islands. Existing naturally occurring trees in good condition located in landscaped islands shall be credited towards this requirement only in those areas where the existing trees are located. No landscaped island shall have an overall width of less than six feet, except that in parking lots with 51 or more parking spaces, the overall width of islands shall be no less than 10 feet. A walkway may be located within an interior landscaped island, provided that the walkway is separated from the surfaced area of the drive or parking lot by a minimum of four feet of landscaped area. The interior landscape requirements of Subsection D herein shall not apply to parking lots used for sale and/or display of motor vehicles.
D. 
In all industrial districts, and in marine business districts, a parking lot with 21 or more parking spaces shall comply with the requirements of Subsections B(2) and (3) and C and E herein, except where a parking lot is also used for loading, material storage, or parking of trucks, boat storage and other equipment associated with the following uses: light industry, warehouse and distribution, contractor service establishments and commercial marinas.
[Amended 7-19-2001 by Order No. 2001-099]
E. 
Where landscaped setbacks to parking areas, landscaped buffers to buildings, and landscaped islands within parking areas are required in Subsections B, C and D above, the following requirements shall apply:
(1) 
Existing natural trees and shrubs shall be retained within landscaped islands, and side and rear yard landscaped buffers to parking lots and drives wherever possible and supplemented with other landscape materials, in accordance with accepted landscape practices. Specimen trees shall be retained and, if practical, relocated within the site where necessary. Where natural vegetation cannot be retained, these areas shall be landscaped with a combination of low-maintenance grasses, trees and shrubs commonly found on Cape Cod. A list of recommended plant materials is on file with the Town Clerk and may also be obtained from the Planning Department. Plant materials shall be of sufficient size and density to create an attractive appearance. Brick or stone mulch shall not be used in place of ground covers in landscaped islands. Where mulch is used, it shall be in such a manner that it will not wash into leaching catch basins located in a parking lot, or adjacent roadway.
(2) 
All landscaped areas shall be continuously maintained, substantially in accordance with any site plan approved pursuant to Article IX herein. No occupancy certificate shall be issued until the landscape plan has been implemented according to an approved site plan, except that the Building Commissioner may issue an occupancy certificate prior to installation of landscape materials, provided that the applicant posts security with the Town for 150% of the estimated cost of installation and plant materials.
F. 
The preceding requirements of this § 240-53 shall not apply to parking lots constructed and in use prior to March 11, 1999, which conformed to all applicable regulations when established, except whenever there is:
(1) 
An expansion of an existing parking lot containing 21 or more parking spaces; and/or
(2) 
An alteration of a structure, or a change or extension of a use created prior to March 11, 1999, which increases the parking requirements by five or more spaces according to the standards of § 240-56, Schedule of Off-Street Parking Requirements;
The entire parking lot shall be brought into compliance with § 240-53 herein; and the front yard landscaped setback requirement, if any, in accordance with the applicable zoning district bulk regulations. For the purpose of this subsection only, a development containing several different business enterprises sharing a common parking lot or lots shall be considered to be one use.
(3) 
Reduction of parking and/or landscape buffers for parking lots created prior to March 11, 1999. The number of parking spaces required in § 240-56 may be reduced by the number of spaces lost to the installation of landscape buffers and traffic islands. Alternatively or in addition thereto, landscape buffers and islands may be reduced sufficient to ensure the creation of a functional, attractive parking lot, subject to approval of site plan review. This provision shall only apply to parking lots subject to § 240-53F herein.
[Amended 3-11-1999 by Order No. 99-056]
[Amended 3-11-1999 by Order No. 99-056]
Parking lots shall be located to the rear or side of a building unless such location would have an adverse environmental impact or is infeasible due to configuration of the site.
Any specific provision in any other section of this chapter relating to parking shall prevail over the provisions of this section.
[Amended 11-5-1988 by Art. 1]
The following standards represent the minimum parking requirements to be applied as provided for herein:
Use
Required Spaces
Attached dwelling units (D.U.)
1.5/D.U.+ 1 visitor space/10 required D.U. spaces
Guesthouse, lodging house, group accommodation, bed-and-breakfast
1.2/bedroom
Hotel/motel guest units
1.2/guest unit + 1/every 2 employees on maximum shift
Nursing homes/hospitals
1/every 3 beds
Industry, warehousing, storage, distribution, wholesaling
1/700 sq. ft. gross floor area or 1/every 1.3 employees on maximum shift, whichever is greater
Retail, consumer service
1/200 sq. ft. gross floor area + 1/separate enterprise
Office, professional, administrative, banks
1/300 sq. ft. gross floor area + 1/separate suite
Restaurants, licensed common victualer or purveyor of food ready to be consumed on or off premises
1/every 3 seats + 1/every 2 employees + 5/take-out area
Places of public assembly
1/every 3 persons capacity
Bowling alley
4/alley
Tennis, handball and racquetball courts
3/court, except 0 when a single court is located as accessory to a single-family dwelling
Laundromats
1/every 4 machines
Gas/service stations
3/service bay or 1/100 sq. ft. gross floor area, whichever is greater
All other uses
As determined by the Building Commissioner
[Amended 11-5-1988 by Art. 1]
The Zoning Board of Appeals may reduce the requirements of this article by the granting of a special permit only if lesser off-street parking is shown to be adequate given such special circumstances as:
A. 
Use of a common parking area by different uses having different peak hours of demand.
B. 
Age or other characteristics of occupants which reduce auto usage.
C. 
Characteristics of use invalidating normal methods of calculating parking demand.
D. 
Supplementary parking provided off premises.
[Added 7-19-2001 by Item Nos. 2001-037, 2001-038, 2001-039; amended 11-15-2001 by Order No. 2002-029]
A. 
Within the MA-1 and MA-2 Business Districts, a permitted use can be changed to another permitted use, and a use can be intensified, without increasing the required off-street parking requirements of § 240-56, Schedule of Off-Street Parking Requirements, herein, provided that as of September 15, 2001, there is:
(1) 
No increase in gross square footage of the building; and
(2) 
No reduction in existing parking spaces required pursuant to § 240-56; and
(3) 
There is no added outdoor use requiring the provision of parking according to § 204-56, except that no parking spaces shall be required for outdoor dining on both public and private property; except
(4) 
That in the MA-1 Business District, the following requirements shall apply to apartments:
(a) 
One parking space per one-bedroom apartment unit;
(b) 
Two parking spaces per apartment unit with two bedrooms.
B. 
Within the MA-1 Business District, parking spaces shall be provided for new and/or expanded building area, and for new and/or expanded outdoor uses, as follows:
(1) 
Fifty percent of the spaces required under § 240-56 for all uses other than apartments.
(2) 
Parking spaces requirements for apartments shall be according to Subsection A(4) above.
C. 
The Zoning Board of Appeals may by special permit, further reduce the parking required within the MA-1 Business District as follows:
(1) 
Off-site parking. Parking requirements may be satisfied if an off-street municipal parking lot of 20 spaces or more exists within 500 feet of the proposed use.