L. - Access, circulation and parking requirements.

1.

Site Access. The number of driveways along Kelly Park Road, Golden Gem Road and Plymouth Sorrento Road shall be minimized. Properties along these roads shall explore the feasibility of connecting to adjacent sites rather than providing their own driveways. The standards of LDC Section 6.02.10 regarding driveway separation shall be met.

Figure 38. Pedestrian Linkages

2.

On-Site Circulation.

1.

New developments must seek to create a balanced transportation system that accommodates pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders, as well as motor vehicles, and provides a system of connections to maximize choices for all modes of travel. Figure 38 provides an illustrative example of pedestrian, transit and parking linkages.

2.

The use of joint access driveways is required between commercial sites to reduce the number of access points and driveways that cross sidewalks.

3.

Safe pedestrian connections shall be provided not only along the perimeter of the blocks but also throughout the interior of development sites.

4.

Direct pedestrian access shall be provided from the principal entrance of the building to the sidewalk on the closest public right-of-way.

5.

Additional/secondary pedestrian access to businesses may be provided from parking facilities directly to ground floor uses, either through rear building entrances, sidewalks along the perimeter of buildings, or by pedestrian alleyways which connect the rear parking lots to the sidewalks along the front street. Pedestrian passageways may be exterior and located between buildings, or may be incorporated into the interior design of a structure. The pedestrian alleyways shall be a minimum of five (5) feet wide.

6.

Pedestrian walkways within the development shall be differentiated from driving surfaces through a change in materials and/or grade elevation.

7.

Crosswalks are required wherever a pedestrian sidewalk or alleyway intersects a vehicular area. All crosswalks shall be a minimum of five (5) feet wide and shall be paved with concrete modular paving or integrally poured concrete.

8.

All new development is encouraged to provide connections to existing bike and pedestrian pathways.

9.

Installed bicycle racks shall be designed to accommodate the minimum number of bicycles as set forth in Section L (Parking Requirements).

10.

Bicycle racks shall be permanently fixed to the ground through mechanical fasteners or through the use of concrete footings.

11.

The design of bicycle racks placed within the development site shall coordinate with the overall design scheme of the subject site in terms of color and material. Bike racks placed within the right-of-way shall comply with the requirements of Section P, Street Standards.

12.

Developments of 50,000 gross square feet or more which are adjacent to an arterial street—which is or may be used as a transit route—shall provide access for on-site public transit. The public transit stop shall include a bus pullout and shelter. It is recommended that the specific design requirements and examples of transit stops, pull-out facilities, and other transit amenities conform to the LYNX Design Standards.

3.

Location of Parking Facilities.

a.

Surface parking lots shall be located behind buildings so that the parking areas are screened from public sidewalks and streets.

b.

Where a site is too narrow or shallow to provide parking behind the building, the placement of parking facilities and vehicular driveways is permitted on the side of the proposed building (see Figure 39) only if the building setback requirements are met and a modification of standards for the minimum building frontage (if necessary to accommodate the parking area) is approved (See Section E.3, Modification of Standards). The vehicular areas shall be screened from the road by a street wall (see Section M.3). Design conflicts between vehicular and pedestrian movement generally shall be decided in favor of the design which promotes pedestrian circulation.

Figure 39. Parking on the Rear or Side

c.

Garages serving single family homes and duplex units are encouraged to be provided facing alleys and are required to comply with the citywide Development Design Guidelines (LDC Section 6.09.00).

d.

Surface and structure parking areas shall be accessed from a secondary street, from an adjacent property (joint access easement and shared use agreement necessary), or from rear alleys if any of these are available or proposed as part of the development (see Figures 40 and 41). Access through single family residential neighborhoods, however, shall not be allowed.

e.

Any surface parking areas located along a public street shall be screened from street view by a street wall. See wall standards in Section M.3.

Figure 40. Site Access

Figure 41. Shared Parking

Figure 42. Exposed   Spandrels

4.

Parking Garages.

a.

Parking structures facing Type A, B or C streets (see Section P) shall be placed behind a liner building that houses active uses. (See standards for liner buildings in Section K.1.b). See Figure 43.

b.

Liner buildings are not required along other streets. However, any portion of a parking garage that is not concealed behind a building shall be screened to conceal all internal elements such as plumbing pipes, fans, ducts and lighting. Ramping should be internalized wherever possible. Exposed spandrels shall be prohibited. (See Figure 42.)

Figure 43. Parking Garages and Liner Buildings

Figure 44. Garage Landscaping

c.

Parking garages not concealed behind liner buildings or active uses (e.g. commercial, office, residential) shall provide a landscaping strip along the facade as follows:

i.

The landscaping strip shall have a minimum depth of 8 feet; and

ii.

A minimum of five (5) understory trees per 100 linear feet and a row of evergreen shrubs shall be planted along the strip. Vines growing on a metal mesh mounted on the wall of the parking garage are encouraged (Figure 44).

d.

The exterior facades of all parking garages shall be designed as to achieve architectural unity with the principal structure(s) which they are intended to serve.

e.

Parking structures shall meet setback, height, façade articulation and glazing standards contained in this code.

5.

Parking for Single Uses.

Off-street parking for developments that propose only one type of land use shall meet the standards listed in Table 9. These standards shall be considered the maximum allowed for all single-use developments in the Village Center character zone. In all other zones, these are the minimum standards required. Spaces above or below the minimum/maximum may be permitted if the need is demonstrated by a parking study. Uses not specifically listed shall meet the parking requirements stated in the City's Land Development Code.

Table 9. Off-Street Parking Requirements

Use	Vehicular Parking Spaces	Bicycle Parking
Single Family Residential	2/unit	NA
Townhouse/Multi-Family	3+ bedrooms: 2.5/unit 2 bedrooms: 2/unit 1 bedroom: 1.5/unit efficiency: 1.5/unit	1 per every 5 units
Live/Work Units	3+ bedrooms: 2/unit 2 bedrooms: 1.75/unit 1 bedroom: 1.5/unit efficiency: 1.5/unit	1 per every 5 units
Community/Cultural Center *	1 per 5 persons based on maximum occupancy permitted by fire code in the main assembly area. If no main assembly area, 3 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area.	0.7 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area
Government Use	3 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area.	0.7 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area
Day Care Facilities	1 per 10 persons based on the facility's regulated capacity, with a minimum of 4 spaces, plus 1 parking space per every employee at maximum staff level	0.7 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area
Theater/Entertainment *	1 per every 3 seats, or 7 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area.	5% of required number of vehicular parking spaces
Office (all types)	4 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross leasable area (GLA).	0.7 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area
Hotel/Motel	1 per room, and 60% of the required number of spaces for each integrated, secondary retail, restaurant, entertainment, or office use.	5% of required number of vehicular parking spaces
Restaurant	4, plus 1 for each 3 seats of seating capacity (indoor and outdoor)	1 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross floor area
Commercial Retail	3.5 per 1,000 sq. ft. of gross leasable area (GLA).	5% of required number of parking spaces

 

For uses not addressed in this Table or the LDC, parking requirements shall be determined by the City at the time of development plan approval.

6.

Parking for Mixed-Use Developments.

When any land or building accommodates two (2) or more categories of uses the minimum total number of required parking spaces for each use may be reduced through shared parking.

Off-site parking facilities may be counted in shared parking calculations for private development if the facility is within five hundred (500) feet of the development, until the capacity of the off-site parking facility is reached. An off-site parking facility is any City or privately-owned facility not residing on the property of the development. The off-site parking facility may or may not be owned by the owner of the development.

On-street parking spaces wholly adjacent to the property to be developed shall be credited toward off-street parking requirements.

The shared parking reduction shall be calculated as follows:

Step 1: Categorize the uses according to the ten (10) categories listed in the use column of Table 9.

Step 2: Add together the minimum required parking for each individual use category, using the ratios set out in Table 9.

Step 3: Subtract from the each individual sum the number of spaces which are reserved for use by specified individuals or classes of individuals such as spaces for emergency vehicles or for the handicap.

Step 4: Create a shared parking matrix by multiplying the results of Step 3 by the percentages listed in Table 10.

Step 5: Add together the cells containing the number of spaces in each of the six (6) vertical columns in the shared parking matrix.

Results: The minimum parking requirement is the highest sum resulting from the foregoing addition, plus the total number of spaces which are reserved for use by specific individuals or classes of individuals, minus the adjacent on-street parking. Table 11 shows an example of applying the shared parking methodology to a proposed mixed use development.

Several parcels may use an areawide parking program to provide the necessary parking collectively as follows:

a.

The minimum required number of parking spaces for an area wide parking program shall be calculated using shared parking methodology.

b.

The owners of those parcels that wish to be considered collectively with regard to parking shall enter into parking agreements that demonstrate how the parking requirements are satisfied.

c.

Adequate pedestrian connections among sharing uses and the parking facility shall be provided. The installation of barriers or the use of inadequate walkways that limit use of shared parking shall not be permitted.

d.

The parking agreement shall be in a recordable form acceptable to the City Attorney.

e.

The parking agreement shall be recorded by the property owners in the public records of Orange County, with a copy of the document indicating that such recording was provided to the City.

Table 10. Shared Parking Usage Percentages for Mixed-Use Development

USE	WEEKDAY			WEEKEND
	1 am - 7 am	7 am - 6 pm	6 pm - 1 am	1 am - 7 am	7 am - 6 pm	6 pm - 1 am
Residential/ Townhouse	100%	60%	100%	100%	75%	95%
Flex Space /24-7 reserved parking	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Community / Cultural Center	0%	100%	10%	0%	100%	30%
Government use	0%	100%	10%	0%	10%	0%
Day Care Facilities	0%	100%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Theater/ Entertainment	0%	40%	100%	0%	80%	100%
Office	5%	100%	5%	0%	15%	0%
Hotel/Motel	100%	55%	90%	100%	55%	90%
Restaurant *	20%	70%	100%	30%	75%	100%
Commercial Retail	0%	100%	80%	0%	100%	60%
* Not 24 hours

 

Table 11. Shared Parking Example

USE	Units/SF	Space per Unit or 1,000 SF	Total	Less H.C.	Subtotal	WEEKDAY						WEEKEND
						1am - 7am	Spaces	7am - 6pm	Spaces	6pm - 1am	Spaces	1am - 7am	Spaces	7am - 6pm	Spaces	6pm - 1am	Spaces
2 Bedroom Apt	52	1.75	91	2	89	100%	89	60%	53	100%	89	100%	89	75%	67	95%	85
Office	15,000	3	45	2	43	5%	2	100%	43	5%	2	0%	0	15%	6	0%	0
Retail	10,000	3.5	35	2	33	0%	0	100%	33	80%	26	0%	0	100%	33	60%	20
Restaurant	7,000	5	35	2	33	20%	7	70%	23	100%	33	30%	10	75%	25	100%	33
Totals			206	8	198		98		153		151		99		131		137

 

Note: 10 on-street parking spaces can be utilized for required parking.

As illustrated in Table 9, the highest parking space demand (153 spaces) occurs weekdays between 7 am and 6 pm. To this amount the 8 required handicap spaces are added and the 10 abutting "on-street" spaces are subtracted from the shared total resulting in 151 required off-street spaces.

Using the non-shared (traditional) methodology, a total of 206 spaces would be required (198 regular spaces plus 8 handicap spaces).

7.

Additional Parking Reductions.

Additional reductions may be approved if one of the following is met:

a.

A parking study is submitted demonstrating the amount of parking needed.

b.

Non-residential developments within a one-half mile from a transit center or bus stops are eligible for the following:

i.

The minimum number of parking spaces may be reduced by up to 10% for sites in which the closest portion of the requested parcel is no more than a 1/8 of a mile (660 linear feet) radius from a bus stop.

ii.

The minimum number of parking spaces may be reduced by up to 5 percent for sites in which the closest portion of the requested parcel is no more than a 1/4 of a mile (1320 linear feet) radius from a bus stop.

The distances specified shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest property line of the development site to the nearest bus stop.