A. 
All structures and land uses hereafter erected, enlarged, moved, created, changed in intensity or substantially altered shall be provided with the amount of off-street parking and loading space required by the terms of this article to meet the needs of persons occupying or using such structures or land. A permit for the erection, replacement or substantial alteration of a structure or land use shall not be issued unless off-street parking and loading facilities shall have been provided in accordance with an approved site development plan and the requirements set forth in this article, and such required parking and loading facilities shall be completed before a certificate of occupancy shall be issued.
B. 
Required off-street parking facilities which, after development, are later dedicated to and accepted by the Town shall be deemed to continue to serve the users or structures for which they were originally provided.
Structures and land uses in existence or for which building permits have been approved at the time of the adoption of this chapter or any amendment thereto shall not be subject to the parking or loading space requirements set forth in this article. However, any parking and loading facilities now existing to serve such structures or uses shall not be reduced below such requirements. In the case of an application proposing the enlargement or alteration of an existing development which would require less than a twenty-five-percent increase in the total number of off-street parking spaces in existence on the effective date of this chapter, the Planning Board may modify the requirements of § 240-96B, Dimensional requirements, and C, Landscaping, herein, as they apply to existing developed portions of the site if the Board determines that it would be unreasonable or inappropriate from the viewpoint of practicality or economics.
All off-street parking and loading spaces shall be provided with unobstructed access. They shall be designed to prevent the backing of any vehicle across the sidewalk or into a street, except at locations specifically designed for such purposes where no reasonable alternative is available and approval has been granted by the Planning Board.
A. 
Location. Required parking and loading spaces shall be provided upon the same lot as the use or structure to which they are accessory, except that off-street parking spaces required for structures or land uses on two or more adjacent lots may be provided in a single common facility on one or more of said lots, provided that a legal instrument, satisfactory to the Town Attorney, assures the continued existence of the parking facility to serve said structure or land uses as long as they may exist. Such agreements shall also guarantee that upon the termination of such joint use, each subsequent use of the premises will provide off-street parking facilities for its own use in accordance with all requirements of this article. Also, the Planning Board may permit all or part of the required off-street parking spaces to be located on any lot within 200 feet of the building if the Board determines it is impractical to provide parking on the same lot with the building. In no event shall such parking and loading spaces for a nonresidential use be located in any residence district. Parking structures shall comply with all height, setback and coverage requirements for principal buildings in the district in which they are located. At the discretion of the approval authority, 50% of the areas immediately adjacent to gasoline pumps may be deemed to be required parking spaces.
[Amended 9-9-2013 by L.L. No. 13-2013]
B. 
Dimensional requirements. All off-street parking facilities shall comply with the following minimum dimensional requirements:
[Amended 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999; 9-24-2001 by L.L. No. 5-2001; 3-24-2014 by L.L. No. 1-2014]
(1) 
Standard parking lots and spaces. Except as otherwise set forth below, all off-street parking spaces shall be at a ninety-degree angle and at least nine feet in width and 18 feet in length, with a two-way, twenty-four-foot wide maneuvering aisle. Curbs shall be kept to a maximum height of six inches, and 1.5 feet of the required parking space length shall be allowed to overhang islands, provided that there is no interference with sidewalks or landscaping. Such bumper overhang area shall be considered part of the parking space and shall not be counted toward meeting minimum yard setbacks or perimeter buffer screening area requirements. In this latter case, the paved length of the parking space shall be 16.5 feet.
(2) 
Employee and commuter parking. Employee and commuter parking spaces, which are intended for long-term use with low turnover, may be reduced to a minimum of 8.5 feet in width where permitted by the Planning Board. For retail or service businesses or other similar types of uses designed to attract the general public, such reduce-width employee parking spaces shall not exceed 10% of the total required or provided parking, whichever is less. All employee parking spaces shall be clearly identified and limited in their use by appropriate location, signage and/or pavement markings.
(3) 
Handicapped-accessible parking spaces. Parking spaces for the handicapped shall be at least eight feet in width and shall have an adjacent access aisle at least eight feet in width or as otherwise required by the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, as amended. The minimum number of accessible spaces shall also be as required by State Code. An eight-foot-wide access aisle may be shared by two adjacent handicap parking spaces and shall be part of an accessible route to the building or use which it is designed to serve. The minimum vertical clearance for handicapped-accessible spaces and vehicular access routes to and from such spaces shall be nine feet six inches on the entry level of any parking structure and eight feet two inches on all other levels. Such spaces shall be appropriately located and clearly identified and limited in their use by appropriate signage and pavement markings.
(4) 
Shopping center parking. Shopping centers which exceed 100,000 square feet of gross floor area shall be required to provide a minimum of 4.5 parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of gross floor area.
(5) 
Ninety-degree, angled and parallel parking. All parking spaces shall be designed at a ninety-degree angle with a two-way maneuvering aisle unless a different width or angle is permitted or required by the Planning Board based upon the unique size, shape and/or function of the parking facility. In those circumstances where the Planning Board does permit parking at an angle other than 90°, circulation in each maneuvering aisle shall be limited to one-way only. The following is a table of minimum parking space and maneuvering aisle dimensions (See also Parking Detail Figures 1, 2 and 3,[1] which graphically illustrate these requirements):
Parking Angle
(degrees)
Parking Space Depth to Wall
(feet)
Parking Space Depth to Interlock
(feet)
Maneuvering Aisle Width
(feet)
Wall to Wall Double Parking Bay Dimension
(feet)
Interlock to Interlock Double Bay Dimension
(feet)
90°
18.0
18.0
24.0
60.0
60.0
75°
19.5
18.5
21.0
60.0
58.0
60°
20.0
17.75
17.5
57.5
53.0
45°
19.0
15.75
15.0
53.0
46.5
0°
9.0
22.00
15.0
33.0
NA
[1]
Editor's Note: Said figures are included as attachments to this chapter.
(6) 
Compact car parking. In parking lots having 50 or more spaces, up to 20% of the spaces may be compact car spaces. The compact car spaces shall be grouped together and clearly designated with signage as compact car parking only. For ninety-degree-angle parking, the minimum dimensions of a compact car parking space shall be eight feet wide and 16 feet long with a two-way, twenty-four-foot-wide maneuvering aisle. Curbs shall be kept to a maximum height of six inches, and 1.0 foot of the required parking space length may be allowed to overhang islands, provided that there is no interference with sidewalks or landscaping. In this case, the paved length of the parking space shall be 15 feet.
[Added 11-13-2019 by L.L. No. 6-2019]
C. 
Landscaping. It has been determined by the Wappinger Town Board that large unbuffered expanses of parked, stored and/or displayed vehicles represent an impairment to the visual environment of the Town. The Town Board's purpose in promulgating the following provisions is to minimize such impairment while balancing the rights of the business community, private property owners and the general public. Therefore, except for parking spaces accessory to a one-family dwelling, all off-street parking areas shall be curbed and landscaped with appropriate trees, shrubs and other plant materials and ground cover, as approved by the Planning Board based upon consideration of the adequacy of the proposed landscaping to assure the establishment of a safe, convenient and attractive parking facility with a minimum amount of maintenance, including plant care, snow plowing and the removal of leaves and other debris.
[Amended 9-24-2001 by L.L. No. 5-2001; 7-29-2007 by L.L. No. 10-2007; 3-24-2014 by L.L. No. 1-2014]
(1) 
The Planning Board shall also have the authority to require berming and/or substantial year-round vegetative screening between parking areas and the site's frontage(s) where the Board deems that such buffering will not significantly adversely affect the ability of the public to identify the location of the subject use and, in the case of motor vehicle dealerships, where the Board deems that a sufficient display of vehicles is achieved. Notwithstanding the sentence immediately above, no obstruction to driver vision shall be erected or maintained on any lot within the triangle formed by the street line of such lot, the outer edge of the access driveway to the parking area and a line drawn between points along such street line and access drive 30 feet distant from their point of intersection.
(2) 
In all off-street parking facilities which contain 25 or more parking spaces, at least 10% of the total parking facility within the parking perimeter, excluding areas occupied by parking structures, shall consist of landscaped islands, as follows, except that the Planning Board may waive or modify the requirement for good cause and in the interest of good design where there are fewer than 50 parking spaces:
(a) 
Landscaped islands shall be located at the ends of each parking bay which contains 10 or more spaces, separating adjacent rows of parking spaces at least every second parking bay and elsewhere as determined appropriate by the Planning Board to properly guide vehicle movement, to provide for plant growth and vehicle overhang, to provide for pedestrian circulation and to otherwise help assure proper traffic circulation, pedestrian safety and aesthetics. Such landscaped islands and the plantings within them shall be designed and arranged so as to provide vertical definition to major traffic circulation aisles, entrances and exits; to safely channel internal traffic flow; to prevent indiscriminate diagonal movement of vehicles; to provide cooling shade and relief from the visual impact, monotony and heat of large expanses of paved areas; and, where appropriate, to accommodate stormwater management practices such as bioretention areas, swales and sand filters.
(b) 
Unless modified by the Planning Board, the minimum width of landscaped islands shall be six feet where located at the ends of parking bays and eight feet where separating opposing rows of parking spaces or adjacent to circulation aisles. All corners shall be rounded with a curb radius of not less than three feet unless otherwise required by the Planning Board.
(c) 
The landscaping of off-street parking areas shall include at least one shade tree of not less than three inches caliper for each six parking spaces. Main traffic circulation aisles shall be emphasized with such shade trees. Other landscaped islands may be planted with flowering trees and/or other plantings, as appropriate. This is in addition to ground cover, shrubs and hedges which are to be provided where appropriate to serve their intended function while not interfering with safe sight distance for pedestrians and vehicles.
(d) 
The Planning Board may also permit nonlandscaped islands, if appropriate for purposes such as pedestrian circulation, snow storage and so forth. Such islands shall not be less than four feet in usable width.
(3) 
Parking structures. The Planning Board may require planters or similar forms of landscaping to be provided on the top level of a parking structure, in addition to any other landscaping which may be required to screen the view of the structure itself.
(4) 
Screening. In addition to buffer areas required pursuant to § 240-96C(2) above, all off-street parking and loading facilities shall also be attractively landscaped along their periphery. Such landscaped screening shall be a minimum of six feet in width, excluding permitted vehicle overhang areas. It shall consist of evergreen planting of such type, height, spacing and arrangement as, in the judgment of the Planning Board, will serve the intended function. The Planning Board may allow or require a landscaped berm, wall or fence of location, height, design and materials determined suitable by the Board to be substituted for or to supplement the required screen planting.
(5) 
Species. New planting shall be composed of appropriate native species and shall not incorporate invasive species.
D. 
Grades, drainage, paving and marking. All required parking facilities shall be graded, surfaced, drained and maintained throughout the duration of its use to the satisfaction of the Zoning Administrator to the extent necessary to avoid nuisances of dust, erosion or excessive water flow across public ways or adjacent lands. The maximum slope within a parking area shall not exceed 5%. In multifamily residential developments and in nonresidential developments, the Planning Board shall require the provision of suitable markings to indicate individual parking spaces, maneuvering area, entrances and exits.
E. 
Interconnection of off-street parking facilities. In order to encourage safe and convenient traffic circulation, the Planning Board may require the interconnection of parking areas via access drives within and between adjacent lots. The Board shall require written assurance and/or deed restrictions, satisfactory to the Town Attorney, binding the owner and his heirs and assignees to permit and maintain such internal access and circulation and inter-use of parking facilities.
F. 
Waiver of improvement. Where the Planning Board determines that less than the required number of parking spaces will satisfy the intent of this chapter, it may waive the initial improvement of up to 50% of the parking spaces required pursuant to § 240-97 herein. In all cases it shall be expressly demonstrated on the site plan that sufficient space remains for the provision of the total amount of off-street parking required and the site plan shall bear such designation. All such undeveloped parking space shall be used and maintained as additional landscaped grounds until required for parking. Written guaranties, satisfactory to the Town Attorney, shall be submitted by the applicant for the eventual improvement of any such spaces which may have been waived; these spaces must be constructed by the property owner within six months of the date of written notice to the property owner by the Planning Board that such spaces have been determined as necessary and must be constructed.
G. 
Commercial vehicles. Not more than one light-duty commercially registered vehicle and one trailer may be parked or stored outdoors on any residentially used or residentially zoned lot at any time. For the purposes of this section, a "light-duty commercially registered vehicle" shall exclude vehicles which exceed 9,500 pounds in registered gross vehicle weight. The following expressly prohibited examples include but are not limited to tractors, tractor-trailers, semitrailers, rollers, tractor and truck cranes, power shovels, road-building machines, snowplows, road sweepers, sand spreaders, trailers, excavators, tank trailers, tow trucks and buses, and any other similar vehicle.
[Added 1-23-2012 by L.L. No. 3-2012; amended 4-27-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015; 1-30-2017 by L.L. No. 1-2017[2]; 5-14-2018 by L.L. No. 6-2018; 11-13-2019 by L.L. No. 6-2019]
[2]
Editor’s Note: This local law was adopted as a remedial measure and also stated in Section 10 that any approvals issued under L.L. No. 1-2015 after its effective date of 5-18-2015 shall be considered valid notwithstanding the readoption of this law.
H. 
In any 1-Family Residence District, no parking shall be permitted between the front lot line and the principal building line, except on a driveway.
[Added 9-9-2013 by L.L. No. 13-2013]
[Amended 7-19-2007 by L.L. No. 10-2007; 4-27-2015 by L.L. No. 1-2015; 1-30-2017 by L.L. No. 1-2017[1]]
A. 
Except where otherwise modified by other provisions of this chapter, off-street parking spaces shall be provided as follows. Off-street parking spaces in excess of the minimum numbers specified below shall not be permitted. Reasonable and appropriate off-street parking requirements for structures and land uses which do not fall within the categories listed below or within the special standards of Article VIII shall be determined by the Planning Board. The Planning Board shall consider all factors entering into the parking needs of each such use or reuse of land or buildings and may, in the course of site plan or special permit review, reduce or increase the parking and loading requirements for such uses in an amount which it considers appropriate and in the best interest of the Town. In all cases, the Planning Board shall require appropriate safeguards for the provision of the required parking and loading facilities for uses for which standards exist.
B. 
Notwithstanding Subsection A above, the Planning Board, at its sole discretion, may reduce the cumulative parking requirement in a mixed-use development, where it has been demonstrated to the Board that the proposed amount of parking will be adequate to serve the peak parking requirements of the development. In order to demonstrate this, the applicant shall provide a shared parking study prepared by an appropriate professional in accordance with accepted industry standards, such as that described in the latest edition of the Urban Land Institute's Shared Parking report, the Institute of Transportation Engineers' Shared Parking guidelines, or other approved procedures, which may be supplemented as appropriate by actual experience and studies of, or known to, the professional preparing the report. The study shall consider parking demand variations due to factors such as time of day, weekday versus weekend demand, monthly variations in parking demand, captive markets within the site and modal split, all of which affect when the peak accumulated parking demand would occur.
Use
Minimum Number of Off-Street Parking Spaces
1-family and 2-family dwellings
[Amended 6-27-2005 by L.L. No. 6-2005]
2 for each dwelling unit, plus 1 for any accessory apartment (associated with a 1-family dwelling)
Mobile home
2 for each dwelling unit
Multifamily dwelling
[Amended 9-10-2020 by L.L. No. 3-2020]
1.5 for each dwelling unit, plus 0.5 for each bedroom; in addition, the Planning Board may adjust the parking requirement to account for such matters as a clubhouse or recreation area in a multifamily development, garage parking (which could be turned into storage space), driveways, and assigned parking spaces which cannot be used in common, etc. Notwithstanding the above, this standard shall not apply to multifamily developments existing as of September 30, 2020.
Professional office or home occupation permitted in a residential district
2 in addition to spaces required for the residential use, except that there shall be 4 for each medical or dental practitioner in addition to spaces required for the residential use
Historic house tours, receptions and similar events, as per § 240-81.3
[Added 1-26-2009 by L.L. No. 2-2009]
To be determined by the Planning Board and made a condition of special permit approval
Rooming house or boardinghouse
[Amended 11-12-2013 by L.L. No. 14-2013]
1 for each dwelling unit, efficiency unit or sleeping room
Place of worship, theater, auditorium, athletic or other place of assembly
1 for each 4 seats or pew spaces or, in places without field seats, 1 for each 100 square feet of gross floor area used for public assembly
Hospital, nursing home, convalescent home or home for the aged
1 for each 3 patient beds and 1 for each employee, including medical, nursing and service staff
Golf and country club
1 for each 2 memberships
Bowling alley or other center of public amusement
5 for each bowling lane; all others, 1 per 100 square feet of gross floor area used for public amusement
Retail or service business
1 for each 150 square feet of gross floor area on the ground floor and 1 for each 250 square feet of gross floor area on other floors
Pawnshop
[Added 5-11-2009 by L.L. No. 5-2009]
1 for each 150 square feet of gross floor area
Shopping centers greater than 100,000 square feet of gross floor area
[Added 1-25-1999 by L.L. No. 1-1999; amended 9-24-2001 by L.L. No. 5-2001]
4.5 for each 1,000 square feet of gross floor area
Restaurant
1 for each 3 seats or 1 space for each 100 square feet of gross floor area, whichever is greater
Bar or restaurant-brewer
[Added 5-14-2018 by L.L. No. 6-2018]
1 space for each 3 patron seats or 1 space for each 50 square feet of gross floor area, excluding kitchen and storage areas, whichever is greater
Microbrewer or microdistiller
[Added 5-14-2018 by L.L. No. 6-2018]
1 space for each employee on the largest shift, plus 1 space for each 3 patron sitting or standing spaces in any tasting room or other visitor facility open to the general public
Office for business or professional use (other than accessory to residential use)
1 for each 300 square feet of gross floor area
Banking office
10, plus 1 for each employee, plus 4 additional spaces for each person in excess of 2 acting as tellers, including waiting space for drive-in window or 1 for each 150 square feet of gross floor area, whichever is less
Motel
1 for each guest sleeping room, plus 1 for each 2 employees, plus 1 for each permanent resident
Funeral home
1 per employee, plus 1 space per 50 square feet of gross floor area in assembly rooms
Veterinary office
1 per employee, plus 1 space per 300 square feet of gross floor area
Kennel or animal hospital
4 per doctor, plus 1 space per employee, but in no case less than 1 per 400 square feet of gross floor area
Pet crematorium
[Added 10-27-2008 by L.L. No. 7-2008]
1 per employee, plus 3 visitor parking spaces
Car washing establishment
10 per washing bay
Research or development laboratory
1 per employee, but not less than 1 per 600 square feet of gross floor area
Manufacturing or industrial use
1 per employee, but not less than 1 per 400 square feet of gross floor area
Wholesale, storage, utility or other similar commercial use
1 per employee, but not less than 1 per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area
Congregate care facility
[Added 1-26-1998 by L.L. No. 1-1998]
1 per every 3 beds, subject to the provisions of § 240-80
Research or development laboratory
[Added 3-28-2016 by L.L. No. 1-2016]
1 per employee, but not less than 1 per 600 square feet of gross floor area
Medical or dental laboratory
[Added 3-28-2016 by L.L. No. 1-2016]
1 per employee, but not less than 1 per 600 square feet of gross floor area
Health care office
[Added 3-28-2016 by L.L. No. 1-2016]
1 for each 300 square feet of gross floor area
Substance abuse clinic
[Added 3-28-2016 by L.L. No. 1-2016]
1 for each 150 square feet of gross floor area on ground floor and 1 for each 250 square feet of gross floor area on other floors
Day-care center
[Added 5-14-2018 by L.L. No. 6-2018]
1 for each 250 square feet of gross floor area
[1]
Editor’s Note: This local law was adopted as a remedial measure and also stated in Section 10 that any approvals issued under L.L. No. 1-2015 after its effective date of 5-18-2015 shall be considered valid notwithstanding the readoption of this law.
Required off-street parking facilities shall be maintained as long as the use of structure exists which the facilities are designed to serve. Required parking areas developed for specific structures and uses shall be reserved at all times to those persons who are employed at or make use of such structures and land uses, except when dedicated to and accepted by the Town as public parking areas.
Off-street loading and unloading facilities shall be located on the same site with the use to be served, except as provided in § 240-96A, and shall be provided as follows:
A. 
Size. Each off-street loading space shall be at least 15 feet in width, at least 40 feet in length and at least 14 feet in height, exclusive of access and turning areas, except that adjacent loading spaces may be each 12 feet in width, except where delivery service will be by tractor trailer, in which case the minimum length shall be 60 feet and the minimum width shall be 14 feet.
B. 
Required number of spaces.
(1) 
For retail and/or service business establishments: a minimum of one space for the first 6,000 square feet, plus one space for each additional 8,000 square feet of gross floor area or major part thereof, except that no berths shall be required for buildings with a gross floor area of less than 5,000 square feet.
(2) 
For office establishments: a minimum of one space for the first 10,000 square feet of gross floor area, plus one space for each additional 15,000 square of gross floor area or major part thereof, except that no berths are required for buildings of less than 5,000 square feet of gross floor area.
(3) 
For office research establishments: a minimum of one space for the first 8,000 square feet of gross floor area of building, plus one space for each additional 10,000 square feet of gross floor area or major part thereof.
(4) 
For wholesale business, industry, storage, warehouses and other commercial establishments: a minimum of one space for each establishment, plus one space for each 8,000 square feet of gross floor area or major part thereof.
(5) 
Other uses which do not fall within the categories listed above shall be determined by the Planning Board.
A. 
General. For reasons of fire protection, on-site and off-site vehicular and pedestrian traffic safety, as well as to provide for possible future road widening or other improvements, all new driveways and sidewalk crossings entering onto any street shall comply with all requirements of these regulations and shall be subject to the approval of the Superintendent of Highways, except where such are part of a use subject to special permit or site development plan approval by the Planning Board, in accordance with Article VII and Article IX.
B. 
Driveway grades.
(1) 
One-family residences. The maximum grade for any new driveway for a one-family dwelling shall be 12% except that where it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the approving authority that, because of practical difficulty or unreasonable hardship affecting a particular property, the construction of a driveway shall be permitted, provided the increase in driveway grade is the minimum increase required and further provided that in no case shall such driveway grade be permitted to exceed 15%. No driveway serving a single-family dwelling shall have a grade in excess of 4% within 35 feet of the center line of the traveled way of the street or within 10 feet of the right-of-way line of the street, whichever distance is greater.
(2) 
All other uses. The maximum grade for new driveways for uses other than one-family dwellings shall not exceed 7%, except that the approving authority shall have the same power to permit increased grades here as in § 240-100B(1) above, provided that such grades in no case exceed 10%. No driveway serving a use other than a single-family dwelling shall have a grade in excess of 3% within 50 feet of the center line of the traveled way of the street or within 25 feet of the property line of the street, whichever distance is greater. The Planning Board may require increased platform areas of this type in situations where, because of the nature of the proposed use, substantial traffic volumes are anticipated.
(3) 
All positive grade driveways shall continue at positive grade to the point of connection to the paved roadway to prevent ponding.
[Added 8-5-2002 by L.L. No. 10-2002]
C. 
Driveway alignment and location. Any driveway entering onto a street shall be located and aligned in such a way as to create the minimum possible traffic hazard. The platform portion of the driveway, as required by § 240-100B above, shall be aligned at approximately right angles at the street. Access to all off-street parking and loading facilities serving multifamily and nonresidence uses shall be not less than 20 feet in width and shall be connected to the street with a radius return at each comer of not less than 15 feet.
D. 
Sight distance. Clear visibility shall be provided in both directions at all exit points so that the driver of an automobile stopped on the platform portion of any new driveway will have an unobstructed view of the highway for a reasonable distance (commensurate with the speed and volume of traffic on such highway) and so that the driver of an automobile traveling on the highway shall have a similar view of the automobile in the driveway.
E. 
Driveways and access roads shall be so designed so as to provide Fire Department apparatus access to within a distance of 75 feet or less of the structure that may be called upon to be protected, and such driveways and access roads shall be designed so as to meet the following requirements:
[Amended 9-24-2001 by L.L. No. 5-2001; 8-5-2002 by L.L. No. 10-2002]
(1) 
Driveways under 500 feet long shall have a minimum width of 12 feet; driveways over 500 feet long shall have a minimum width of 12 feet and, in addition, shall have a fifty-foot by twelve-foot pull-off every 500 feet to accommodate a forty-foot-long piece of fire-fighting apparatus.
(2) 
The driveways shall have and maintain an overhead clearance of 15 feet, free of any obstructions such as tree branches, personal light poles, utility wires, etc.
(3) 
The driveway base shall be sufficient to support a thirty-ton fire-fighting apparatus.
(4) 
No turns shall be of such a degree as to prevent access of Fire Department apparatus.