[Amended 5-14-2007 ATM,
Art. 18]
The objectives of this article are as follows:
A.
Promote traffic safety by assuring adequate places for storing motor
vehicles off the street and for their orderly access and egress to
and from the public streets.
B.
Increase the traffic carrying capacity of streets and highway in
the Town.
C.
Reduce the hazards to pedestrians on public sidewalks.
D.
Protect adjoining lots and the general public from nuisances and
hazards such as:
Off-street parking must be provided in all zoning districts
for new construction, change of use, conversion, expansion, redevelopment
or increase in use for any structure.
The standards below must be met for the additional parking demand created by new construction, change of use, conversion, expansion, redevelopment or increase in use for any structure unless reduced on special permit from the Board of Appeals, upon the Board's determination that special circumstances render a lesser provision adequate for all parking needs, or as defined in § 201-12.10. In the case of mixed uses, the minimum parking shall be the sum of the requirements of the individual uses computed separately. Parking facilities for one use shall not be considered as providing the required parking for another use, unless it can be clearly demonstrated that the need for parking occurs at different times.
A parking space shall not be less than nine feet in width by
20 feet in length together with an aisle of at least 24 feet. Where
parallel parking is utilized, parallel spaces shall not be less than
eight feet in width and 22 feet in length.
Parking for persons with disabilities shall be provided in designated
spaces as outlined in the State Building Code and the requirements
of the Architectural Access Board, latest edition. Accessible parking
spaces serving a particular building, facility or temporary event
shall be located on the shortest accessible route of travel from adjacent
parking to an accessible entrance.
|
Residential
| ||
|
Dwelling unit having 2 or more bedrooms
|
2 spaces
| |
|
Dwelling unit having fewer than 2 bedrooms
|
1 space
| |
|
Nonresidential
| ||
|
Retail sales, services
|
1 space per 250 square feet gross floor area, but not fewer
than 5 spaces per separate enterprise
| |
|
Retail, auto dealership
|
1 space per 400 square feet gross floor area
| |
|
Business or professional office per 300 square feet
|
Business District C: 1 space per 300 square feet gross floor
area
| |
|
All other districts: 1 space per 200 square feet gross floor
area
| ||
|
Bank
|
1 space per 200 square feet gross floor area
| |
|
Restaurant
|
1 space per 150 square feet gross floor area
| |
|
Medical or dental offices
|
6 spaces per doctor or dentist
| |
|
Industrial, wholesale
|
1 space per employee; parking per employee to be measured by
largest employee shift, as the requirements are to be calculated per
the total workers present at any one time, not total employees
| |
|
Place of public assembly
|
1 space per 3 persons capacity based on State Building Code
| |
|
Hotel or motel guest unit
|
1 1/10 spaces per unit
| |
|
Guesthouse, lodging house, other group accommodation
|
1 space per 2 persons accommodated
| |
|
Nursing home
|
1 space per 3 beds
| |
|
All other uses
|
1 space per 150 square feet or such smaller number of spaces
as the Board of Appeals may, on special permit, determine adequate
to accommodate all normal demand
| |
A.
Location. Required parking shall be either on the same premises as
the activity it serves or on a separate parcel if located within 300
feet of the building entrance, and if not separated by a state-numbered
highway, and if in a zoning district allowing the activity it serves.
B.
Setback. No more than five parking spaces shall be located within
a required front yard, unless set back from the street line by more
than 10% of the lesser of lot or district depth. It is the intent
of this requirement that substantially all parking areas shall be
located to the sides and rear of a building or buildings, and that
the front yard setback shall be used primarily for walkways, landscaping,
driveways, and the required buffer.
C.
Surface. All required parking areas, entrances and driveways, except
those serving single-family residences, shall be paved, unless exempted
on special permit from the Board of Appeals for cases such as seasonal
or periodic use where an alternative surface will prevent dust, erosion,
water accumulation or unsightly conditions.
D.
Backing. Parking areas with five or more spaces or reached from a
state-numbered highway shall be designed and located so that their
use does not involve vehicles backing onto a public way. Each parking
area shall be designed to provide a circulation system within the
lot so that all vehicles may exit from and enter into the adjacent
street or way by being driven in a forward direction and no vehicle
shall be required to enter or leave the parking area by traveling
in reverse.
E.
Egress and access. For business districts only, driveway openings
on the same side of the street shall be separated by at least 100
feet if on the same premises or by at least 50 feet if on separate
premises, measured center line to center line at the street line.
The maximum number of driveways permitting entrance and exit from
a lot shall be limited to two per street line. At intersections, no
driveway side line shall be located within 50 feet of the intersection
of street way lines. The minimum width of a driveway servicing one-way
traffic shall be 14 feet. The minimum width of a driveway used for
two-way traffic shall be 24 feet and no driveway openings shall exceed
24 feet in width at the street line. All driveways serving five or
more parking spaces shall be constructed with a minimum edge radius
of five feet on both sides. Access and egress from all parking areas
shall be only via driveways which meet the design standards of this
section. Each required off-street parking space and loading area shall
be designed so that any motor vehicle may proceed to and from said
parking space or loading space without requiring the moving of any
other vehicle or passing over of any other parking space or loading
area. Lot division which would preclude meeting the above requirements
shall provide access easements or other means of satisfying those
requirements on each lot. Driveways shall be located so as to minimize
conflict with traffic on public streets and where visibility and sight
distances are available to observe approaching pedestrian and vehicular
traffic. All driveways serving a business must comply with the corner
clearance requirements of this section. Parking plans shall include
the delineation of the clear sight triangle. Clear sight distance
at the intersection of a driveway serving a business and an existing
way shall be defined by a clear sight triangle at the intersection
per ITE and AASHTO standards. Measurements of clear sight distance
shall be based on a line of sight at a level 3.5 feet above road surface
at each end of the clear sight distance. Inside the clear sight triangle,
no vision obstructing object or landscaping shall be permitted between
a height of 3.5 feet and eight feet above the plane identified by
the adjacent curb grades.
F.
Parking lot plantings. Parking lots containing 10 or more parking
spaces shall have at least one tree per eight parking spaces, such
trees to be located either within the lot or within five feet of it.
Such trees shall be at least two inches trunk diameter with not less
than 60 square feet of unpaved soil or other permeable surface area
per tree. At least 5% of the interior of any parking lot having 25
or more spaces shall be maintained with landscaping, including trees,
in plots of at least eight feet in width. Trees and soil plots shall
be so located as to provide visual relief and sun and wind interruption
within the parking area, and to assure safe patterns of internal circulation.
G.
Bicycle racks. For parking areas of 10 or more spaces, bicycle racks
facilitating locking shall be provided to accommodate one bicycle
per 20 parking spaces required or fraction thereof. No more than two
bicycle racks shall be required to be supplied regardless of parking
lot size.
H.
Design standards. Parking areas, access and egress must be constructed
as follows:
(1)
Twelve-inch gravel base course with 95% compaction.
(2)
The gravel base course shall be primed at a rate of 1/2 gallon
per square yard of MC-70 (or the equivalent) cut back asphalt (tack
coat).
(3)
Parking lot pavement shall be a minimum of three inches in thickness
set in two courses as follows:
(4)
Parking lot perimeter curbs. Suitable curbing as approved by
the Board shall be installed along the exterior perimeters of the
parking lot.
(5)
Interior parking lot islands. Interior parking lot islands shall
be installed with either Cape Cod berms, vertical or sloped granite
curbing or portland cement type concrete as approved by the Board.
(6)
All illumination of parking, loading and service areas must
be designed so as to not create glare on abutting properties. Light
intensity at the property line shall be zero footcandle or less to
comply with this bylaw.
(7)
The design of each parking area shall provide adequate amenities
to pedestrian safety, including but not limited to placement of crosswalks
situated within and to the lot itself.
I.
Grading and drainage.
(1)
Storm sewer systems shall be designed for the twenty-five-year
twenty-four-hour storm at a minimum.
(2)
Drainage systems shall be designed to accommodate the two-,
ten-, twenty-five- and one-hundred-year frequency storms, so that
the peak rate of runoff under the post-construction conditions shall
not exceed the peak rate of runoff under existing conditions. Drainage
systems shall also be designed so there will be no increase in off-site
flooding for the two-, ten-, twenty-five- and one-hundred-year twenty-four-hour
frequency storms. Rainfall depths shall be based on the Northeast
Regional Climate Center's "Atlas of Precipitation Extremes for the
Northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada," Publication No.
RR 93-5 [(Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: September 1983 (The Cornell
Standard)].
(3)
Roof drainage must be designed to connect to the drainage system
or otherwise be infiltrated on site in dry wells to accommodate the
twenty-five-year frequency storm. The Board may, at its discretion,
require subsurface disposal of roof drainage.
(4)
Spot elevations must be included along with proposed and existing
contours. Minimum slope of any parking lot and access and egress road
shall not be less than 1%.
(5)
Parking and loading areas shall be designed and constructed
to manage all stormwater runoff on the premises. In the event that
stormwater cannot be controlled on the premises, stormwater may be
permitted to run off site through drainage easements from all property
owners upon whose property drainage will pass or end. The drainage
system must be designed and constructed to include the following:
[Amended 5-6-2019 ATM,
Art. 30]
(a)
Oil and grease traps;
(b)
Best management practices in accordance with industry standards
and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Stormwater
Management Policy and the associated Guidelines for Stormwater Management,
as revised; and
(c)
All structures within parking and loading areas shall be designed
for H-20 loading capacity.
(6)
The following information must be submitted for review of the
drainage design:
(a)
Location and types of inlets.
(b)
Drainage watershed limits, flow paths, acreage of areas tributary
to drainage structures and water detention areas.
(c)
The location, type, size, length, invert elevations and slope
of all drainage pipes and culverts.
(d)
Construction details of proposed drainage structures including
inlets, outlets, manholes, pipes, headwalls and other proposed drainage
structures.
(e)
The location of wetlands and water bodies within 100 feet of
the site; the boundaries of the wetland areas must be approved by
the Norwell Conservation Commission.
(f)
Drainage calculations prepared by a registered professional
engineer, licensed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
(7)
Consideration must be given to the location of snow piles and
where meltwater will travel; this must be accounted for in the drainage
design.
(8)
All drainage systems must be constructed to adequately dispose
of surface water generated on that property and to low maintenance.
During and after construction, all soils, mulch, wood chips,
etc., shall be confined to the property. The Planning Board or its
agent shall have the authority to require the applicant to provide
specific erosion controls and placement thereof on site as needed
during construction.
A.
An adequate number of off-street loading areas shall be provided
for any use serviced by delivery vehicles.
B.
Loading area must be located in the side or rear yards only.
C.
Each loading area shall be separately located from employee and customer
parking and shall be designed to protect pedestrian safety and avoid
traffic conflicts within, entering, and leaving the lot where the
loading area is located.
D.
No area may be utilized and counted as both required parking space
and required loading area unless the applicant can prove that loading
activities will not conflict in any way with parking demand in that
location during the times in which loading will take place.
E.
Each loading area shall consist of a bay measuring 30 feet long by
12 feet wide, and 14 feet high if covered, and a maneuvering space
equal to the length of the bay.
F.
Under no circumstances is the idling of any truck or vehicle engine
allowed in the loading or parking area for more than five minutes
of continuous time.
Lesser parking requirements than those specified in § 201-12.6 may also be authorized by the Board of Appeals via a "shared parking plan." Shared parking will be defined as the ability of entities to share parking spaces if the demand times generated in the area in question are largely mutually exclusive for each of the parties involved. Shared parking means that parking spaces are shared by more than one user, which allows parking facilities to be used more efficiently. Shared parking takes advantage of the fact that most parking spaces are only used part time by a particular motorist or group, and many parking facilities have a significant portion of unused spaces, with utilization patterns that follow predictable daily, weekly and annual cycles. The applicant must demonstrate during the site plan review process that lower parking requirements are warranted based on the utilization of shared parking. Shared parking shall be either on the same premises as the activity it serves or on a separate parcel if located within 300 feet of the building entrance, and not separated by a state-numbered highway, and if in a zoning district allowing the activity it serves.
A.
Any request to utilize shared parking must be accompanied by:
(1)
The current and proposed hours of operation;
(2)
The anticipated parking demand generated for the proposed use(s);
(3)
A description of the character of the land use and the parking
patterns of adjacent uses;
(4)
An estimate of the anticipated turnover in parking space use
over a twenty-four-hour period of time;
(5)
A site plan showing what the off-street parking provision would be if built to the specification of § 201-12.6, without the proposed reduction;
(6)
A site plan showing the shared use spaces in the lot, walking
distance to the uses sharing the lot and pedestrian amenities within
and to all shared areas. Uses sharing the parking facility do not
need to be contained within the same lot, but shall be a maximum of
500 feet from the closest parking space; and
(7)
A reciprocal agreement executed by all parties concerned that
ensures the long-term joint use of such shared parking, and that a
copy has been submitted and found acceptable during the site plan
review process. Such agreement must be recorded at the Registry of
Deeds.
B.
In rendering a decision regarding a reduced parking scheme, the Board
of Appeals should consider the following criteria:
C.
In the event that the conditions for shared parking change, or if shared parking arrangement is discontinued, the applicant shall notify the Board of Appeals within 10 days. The Board shall then require the applicant to meet the applicable parking requirements found in § 201-12.6 of this article, as the affected sites will be considered in violation of this bylaw upon the expiration of the shared parking agreement.
Parking area must be used for registered motor vehicle parking
only, with no sales, dead storage, repair work, or servicing of any
kind. The required parking areas must be permanently available for
use by patrons and employees of establishments for which such space
was provided.
Parking areas, loading spaces and landscaping shall be continuously
maintained. Whenever necessary, surfacing, lighting, parking space
markings and plantings shall be replaced or repaired, and drainage
structures maintained. Failure to adequately maintain parking facilities
shall be considered a violation of the bylaw.
