§ 450-45. General regulations for off-street parking.

A. 

General. Parking spaces, aisles and driveways shall be laid out to result in safe and orderly use, and to fully take into account all of the following: vehicular access onto and off the site, vehicular movement within the site, loading areas, pedestrian patterns and any drive-through facilities. No parking area shall cause a safety hazard or impediment to traffic off the lot.

B. 

Existing parking. Any parking spaces serving such preexisting structures or uses at the time of adoption of this article shall not in the future be reduced in number below the number required by this article.

C. 

Change in use or expansion. A structure or use in existence at the effective date of this article that expands or results in a change of use of an existing principal building shall be required to provide all of the required parking for the entire size and type of the resulting use, except as follows:

(1) 

If an existing lawful business or institutional use includes less parking than would be required, and the applicant proves to the Zoning Officer that there is insufficient area on the lot to meet the required amount of parking, then that deficit of parking shall be grandfathered for new business or institutional uses. For example, if an existing store included three parking spaces and was required to provide seven spaces, there is a deficit of four spaces. Therefore, if that store is converted to an office that would need 10 spaces, the office would need to provide a total of six spaces (10 minus the preexisting deficit of 4).

(2) 

If a business or institutional use expands by an aggregate total maximum of 10% in the applicable measurement (such as building floor area) beyond what existed at the time of adoption of this article, and the applicant proves to the Zoning Officer that there is insufficient area on the lot to meet the required amount of parking, then no additional parking is required. For example, if an existing building included 3,000 square feet, and a single minor addition of 300 square feet was proposed, then additional parking would not be required.

D. 

Continuing obligation of parking and loading spaces. All required numbers of parking spaces and off-street loading spaces shall be available as long as the use or building which the spaces serve still exist, and such spaces shall not be reduced in number below the minimum required by this article. No required parking area or off-street loading spaces shall be used for any other use (such as storage or display of materials) that interferes with the area's availability for parking.

E. 

Location of parking. Required off-street parking spaces shall be on the same lot or abutting lot with the principal use served, unless special exception approval is granted. The only standard that must be met to obtain the special exception approval is for the applicant to prove to the satisfaction of the Zoning Hearing Board that a method of providing the spaces is guaranteed to be available during all of the years the use is in operation within 200 feet walking distance from the entrance of the principal use being served. This distance may be increased to 300 feet for employee parking. A written and signed lease shall be provided.

(1) 

The Zoning Hearing Board may require that the use be approved for period of time consistent with the lease of the parking, and that a renewal of the permit shall only be approved if the parking lease is renewed.