Troy’s planning commission discusses parking lot changes

By Charles Bolinger

Editor • Tom Cissell, Troy’s city engineer, led a discussion at the city’s July 9 planning commission meeting. The focus was on situations that would necessitate more parking:

• New principal buildings or developments
• Building expansions that exceed 20% of the gross floor area
• Occupancy changes or required parking use rising by 25% or more
• Reconstruction of or substantial (more than 50%) modification of parking lots or access drives
• Other development requiring access, circulation, parking or loading improvements as determined by the building and zoning administrator, planning commission or city engineer

Cissell reviewed details of the draft copy with the commissioners; making changes where appropriate on who administers certain sections, himself or the commissioners.

Lawfully pre-established parking lots may continue to be used, officials said. Routine maintenance is not applicable to this section but when more than 50% of an existing parking area is expanded or reconstructed or improved, the entire parking lot shall comply.

Driveways to and from parking lots are included – on arterial roads, like Route 162, they must be at least 200 feet apart. On collector streets, like SrA Brad Smith Blvd., they must be at least150 feet apart. On local commercial streets like O’Hare, they must be at least 100 feet apart. In local residential areas, there is no minimum separation requirement.

Driveway setbacks must be six feet for residential with between six and 12 dwellings; 10 feet for residential with 13 or more dwellings; 10 feet for commercial and 10 feet for industrial.

Parking lots with multiple main buildings, multiple outlots or sites that comprise more than five acres must provide its own internal circulation system. 

Where practical, adjoining commercial and industrial developments should provide interconnected access. The city engineer may require future connections for access.

Sidewalks shall connect to each other, to parking areas, to building entrances, adjacent buildings, transit stops and adjoining developments.

Calculation of required parking is fractions of one-half (0.50) or greater shall be rounded up to the next whole space (e.g., 12.5 spaces becomes 13). Parking calculations are based on gross floor area, maximum employees per shift or approved occupant load, as applicable.

Any parking that exceeds 20% above the minimum requires approval from the planning commission. 

The city engineer may reduce required parking for shared parking, nearby public parking, documented parking demands or other on-site specific conditions. The site plan will show approved reductions.

“If we let a company reduce its parking, we can require them to reserve a grass area for the parking lot to be expanded in case they were wrong,” Cissell said just before the commissioners elected to let him handle that.

Shared parking may be approved by the city engineer where users have different peak parking demands. Approval also requires a recorded shared parking agreement, permanent cross-access and continued availability of shared spaces.

Bicycle parking is a facet of this as well. All non-residential or multifamily uses within 1,000 feet of a designated or planned bicycle route or trail shall provide bicycle parking, the draft copy states.

For convenience and security reasons, such parking facilities must be well-lit, near building entrances, be visible from the land uses they serve and not be located in remote automobile parking areas.

Minimum parking dimensions for off-street parking spaces are 9.5-feet-wide and 20-feet-deep. 

The city engineer may approve alternative parking dimensions as part of a planned development or other, authorized site plan when safe maneuverability, emergency access, accessibility and compatibility with surrounding property are maintained.

Wheel stops or curbing will be required to prevent vehicles from blocking sidewalks, damaging landscaped areas, buildings, rights-of-way, utility equipment or other protected areas.

For retail, restaurants, general service, warehouse, wholesale, manufacturing and industrial, the minimum off-street loading requirements are based on gross floor area: 2,000 to 10,000-square-feet means one required loading space; 10,001 to 20,000-square-feet equals two loading spaces; 20,000 to 40,000-square-feet means three loading spaces; and 40,001 to 60,000-square-feet means four loading spaces.

No vote was taken; only discussion happened. A vote may occur at the commission’s next meeting, which is Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in city hall, 116 E. Market St.