§ 17.03. Parking Requirements and Standards.
Off-street parking facilities must be provided and permanently maintained by the owners and/or occupants, except in the C-2 Central Business District, in accordance with the following provisions:
1.
Use of Parking Facilities. Off-street parking facilities accessory to residential uses shall be used solely for the parking of noncommercial passenger vehicles owned by occupants of the dwelling structures to which such facilities are accessory or by guests of said occupants. Under no circumstances shall the required parking facilities, accessory to residential structures, be used for the storage of commercial vehicles or for the parking of automobiles belonging to the employees, owners tenants, visitors, or customers of business or industrial establishments, except as provided in the following section.
2.
Parking in tree lawns and yards in residential districts.
A.
The parking of any vehicle in any front yard, that being the area beginning at the front building line of the principal permitted residential structure and the front property line abutting the street right-of-way line is prohibited except for designated driveways and approved parking areas. If there is no hard surface drive and parking surface or other evidence of a clearly used drive and parking area on a zoning lot, the zoning administrator shall be empowered to determine and designate the driveway and parking area.
B.
Parking on any tree lawn may only take place provided said parking area is improved with pavement having an asphalt or Portland cement binder, or, shall be crushed stone and shall be graded and surfaced for it to permit drainage and disposal of surface water and/or snow accumulating within the confines of the parcel. Tree lawn shall mean the unimproved portion of the street between the edge of the paved roadway and the edge of the sidewalk.
C.
The parking of any vehicle on any portion of the side yard which is behind the front building line of the principal permitted residential structure is prohibited.
D.
The parking of any vehicle in the rear yard is prohibited, except on designated driveways and approved parking areas.
3.
Parking of Commercial Vehicles in Residential Districts. A licensed commercial vehicle owned by, or assigned to, a licensed vehicle operator who is a permanent resident shall be permitted. For the terms of this section, a permitted vehicle shall be limited to passenger cars, vans, pickup trucks and other similar vehicles. Trucks having a gross cargo capacity of over four tons and tractors or tractor-trailer combinations shall not be considered vehicles under this section and are specifically excluded from parking in residential zoning districts. No more commercial vehicles than licensed vehicle drivers residing on the premises shall be allowed to park on a zoning lot in residential districts.
4.
Joint Parking Facilities. Off-street parking facilities for different buildings, structures or uses, or for mixed uses, may be provided collectively in any zoning district in which separate parking facilities for each constituted use would be permitted, provided that the total number of spaces so located together shall not be less than the sum of the separate requirements for each use.
5.
Calculation of Required Parking Spaces. When determination of the number of off-street parking spaces required by this Ordinance result in a requirement of a factional space, any fraction of one-half or less may be disregarded, while a fraction in excess of one-half shall be counted as one parking space.
6.
Minimum Size of Parking Space. A required off-street parking space shall be at least nine (9) feet in width and at least twenty (20) feet in length, exclusive of access drives or aisles. All parking spaces shall have a vertical clearance of at least seven (7) feet. Aisle widths shall be not less than the following: perpendicular parking, twenty (20) feet; angle parking two-way traffic, sixteen (16) feet; angle parking one-way traffic, twelve (12) feet.
7.
Minimum Number of Parking Spaces for a Parking Area. Except in the case of parking required for single family dwellings, no parking areas may contain less than three (3) parking spaces.
8.
Location of Off-Site Facilities. Off-site facilities must be located within four hundred (400) feet of the use to which they are accessory; measured from the nearest point to the nearest point, provided that they conform to all district regulations.
9.
Access to Public Street or Roadway. Each required off-street parking area or space shall open directly upon an aisle or driveway of such width and design as to provide such parking space. All off-street parking facilities shall be designed with appropriate means of ingress and egress which least interferes with traffic movements. No driveway across public property nor curb cut shall exceed a width of forty (40) feet.
10.
Driveways.
A.
Driveways in residential districts . Driveways may be located no closer then four feet to the side yard line unless the driveway abuts the driveway located on the adjoining property.
B.
Driveways in industrial and commercial districts . Off-street parking uses in industrial or commercial districts may be located in a required front, rear or side yard, except the ten feet adjacent to the rear or side lot line adjacent to a residential district.
11.
Parking in Street Parkways. No person, firm or corporation shall park, deposit, leave or store any motor vehicle, vehicle or tangible personal property of any type or description at any time between the sidewalk line and curb line at any place within the Village, unless elsewhere provided in this Ordinance or within designated parking areas established by the Village Council.
12.
Design and Maintenance Standards. All parking spaces and areas herein after constructed in conformance with the Ordinance shall comply with the following standards:
A.
Screening and Landscaping. All open vehicle parking areas containing more than three (3) parking spaces shall be effectively screened on each side adjoining or fronting on any property situated in a residence district by a wall, fence or densely planted compact hedge no less than four (4) feet nor more than six (6) feet in height. Such required screening shall conform with the front yard requirements of the district in which the parking is located.
B.
Pavement and Surfacing. All open off-street parking areas shall be of concrete or asphalt paving material according to standards established by the Village Engineer.
C.
Lighting. Any lighting used to illuminate off-street parking areas shall be directed away from residential properties in such a way as not to create a nuisance (see Section 15.02).
D.
Signs. Accessory signs as permitted in zone districts.
13.
Use of Parking Spaces for Vehicle Repair and Service. No motor vehicle repair work of any kind shall be permitted in conjunction with accessory open off-street parking facilities provided in a residential district.
14.
Overlapping lines . No person shall park a vehicle in such a manner as to straddle or overlap the limit lines of the parking spaces marked upon the street.
15.
Truck/tractor trailer . No person shall park or leave any truck tractor, trailer, semi-trailer detached from its tractor on any street, alley or public place or in any public parking lot within the village except in cases of emergency, in which case the owner/operator shall notify the Berrien Springs/Oronoko Police Department.
16.
Interference . No person shall interfere with or hinder the enforcement of the parking, standing or stopping regulations of the village by removing, erasing, altering, concealing or in any manner modifying tags, stickers, chalk or other marks or symbols placed on a vehicle by a parking control officer or police officer or by any other act designed or intended to prevent such enforcement.
17.
Designated parking spaces . The public works superintendent with approval of the village council, shall have the authority to lay out and designate use of parking spaces on publicly-owned or operated parking lots, and all persons parking any vehicles therein shall park the same within such designated limit lines and spaces, no person shall park any vehicle in any driveway or other portion of such lot where parking is forbidden by signs duly posted or by any traffic control order of the Berrien Springs/Oronoko Police Department.
18.
Parking time limits—Public lots . The public works superintendent with consent of the village council, shall have authority to limit the period within which vehicles may be parked in any publicly-owned or operating parking lots and no person shall park or leave any vehicles therein for a period longer than that established by the public works superintendent and posted in such parking lot by signs giving notice of such limited parking regulations.
19.
Liability . All parking in any publicly-owned lot shall be at the owner's risk and the village shall not be responsible for the theft of or damage to any vehicle or the loss of any articles left in any vehicle while parked in any publicly-owned or operated parking lot.
20.
Overnight parking . No person shall park or leave any motor vehicle overnight in any public parking lot.
21.
Use for repair or sale of vehicles or for trailer business prohibited . No person shall use any public parking lot to sell or repair vehicles or to carry on any trade or business therein.
22.
Handicapped parking space . No person shall park in any parking space designated by a control device directed by the village as being reserved for handicappers, unless the person is a handicapper as described in MCL 257.19(a) or unless the person is parking the vehicle for the benefit of such a handicapper. A certificate of identification issued under MCL 257.675(5) to a handicapper shall be displayed in the lower left corner of the front windshield or a special registration plate issued under section MCL 257.803(d) to a handicapper shall be displayed on any vehicle parked in such parking space.
23.
Hazardous materials. No vehicle used in the transportation of inflammable or explosive materials or substances shall be parked within the limits of any village street or public place; provided, however, that this restriction shall not apply to the incidental stopping or parking of such vehicle in the carrying-out of loading or unloading operations or in the performance of errands incidental to the business use of such vehicles if such vehicle is lighted with at least two white headlights and two red rear lights so constructed and placed as to be observed under the ordinary atmospheric conditions at a distance of not less than 500 feet.
24.
No vehicle maintenance . No automobile, truck or other vehicle shall be parked within the limits of any street or other public place for the purpose of repairing, remodeling or otherwise working upon said vehicle.
25.
No parking near fire hydrants . No automobile, truck or other vehicle other than fire trucks, ambulances or vehicles of law enforcement agencies during the performance of their respective duties, shall be parked or permitted to stand within 15 feet of any fire hydrant, nor nearer than 25 feet from the nearest street line of any intersecting street, nor in front of any crosswalks or in any passenger bus loading zones.
26.
No parking—Fire scene . No automobiles, trucks or other vehicles shall be parked or permitted to stand within the boundaries of any street and within 500 feet of any building on fire, or at a greater distance as directed by the Berrien Springs/Oronoko Police Department or the Berrien Springs/Oronoko Fire Department official.
27.
Parking limits/prohibition . No automobiles, trucks or other vehicles shall be parked further than two feet from the curb line if there is one, and if there is no curb, they shall not be parked within the main traveled portion of the street or highway.
28.
Parking brake set/attendance . No automobile, truck or other vehicle shall be parked or permitted to stand unless the brakes thereon are in good working order and properly set, nor shall such vehicle be parked or permitted to stand with its motor running, unless a competent operator is in charge and at the controls thereof.
29.
No parking . When signs have been erected by a competent authority designating a no parking zone, the parking by any automobile, truck or other vehicle contrary thereto shall be a violation of this article.
(Ord. No. 316, 5-19-2008; Ord. No. 324, §§ 8—10, 5-2-2011; Ord. No. 332, § 1, 5-21-2012)