08-11-99 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 11, 1999 PARKING Fahey noted the correspondence from the City Attorney relative to the City's REQUIREMENTS ability to require compliance with the existing Zoning Code upon application for a Conditional Use Permit or other zoning action. He also noted the correspondence form the City Planner regarding the City's parking requirements. That correspondence indicates that the City's parking requirements for Retail/Commercial development is probably high, for Office development is high, for Automotive Service is lower than many ordinances being used, for Storage is standard, for Manufacturing/Fabrication is s(ightly high, and for Residential is standard. Morelan noted that the Planner's report indicates that the City's parking requirements are close to average in many areas. However, he noted that there is a wide variation between cities in the amount of parking spaces required. LaValle noted that the Planner was using national standards and not those of the surrounding cities. Morelan noted that the parking requirements under the Code should be the minimum requirements. Standards are necessary to ensure that businesses have enough parking and are not using the street for parking. Morelan stated that he was wondering if the City was requiring more than what the minimum standard is. Pedersen asked if the Code required 50 parking spaces at a business and there are never more than 10 cars in the lot, should the City require that all 50 spaces be improved right away, or just require that there is room to expand parking at a latter date. Morelan felt that the City was requiring large parking lots and asked why there was the need to require considerably more parking spaces than are being used. He noted, however, that the parking requirement is based on use rather than zoning. LaValle pointed out that the uses in Ryan Industrial Park can change from month to month. Morelan felt that this is why the requirement to allow parking based on need with the ability to expand, if necessary, made sense. Fahey felt that the Planner's report indicated that the City's parking standards are fair and reasonable. Pedersen pointed out that the Planner's analysis showed that none of the parking requirements are seriously out of line. Fahey noted that the Planner did indicate that the parkin~ requirement for retail/commercial, office, and manufacturing was somewhat high and suggested that the Council discuss these requirements with the Planner at the Au~ust 25'~' meetin~. However, the report indicates that requirements for other uses meet national standards.