(a) It shall be an objective to design pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle circulation, and parking, to be safe, convenient, and readily understandable to users. Access, circulation and parking design shall relate to the proposed development on adjoining properties.
(1) Vehicle access for multi-family residential, commercial and industrial projects.
(i) Refer to the County of Santa Cruz, “Design Criteria for Streets, Storm Drains, Sanitary Sewers and Water Sewers,” as prepared by the County Department of Public Works, for all street design and driveway design requirements.
(ii) Corner lots with frontages on both an arterial street and a local or collector street shall concentrate driveway access on the local or collector street wherever possible. If access is necessary from both streets, an entrance and exit should be located on the local or collector street and an “exit, right turn only” on the arterial. However, parking lots serving commercial uses should be accessed from commercially developed streets whenever possible.
(iii) Parking areas shall be designed, whenever feasible, so that all vehicles shall enter and exit public streets in a forward movement only, with the exception of projects of under 2,000 square feet on local streets or projects on cul-de-sacs. Directional arrows for one-way entrances and exits shall be clearly marked on the pavement.
(iv) Avoid locating walls and fences where they block driver sight lines when entering or exiting the site.
(v) The location and design of curb cuts, and curb cut widths on public streets shall be determined by the Public Works Director according to the public Works Design Criteria. Minimize the number of curb cuts.
(vi) Pavement width for interior driveways shall be a minimum of 24 feet for two-way circulation and 12 feet for one-way circulation, unless additional width is required for emergency access by the fire department.
(vii) Driveways between commercial or industrial parcels shall be shared where appropriate.
(viii) Where an interior driveway or parking area parallels the side or rear property line, a minimum 5-foot wide net landscape strip shall be provided between the driveway and the property line. Where the interior driveway occurs between commercial or industrial properties with like zoning, the 5-foot net landscape strip can be a divided leaving a minimum 2 feet net at the property line and the balance 3 feet net of landscaping on the other side of the driveway.
(ix) Driveways shall be coordinated with existing or planned median openings.
(x) Entry drives on commercial or industrial projects greater than 10,000 square feet should include a 5-foot minimum net landscaped median to separate incoming and out going traffic, where appropriate.
(2) Standards for Pedestrian Travel Paths.
(i) On-site pedestrian pathways shall be provided from street, sidewalk and parking areas to the central use area. These areas should be delineated from the parking areas by walkways, landscaping, changes in paving materials, narrowing of roadways, or other design techniques.
(ii) Sidewalks or pedestrian pathways shall be provided where required by County regulations. Separations between bicycle and pedestrian circulation routes shall be utilized where appropriate.
(3) Access for the Disabled. State laws require that all facilities which are open to the public must be accessible to, and usable by, the physically disabled. Plans for construction of new public facilities and remodeling of existing facilities shall incorporate both architectural barrier removal and physical building design and parking area features to achieve access for the physically disabled.
(4) Public Transit. Support facilities for public transit, including bus turnouts and bus shelters, shall be provided when required by the Transit District.
(b) It shall be an objective to reduce the visual impact and scale of interior driveways, parking and paving.
(1) Parking Lot Design.
(i) The site design shall minimize the visual impact of pavement and parked vehicles. Parking design shall be an integral element of the site design. Siting buildings toward the front or middle portion of the lot and parking areas to the rear or side of the lot is encouraged where appropriate.
(ii) Parking areas shall be screened from public streets using landscaping, berms, fences, walls, buildings, and other means, where appropriate, in accordance with Section 13.11.076.
(iii) Variation in pavement width, the use of texture and color variation is paving materials, such as stamped concrete, stone, brick, pavers, exposed aggregate, or colored concrete is encouraged in parking lots to promote pedestrian safety and to minimize the visual impact of large expanses of pavement.
(c) It shall be an objective of landscaping to accent the importance of driveways from the street, frame the major circulation aisles, emphasize pedestrian pathways, and provide shade and screening.
(1) Parking Lot Landscaping.
(i) Parking lot landscaping shall be designed to visually screen parking from public streets and adjacent uses. Techniques to achieve screening include: the use of mixed planting which incorporates trees, shrubs, and groundcovers; mounds; low walls; parking set below grade; or a combination of these techniques which achieves this function.
(ii) Parking lots shall be landscaped with large canopy trees. A landscape strip shall be provided at the end of each parking aisle.
(iii) A minimum 5-foot wide landscape strip (to provide necessary vehicular back-out movements) shall be provided at dead-end aisles.
(iv) Parking areas shall be landscaped with large canopy trees to sufficiently reduce glare and radiant heat from the asphalt and to provide visual relief from large stretches of pavement. A minimum of one tree for each five parking spaces should be planted along each single or double row of parking spaces. Planting areas for trees required within parking rows should be achieved by one of the following methods (see Figure 2.):
(A) A continuous landscape strip, at least 5 feet wide net, between rows of parking spaces, or;
(B) Tree wells, 8 feet wide, resulting from the conversion of two opposing full sized spaces to compact spaces, or;
(C) Tree wells, at least 5 feet square, placed diagonally between standard or compact car spaces.
(v) At least twenty-five percent (25%) of the trees required for parking lot screening shall be 24-inch box size when planted; all other trees shall be 15 gallon size or larger when planted.
(vi) As appropriate to the site use, required landscaped areas next to parking spaces or driveways shall be protected by a minimum six-inch high curb or wheel stop, such as concrete, masonry, railroad ties, or other durable materials.
(vii) A minimum of one tree for each five parking spaces shall be planted along rows of parking.
(viii) Trees shall be dispersed throughout the parking lot to maximize shade and visual relief.
(2) Service Vehicles/Loading Space. Loading space shall be provided as required in Sections 13.10.570 through 13.10.578, inclusive, for commercial and industrial uses. Loading areas shall be designed to not interfere with circulation or parking, and to permit trucks to fully maneuver on the property without backing from or onto a public street.
(3) Parking Structures. Parking within structures including basement and roof parking is encouraged in order to minimize asphalt pavement and maximize open areas.
(4) Bicycle Parking. Bicycle parking spaces shall be provided as required in Section 13.10.560. They shall be appropriately located in relation to the major activity area.
(d) It shall be an objective of lighting design to relate to the site and building design and reduce off-site impacts.
Lighting.
(1) All site, building, security and landscape lighting shall be directed onto the site and away from adjacent properties. Light sources shall not be visible from adjacent properties. Light sources can be shielded by landscaping, structure, fixture design or other physical means. Building and security lighting shall be integrated into the building design.
(2) All lighted parking and circulation areas shall utilize low-rise light standards or light fixtures attached to the building. Light standards to a maximum height of 15 feet are allowed.
(3) Area lighting shall be high-pressure sodium vapor, metal halide, fluorescent, or equivalent energy-efficient fixtures. (Ord. 4761 § 45, 5/18/04)