06-16-2025 - Agenda Packet Planning Commission - Planning Commission Packet

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18 The Richmond, Virginia, zoning code includes a very extensive descrip- tion of the rationale underlying its Parking Overlay Districts: Pursuant to the general purposes of this chapter, the intent of Parking Overlay Districts is to provide a means whereby the City Council may establish overlay districts to enable application of appropriate off-street parking requirements to business uses located within areas of the City characterized by a densely developed pedestrian shopping environment in close proximity to residential neighborhoods. The districts are intended to recognize that, due to several factors, business uses located in such areas typically generate lower demands for privately maintained off-street parking spaces than are reflected in the requirements gen- erally applicable in the City and set forth in Section 32-710.1 of this chapter. Parking requirements within Parking Overlay Districts are designed to reflect the factors that result in lower parking demand in such areas. These include: a function similar to that of a shopping center, resulting in a high proportion of multipurpose trips by patrons; considerable walk-in trade due to proximity to residential areas and employment centers; significant numbers of employees that walk to work due to proximity to living areas; availability of public transportation; and many older buildings which have been adapted from other uses and tend to be less efficient than newer spe- cial purpose buildings. It is also intended that each Parking Overlay Dis- trict reflect the supply of public parking spaces within the district by pro- viding for further reduction in the parking requirements in direct proportion to available public parking. Parking Overlay Districts are intended to complement the UB Urban Busi- ness District and to be applied principally to those areas within such dis- trict which possess the factors enumerated above, but may also be applied independent of the UB District to other areas where such factors exist within other specified districts. Bicycle Parking A number of communities recognize how bicycle travel can reduce vehicular parking demand. Overall, less than 1 percent of all trips in the U.S. are bicycle trips. Since 48 percent of all trips in the U.S. are shorter than three miles, many believe the potential for increasing utilitarian bicycle travel is great (Pucher and Schimek 1999). The extent to which bicycle travel can substitute for automobile travel may depend on demographics, climate, and the availability of the infrastructure to accommodate bicycle use, in- cluding bicycle parking. U.S. communities that have the highest level of bicycle use tend to be midsize cities with a large student population, such as Gainesville, Florida; Madison, Wisconsin; Boulder, Colorado; and Davis, California. The presence of a major university need not be a prerequisite to making a serious effort to encourage bicycle travel as a legitimate form of daily transportation. PAS Report 459, Bicycle Facility Planning (Pinsoff and Musser 1995), cov- ered a wide range of bicycle infrastructure and regulation issues. The re- port included the following general guide that suggested minimum bi- cycle requirements for a variety of uses. A number of communities have chosen to institute minimum bicycle parking requirements, while some also allow for a reduction in the num- ber of required automobile spaces when bicycle parking is provided. (See Table 3.) In Davis, California, considered by many to be the preeminent bicycling community in the U.S., “the number and location of all bicycle parking spaces shall be in accordance with the community development director 135