The Planning and Zoning Commission forwarded its recommendations for proposed amendments to parking and loading requirements in the Town Zoning Ordinance on a 6-1 vote at its April 10 session.

Development Services Director John Wesley noted that commission members had been providing comments and suggestions over the past year. A proposal presented at the February commission meeting was updated with additional comments and presented in draft form this month.

The parking and loading requirements are chapter seven of the ordinance and the objective of the update is to remove errors and inconsistencies, improve readability and flow, update standards and add new provisions if needed.

Section 7.02, related to applicability, has a subsection (B) to address changes related to existing development.

“Given the built nature of the Town, this section will be used a lot (to) address reuse, expansion or redevelopment situations,” Wesley said.

The new draft has added some flexibility for the Town engineer to consider alternative paving materials, “by allowing for and encouraging creative design options for permeable paving and shared parking.”

The ordinance clarifies that such surface should not “violate county environmental or ADEQ regulations.”

According to Commission Chairman Peter Gray, technology has created materials that can provide the durability needed for parking, but permeable to allow for reduced heat and storm runoff.

A new section has been added to the ordinance to require maintenance of parking areas consistent with the approved plans.

Illustrations and tables have been added to ordinance or updated to provide greater clarity.

Design standards for residential uses would require a minimum of two covered parking spaces. Wesley said this requirement may have the effect of limiting conversion of garages to living space.

Covered parking requirements have also been added for multi-residence and commercial development. For multi-residence the requirement is for one per unit. For business and office uses, with 10 or more parking spaces there would be one covered space per office suite.

In the design standards for multi-residential and non-residential a provision has been added to require a setback to reduce ingress and egress conflicts.

Off-street parking requirements for mixed use zoning were amended to allow for shared parking. A provision was added to clarify that providing parking for businesses vehicles does not count toward required spaces. A provision was added to set a maximum number of paved parking spaces.

A requirement for golf courses is to include six spaces per tee plus the spaces for restaurant and golf shop to meet commercial requirements. For private golf clubs there is an existing requirement of one space per every five member families or individuals.

Proposed language for electric vehicle parking would require that “all new or expanded parking areas providing parking for 50 or more vehicles shall provide the electrical capacity necessary to accommodate the future hardwire installation of Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations for a minimum of 10% of required parking spaces.”

This does not require installation of the charging equipment, however, construction documents need to indicate details of the provided infrastructure.

The council will consider the commission recommendation at a future date.