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After court ruling, commission recommends parking ordinance change to treat new and existing businesses alike
Summary
Following a Commonwealth Court ruling that found the prior parking ordinance created unequal treatment between existing and new businesses, the Planning Commission recommended a revised ordinance that extends relaxed on‑street parking allowances to existing uses and allows conditional‑use approvals to seek zoning officer permission based on a traffic study.
The Planning Commission reviewed and recommended to council an edited parking requirements ordinance intended to address constitutional concerns raised by a Commonwealth Court decision.
Solicitor Jake Leland explained that the prior ordinance had been interpreted to treat existing businesses differently from new ones, which the Commonwealth Court found implicated equal‑protection concerns. The draft presented tonight adds language explicitly extending relaxed on‑street parking allowances to both new and existing uses in the commercial district and creates a mechanism whereby property owners with conditional use approvals may request on‑street parking to count toward parking requirements if they provide a traffic study showing the allowance will not create congestion or parking safety issues. Leland said the approach preserves a least‑burdensome administrative path (zoning officer review) for property owners rather than requiring them to reopen conditional‑use approvals.
Commissioners asked whether the edit replaces the employee‑based parking requirement in the old code; staff confirmed the prior subsection will be replaced and the new paragraph will clarify how on‑street spaces may be used. After discussion, the commission moved to recommend the revised parking ordinance to council.
