23.322.040 General Requirements | Berkeley Municipal Code

1. The City may issue a Zoning Certificate or approve an AUP or Use Permit only for a use or structure that complies with this chapter.

1. Number of Spaces. See Section 23.322.050 (Parking Reductions) for allowed reductions to the number of required off-street parking spaces.

(a) The Zoning Officer or ZAB may reduce any parking requirement in this chapter that is unrelated to the number of required spaces for:

i. New floor area created through building expansions in the Commercial, Manufacturing, and R-SMU Districts; and

ii. A change of use of existing floor area in the manufacturing and R-SMU districts where the new use has a higher numerical parking standard than the existing use.

(b) If the use served by the parking requires an AUP, the Zoning Officer may approve the modification. If the use requires a Use Permit, the ZAB may approve the modification.

(c) When allowed by Paragraph (a) above, the review authority may allow the modification upon finding that:

i. The modification allows the continued use of an existing parking supply; and

ii. Meeting the parking requirements is not financially feasible or practical.

(a) A required off-street parking space must be located within 300 feet from the structure or use it is intended to serve, except as otherwise allowed by this chapter.

(b) The required distance is measured from the nearest point of the off-street parking space provided to the nearest point of the lot on which the use or structure to be served is located. Measurement is along public or private rights-of-way available for pedestrian access from the structure or use to the parking space.

2. C-DMU District. Required off-street parking spaces may be provided on-site or off-site and within 800 feet of the use it serves. Off-site spaces may be more than 800 feet from the use with an AUP.

3. Ownership. If a required off-street parking space is located on a different lot from the structure or use it serves, the parking space must be either:

(a) Located on land under the same ownership as the land where the structure or use is located; or

(b) Subject to a Joint Use Agreement as provided in 23.322.040.D (Joint Use of Parking).

1. All Districts. The Zoning Officer may approve an AUP to allow two uses to share parking spaces and satisfy their off-street parking requirement with a Joint Use Agreement. To approve the AUP, the Zoning Office must find that:

(a) The off-street parking spaces designated for joint use are located within 800 feet of the use to be served;

(b) The times demanded for joint-use parking spaces will not conflict substantially between the land uses sharing the spaces; and

(c) The off-street parking spaces designated for joint use are not otherwise committed to satisfying the parking requirements for another land use at similar times.

2. Offices in R-4 and R-5 Districts. The ZAB may approve a Use Permit to allow offices in the R-4 or R-5 district to share parking spaces with a multi-family use. To approve the Use Permit, the ZAB must find that:

(a) No more than 20 percent of the off-street parking spaces required for the multiple dwelling use will serve as required off-street parking for offices; and

(b) The shared off-street parking spaces are located on the same lot as the offices that they serve or are on property under the same ownership within 300 feet from the offices.

3. Deed Restriction. A property with joint-use parking spaces shall record a deed restriction as provided in Section 23.322.040.F (Deed Restrictions).

1. Non-Residential Districts. In Non-Residential Districts, the following requirements apply to required parking spaces not on the property where the use is located.

(a) Off-site parking spaces may not be used to satisfy the off-street parking requirement for another use.

(b) Off-site parking must be available during the normal hours of operation of the use that it serves.

(c) A deed restriction must be recorded as provided in Section 23.322.040.F (Deed Restrictions). Table 23.322-5 shows the maximum distance that off-site parking spaces may be located from the use or structure it serves and the permit required to exceed this distance.

Table 23.322-5. OFF-SITE PARKING SPACE DISTANCE REQUIREMENTS
District	Maximum Distance from Use or Structure [1]	Permit Required to Exceed Maximum Distance
Manufacturing Districts	500 ft.	AUP
C-W	500 ft.	AUP
All Other Commercial Districts	300 ft.	UP(PH)

[1]Measurement shall be from the closest two points of the respective parcels, as measured in a straight line.

2. CW District. If the use or structure served by off-site parking is within a designated node in the C-W district, the off-site parking spaces must also be located within the same designated node.

1. If a required off-street parking space is located off-site or in a joint use agreement, a statement shall be recorded in the Office of the County Recorder that restricts the use of the property and designates the off-street parking that is to serve the other property.

2. The deed restrictions shall state that the property cannot be used so as to prevent the use of the parking requirements of the City, unless the restriction is removed by the City.

3. Upon submission of satisfactory evidence either that other parking space meeting the parking requirements has been provided or that the building or use has been removed or altered in use so as to no longer require the parking space, the City of Berkeley shall remove the restriction from the property.

1. Permit Required. A Use Permit is required to remove parking spaces as follows:

(a) R-S, R-SMU, C-T districts: Removing existing off-street parking spaces for main buildings.

(b) C-SO, C-NS districts: Removing existing off-street parking spaces in excess of the number required spaces.

2. Findings. To approve the Use Permit in the R-S, R-SMU, and C-T districts, the ZAB must find that the parking reduction is consistent with the purposes of the district and meets the findings in Section 23.322.050.B (Findings). No additional findings are required in the C-SO and C-NS districts.

H. Required Parking Spaces for Persons with Disabilities. If the number of required off-street parking spaces in a non-residential district is reduced as allowed by this chapter, the number of required parking spaces for persons with disabilities shall be calculated as if there had been no reduction in required spaces.

1. A lawfully established use that does not provide the required number of off-street parking spaces may be continued and maintained if there is no increase in the area, space, or volume occupied by or devoted to the use, except as allowed by Paragraph (2) below.

2. A single-family detached structure that does not provide the required number of off-street parking spaces may be increased by a cumulative total of up to 200 square feet over the floor area that existed on June 6, 2010 if:

(a) The addition or alteration complies with all other applicable standards;

(b) The addition or alteration is not used as a bedroom; and

(c) No portion of the building or any other structure on the same lot is used for rental rooms.

J. Access to Spaces. A building, structure, alteration, fence, landscaping, or other site feature may not be constructed, erected, planted, or allowed to be established that impedes vehicle access to a required off-street parking space.

K. Parking Permits. Residents in the following projects are not eligible to receive parking permits under the Residential Permit Parking Program (RPP) as provided in Municipal Code Chapter 14.72 (Preferential Parking Program):

1. Residential projects in the R-S, R-SMU, and C-T districts that are constructed without parking.

2. Projects in the C-DMU district with residential units or group living accommodation units, including units converted from a non-residential use. (Ord. 7787-NS § 2 (Exh. A), 2021)