This proposal is to amend Chapter 20.49 Parking of the Sparks Municipal Code. There are two proposed changes. The first proposed amendment changes the off-street parking requirements within the Industrial (I) zoning District. The proposed change allows required parking for nonresidential uses to be located off-site within 500 feet of the use it serves except that accessible parking spaces as required by ADA Standards for accessible design shall be provided on-site. The current code requirement allows up to 40% of the parking to be off-site but this amendment will permit all the parking off-site. The required number of parking spaces shall comply with the parking requirement in Section 20.49. Documentation of the dedicated off-site parking must be approved by the administrator and must be submitted with the business license application.

With the annual renewal of the business license, the documentation must accompany the renewal application verifying that the off-site parking is still dedicated for the use. If the off-site parking is no longer available when renewing the business license, the business license will not renewed.

The second amendment to the parking section of the zoning code allows any nonresidential development to have an alternative parking space requirement to the approval of the administrator. This means that a developer can propose a different parking standard for their project than is stipulated in the parking code section of the zoning code. Currently, this regulation only applies to sites five acres or larger. This provision allows any site to propose a different parking requirement than provided in the parking code. The alternative parking requirement must be based on Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association, Institute of Transportation Engineers or other analytical studies approved by the administrator. This will allow more flexibility in design for projects and will address uses that do not fit directly into one of the listed uses.