OCEAN CITY – Code amendments pertaining to garage parking, habitable attic space and building height highlighted a lengthy discussion at the committee level last week.
Last week, staff presented the Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission with three code amendments involving enclosed parking spaces, habitable attics and downtown building heights. After a lengthy discussion, the commission agreed to schedule a public hearing to gather feedback on the proposed changes.
“I think we’re ready to schedule,” said Chair Joe Wilson, “so anybody who wasn’t here tonight can add their two cents during the public hearing.”
Planning and Community Development Director Bill Neville told commission members last week members of staff were bringing forward three code amendments talked about at length during previous commission meetings. The first, he said, would amend the town’s off-street parking code design standards to require minimum dimensions for enclosed garage parking spaces. He said while the town code established minimum dimensions for parking spaces, he suggested one- and two-car garage parking include additional footage to length and width.
“We know we’ve documented the concern about lack of storage and a concern about the size of vehicles and being able to open doors,” he said. “There’s also a new issue we are starting to consider, which is the state is promoting the idea that a state-level requirement may be coming our way to require that EV charging stations be included in everybody’s residential construction … At this point, we don’t know what that means dimension wise. But to me, it helps support the idea that the extra foot on the front and back probably makes sense because we will start to see those features added.”
Simply put, Neville said staff was proposing parking space dimensions that were larger than those required for outside parking.
“We are going beyond what is a typical parking space dimension,” he explained. “I think the national standard, the standard in other codes and ordinances, is the same for both inside and outside. What we’re saying is once you build inside of a garage, it needs to be different.”
Commissioners questioned what impact the change would have on current projects that have yet to start construction.
“Anything that has made it through at least site plan approval has to build according to those standards,” Neville replied. “If the site plan needs to be revised, there’s a chance to update it.”
He noted, however, that the proposed code change did not make it clear if the new dimensions would apply to commercial properties.
“Does it apply to a hotel that has a whole floor that’s a parking garage?” he asked.
Wilson said it shouldn’t.
“I would say no, personally,” he replied. “I think we’re talking about a more residential garage … I would add some clarity to that. I don’t think a hotel garage should meet this standard.”
After further discussion, the commission agreed to move forward with the proposed code change.
“I think this is a huge step in the right direction,” Wilson said.
The commission last week also considered a proposed code amendment regarding habitable attics. While habitable attics may be used in mobile home districts, Neville said the code does not allow it in other areas of town.
“We had a planning commission meeting about this …,” he explained. “I think most people agreed in today’s day and age there’s a desire to have an extra bedroom for family or for rentals or everything else, that it seemed to be something we wanted to encourage rather than restrict.”
Neville said he was recommending that dormers not exceed 75% of the roof and that there be setback requirements. When asked if there had been requests to convert attics, Neville said there had.
“We’ve had requests for units that have open lofts that wanted to close them in, and we’ve had requests for infrastructure that propose any variety of living space with balconies and all kinds of things,” he replied.
Wilson said he supported the change, so long as it addressed parking.
“If they are going to have that as living space – whether it’s a living room or bedroom – I think the consensus I remember was we wanted it to be parked, meaning there’s parking associated with that space,” he said.
Staff last week also presented the commission with a proposed code amendment allowing building height for structures located within flood zones in the downtown and upper downtown overlay districts to be measured from above ground level parking underneath a building.
“The intent was two things,” Neville said. “One is to encourage any new construction to be elevated with parking underneath so additional parking was provided in the downtown area. And secondly, that it would improve the safety of the building for flood risk, even more than what our current regulations do, which is to measure from the base flood height.”
Instead of amending the building height definition, Neville suggested changing the zoning requirement to allow for additional elevation.
“If the goal is to provide additional development potential as an incentive to make sure the building type provides parking underneath, then let’s just call it what it is, granting any property – existing or proposed – the ability to go higher than what the zoning regulations allow,” he said.
