OCEAN CITY – Code amendments pertaining to off-street parking and habitable attic space will advance to a public hearing with the support of a resort commission.
Last week, Planning and Community Development Director Bill Neville presented the Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission with two draft ordinances. One, he noted, would amend off-street parking design standards, while the other would define and allow habitable attics.
“Commissioners, tonight we have two of the three potential code amendments that we discussed at the last meeting,” he said. “It took longer than expected to settle in and edit back and forth on what we felt was the minimum necessary to move forward with the ideas you had on two topics.”
Last month, staff presented the commission with three code amendments involving residential parking spaces, habitable attics and building heights in designated flood zones.
Based on those discussions, Neville told officials last week that staff had drafted ordinances for the first two items.
“I’m just going to point out a few of the changes that are being proposed,” he said.
The first ordinance, Neville said, would amend off-street parking design standards in residential zones. As proposed, the change would raise the requirement from two-and-a-half parking spaces to three parking spaces for each three-bedroom multifamily unit or townhouse.
“That’s a change we may get comment on,” he said. “It was a concern that there wasn’t enough off-street parking being provided, and that’s where the idea of upping the standard came from.”
Neville said the ordinance would also require multifamily dwellings and townhouses to have one unenclosed parking space if more than two spaces are required.
“That was the goal of making sure that at least some parking for multi-family projects would in fact have guest parking, extra parking, available,” he said.
Neville told the commission the ordinance also included changes that addressed storage. In recent years, officials have argued the use of garage space for storage has necessitated more parking on the town’s public streets.
“If there’s only garage parking and no extra unenclosed parking on a site, then there would be a requirement for minimum enclosed storage area that’s basically half the size of a parking space …,” he explained. “The intent is to get some criteria started to encourage designers of new projects to plan ahead for storage.”
Lastly, the ordinance would establish new minimum parking space dimensions for residential garages. For his part, Commissioner Palmer Gillis praised the changes, as it addressed his concerns about the lack of sufficient off-street parking.
“I think this is unbelievably awesome and I think it really goes a long way to address what I have seen and witnessed and photographed and talked about for a few years,” he said. “I think everything you’ve put in here is what I would suggest or hope to present to a public hearing.”
Commissioner Joel Brous, however, said he took issue with the new storage requirement, as it could result in more storage sheds being built on a property.
“I like the idea, the intent of it, but I’m not sure I’m crazy about it,” he said.
After further discussion, the commission agreed to advance the changes to a public hearing.
Commission members last week also had before them an ordinance that would allow habitable attics throughout town.
Neville said the code amendment would permit habitable floor area above the maximum building height, so long as it doesn’t exceed more than 50% of the building’s upper floor footprint.
“And an additional 25% of the building’s upper floor footprint may be used for other non-habitable purposes such as bathroom closets, storage, utility space and an open, unenclosed deck,” he added.
Neville also told commission members the ordinance provided new definitions for attics, habitable attics and dormers and amended the definition for building height.
“It used to say [attics] shall not be used for living purposes,” he explained. “We’re changing the code so it will say attics may be used as a habitable attic, subject to applicable provisions of the code. So we are opening the door.”
Neville noted, however, that the use of attic space for living purposes would also require a change in off-street parking regulations.
“One additional space will be required for any additional loft or habitable attic,” he said.
After further discussion, the commission also agreed to send the second ordinance to a public hearing.
“I think it matches up with a lot of what we’ve seen come through and clarifies everything on the zoning side to match up with the building code,” Chair Joe Wilson said.
A hearing on both ordinances will be set for the commission’s first meeting in October.
Staff also agreed to start drafting an ordinance that would allow building height for structures located within flood zones to be measured from above ground level parking located beneath a structure.
