National City Municipal Code Ch. 18.41 Site Planning Standards

The purpose of this chapter is to provide guidance and standards for site planning for nonresidential and multi-unit residential development in order to enhance safety, convenience and attractiveness for walking, transit use and bicycling; provide safe access to businesses and minimize pedestrian conflicts; and foster an attractive, quality environment to foster community pride and attract desired development and uses.

(Ord. No. 2024-2529, 4-2-2024)

These standards apply to those areas in the city that will be developed as commercial use without a residential component (mixed-use) or areas where only a commercial use is permitted. This section considers two basic types of development: freestanding buildings and multi-tenant strip developments including mini-malls.

A. Shopping Center Development.

1. When shopping centers are set back from the street with parking in front, thirty percent of the street frontage shall be lined with buildings.

2. Parking lots for shopping centers should provide vehicular connections to adjacent commercial projects.

3. Pedestrian walkways for shopping centers should provide pedestrian connections to adjacent uses.

4. Access drives for commercial centers should be located at least two hundred feet apart and at least one hundred feet from any major intersection. Access drives should be located a minimum of ten feet from property lines unless a shared drive is provided.

5. For neighborhood-serving and convenience retail centers and office and institutional developments, the first row of parking which is perpendicular to an access drive from a street shall be set back at least forty feet from the sidewalk to provide adequate queuing distance from the street and for pedestrian safety. Larger community or regional retail centers may require significantly more setback area as determined by the engineering division.

B. Freestanding or "Pad" Buildings.

1. Except for drive-through/drive-in establishments, parking for freestanding retail or "pad" buildings fronting a public street shall be located a maximum of twenty feet from the property line. Freestanding buildings adjacent to a public street are discouraged from being separated from the sidewalk with parking.

2. The building entry shall be accentuated with architectural details and landscaping.

3. Freestanding restaurants may provide outdoor seating at the building entry.

C. Drive-Through Businesses.

1. Minimum vehicular queuing distance shall be established through the conditional use permit process.

2. Drive through business aisles shall have a minimum interior turning radius of twenty-five feet for any curves. A smaller radius may be established through the conditional use permit process with the approval of the city engineer.

3. A drive-through window or lane shall not be placed between the right-of-way or internal drive and the associated building unless a ten-foot wide landscape strip extending the entire length of the drive-through queuing is installed and maintained with a minimum three-foot height continuous hedge and ornamental trees spaced a minimum of twenty feet on center.

D. Industrial Site Planning Standards. Planning standards for industrial buildings and business parks include the following:

1. Services areas shall be located at the sides or rear of buildings. Service areas located at the exterior side of buildings shall be screened from view by a combination of screen walls, landscaping, and/or portions of the building.

2. Loading areas must be designed so that trucks will not need to back in from the public street onto the site.

3. Parking for visitors shall be convenient to the main entrance.

4. Emphasis shall be placed on the building entry.

5. Buildings should be oriented so as to provide space for plazas and courtyards.

6. Outdoor storage and equipment shall be screened from public rights-of-way.

E. Pedestrian Walkways.

1. A pedestrian walkway within a retail center, office, industrial or institutional development shall be a minimum of five feet wide. Pedestrian walkways immediately adjacent to and perpendicular to parking stalls shall be a minimum of six feet wide.

2. Materials for pedestrian walkways may include concrete, concrete pavers, brick, stone or combination thereof or materials as approved by the planning division.

3. A pedestrian walkway shall provide direct pedestrian access from peripheral sidewalks to the sidewalks that front on-site buildings and building entrances.

(Ord. No. 2024-2529, 4-2-2024)

A. Pedestrian Access.

1. Unit Entries Adjacent to a Street. Multi-unit projects should be designed with each unit adjacent to a street having its primary pedestrian entrance from the street sidewalk, or as forecourt projects with at least the primary building entrance having access to the street sidewalk. Where individual units have access to the street sidewalk, private "front yard" outdoor space may be differentiated from the public right-of-way by a porch, or small yard (i.e., patio) enclosed by a low wall or fence not to exceed forty-two inches in height.

2. Pedestrian walkways shall be provided to every unit entry.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 4450 et seq., of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of the Municipal Code, containing requirements for facilities necessary to assure access and usability for the physically handicapped, in all multi-unit residential projects the following provisions shall apply:

a. Safe, convenient, well-drained pedestrian access to dwelling units, parking lots, and service areas, by provision of walks, steps or stepped ramps, so constructed as to assure reasonable durability and economy of maintenance, shall be required.

b. Pedestrian walkways shall be a minimum of thirty-six inches in width.

c. Pedestrian walkways shall be graded or ramped to no steeper than a one-to-twelve slope.

(Ord. No. 2024-2529, 4-2-2024)

A. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to prescribe standards for the development of open space areas provided for the exclusive use of the occupants of a multi-unit residential building.

B. Standards.

1. For projects of three units or more, common usable open space shall be required in a minimum amount of three hundred square feet per dwelling unit.

2. Private usable open space may be substituted for such common usable open space but may not exceed one hundred square feet per unit. Each square foot of private usable open space shall be considered equivalent to two square feet of required common usable open space, and may be so substituted, subject to the minimum requirements for actual common usable open space. All units shall be provided with at least sixty square feet of private usable open space.

3. Both common and private usable open space provided at ground level may be provided in the interior side yard and rear yard setback areas, within courts, and within exterior side yard setback areas to within five feet of the property line.

4. Private usable open space provided above the first floor may be located in the front setback area to within twelve feet of the front property line.

5. A minimum of forty percent of the required common usable open space shall be provided outdoors.

a. Up to twenty-five percent of required common usable open space shall be allowed to be a use other than recreational or leisure space

6. Common usable open space areas used for recreational or leisure purposes shall have no dimension less than twenty feet.

7. Private usable open space areas shall have no dimension less than five feet.

8. See the Westside Specific Plan for other open space requirements related to the MCR-1 and MCR-2 zones.

(Ord. No. 2024-2529, 4-2-2024)

A. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to prescribe standards for the development of open space areas provided for the exclusive use of the occupants of a mixed-use building.

B. Common usable open space shall be provided in the amount of one hundred square feet per unit. A minimum of forty percent of the required common useable open space should be provided outdoors. Indoor common usable open space providing an amenity approved by the Planning Division for recreational or leisure purposes may be provided in lieu of areas outdoors.

C. At least seventy-five percent of the units shall have a minimum of sixty square feet of private usable open space. Private usable open spaces shall have no dimension less than five feet.

(Ord. No. 2024-2529, 4-2-2024)