Parking spaces for a medical office

[jkbrown]

Can Anyone Help with these kinds of numbers that are documentable? I have 4.5 spaces per 1,000 SF.

Thanks

[rcgplanner]

Our Z.O. requires 1 space for every 250 s.f. (4 per 1000 s.f.).

[S. Allen]

We never had a code standard for medical offices, and made use of a code provision allowing the Planning Director to require what was necessary. The empirical standard was one space per employee, one per examination or similar room, and one per seat in the waiting room. The number would seem high at first, but the number of employees would quickly exceed the number originally given, and room would soon be found for more seats in the waiting room. From observation, it worked well.

The initial objections were mild and the -- always explained -- option of an appeal was never used.

I had a written version for new planners and those with poor memories that could have been rendered into code had it been needed. Some day, the need will come.

[transguy]

Typically I've seen them between 4 and 4.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area. I would guess these are based on ITE's parking generation rates (the 85th percentile is between these numbers).

[mique28]

Our code is 1 space per 350 square feet. We have found that most medical offices (because of doctor scheduling constraints) do not generate periods of high parking demand but rather have demand that is low to moderate throughout the day.

[der Bebauungsplan]

I'm currently working on revising our parking ratios and have done a fair amount of research on requirements in suburban areas. For the most part for "medical/dental office" they range betwen 1/200 sq. ft. and 1/250 sq. ft. However, one nearby example has given some pause for thought. A recently constructed 16,000 sq. ft. medical office building in an adjoining town provided a ratio of 1/200. I don't know what it is about that particular practice (a single user - group practice) but their parking needs have far exceded what was provided. They've had to introduce valet parking to handle the overflow.

[luckless pedestrian]

The empirical standard was one space per employee, one per examination or similar room, and one per seat in the waiting room. The number would seem high at first, but the number of employees would quickly exceed the number originally given, and room would soon be found for more seats in the waiting room. From observation, it worked well.

This is what I would recommend - we do not have this and we don't have enough parking at our medical offices which is a real issue - another thing is to tell the admin that they need to supply for their employees - we have a situation where the admin of the hospital that owns the medical building tells their employees to park in the neighborhoods and not the parking lot!

[jkbrown]

Thanks for all the info. I actually found some new ITE studies on Highbeam Research. the new numbers were 4.5 spaces per 1,000 GFA. and as low as 3.53

[dilorenzodepaul]

Yeah, but keep in mind those ratios are meant to apply to "peak demand". There are many planners who argue these ratios are inherently flawed. Keep in mind, the average car is parked 95 percent of the time, and parking is free 99% of the time.

Many planners agree that it is the off street parking requirements that encourage the auto-oriented lifestyle in many cities and suburbs.

Check Donald Schoup's work out for his point of view. He is a planner from UCLA.

[Tobinn]

Check Donald Schoup's work out for his point of view. He is a planner from UCLA.

http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/

[ThePinkPlanner]

Parking for medical uses is one of the more complicated ones for sure. There are great discrepencies between location and scale which make it hard to find a one-size fits all answer. Utilizing the waiting room/employee approach may be a good one for smaller, pre-existing offices where this is known. We use a higher ratio than many it seems, with 5 spaces per 1000 sf, and still find that the smaller practices (converted residential homes in the range of 1000-3000 SF) are grossly underparked. At the same time, we have developers who are building the 50,000 SF+ facilities who argue that we don't require enough parking for their needs.

The greatest tool we have is the parking requirement waiver. We can ask for the 5 spaces per, but our Board has the authority to grant a waiver up to 25% based on mitigating factors: is there a bus line which services the area? does the practice have access to on-street parking? do employees get shuttled in or have ride-share opportunities?

That doesn't solve the problem of having a sea of parking for the larger facilities, but we're working on that.

Lastly, I'd add that our numbers may seem high. We're a more suburban community in the "greyest" state in the nation. Medical offices thrive here.