How to Check Parking at Peak Hours Before You Sign
Parking at peak hours appears twice on our tenant checklist.
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease. You bring your business plans. We help you evaluate where those plans fit.
This guide covers Sec. 9.72 of the City of Melbourne's Land Development Code, which states required parking in seats, stations, employees on the largest working shift and square feet.
1. Tell us your headcount and busiest hours
We start with your busiest hours and expected staffing, your preferred areas and your monthly occupancy budget.
We map headcount, parking, power and signage before you tour.
Square footage, budget and move date are enough to start.
2. Check parking at peak hours against the code's count
Sec. 9.72 gives the code's count for each use:
Restaurants: one space for each three seats or seating places, one space per employee on the largest working shift, plus two bicycle parking spaces per 100 seats.
Retail bakery: one space for each employee on the largest working shift plus one space per 300 square feet of gross floor area.
Retail store: one space for each 300 square feet of gross floor area, excluding storage area up to ten percent of the gross floor area.
Cocktail lounge or bar: one space for each two seats or one space for each 65 square feet of floor area excluding accessory storage area, whichever is greater.
Beauty salon or barbershop: two spaces per station.
Auditorium or other place of assembly: one space for each two seats or seating places or one space for each 60 square feet of floor area in the total main assembly hall, whichever is greater.
Health club: any combination of these measures as determined by the community development director: one space per 150 square feet of gross floor area, one space per two employees on the largest working shift, one space per three seats in a lounge or restaurant area, five spaces per racquetball or handball court, one and one-half spaces per nautilus machine, and two bicycle parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area.
For a restaurant with 24 seats and 3 employees on the largest working shift, 24 divided by 3 is 8. Add 3. That's 11 spaces before bicycle parking.
For a retail bakery of 1,500 square feet of gross floor area with 4 employees on the largest working shift, 1,500 divided by 300 is 5. Add 4. That's 9 spaces.
For a salon with 6 stations, 6 times 2 is 12 spaces.
3. Ask for the parking arrangements
A listing gives us a starting point. For each candidate, we request parking arrangements and known use restrictions.
Together, we look at visibility, access, nearby customer destinations, parking, signage and delivery access. We also discuss what you will compromise on and what your business needs to function.
If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation. We do not treat an unanswered question as an approval.
4. Check shared parking when the hours do not overlap
When a parking lot serves two or more uses and the operating hours of the uses don't overlap, the total required number of parking spaces may be reduced. It can't fall below the largest number of spaces required plus one-half of the required spaces for each additional use (Sec. 9.73(a)(3)).
With one use at 20 spaces and the other at 10, that's a floor of 25 spaces instead of 30.
5. Find out what happens when the code does not list your use
Where a specific use is not listed, the parking requirements of a similar use apply, and the city engineer determines the required parking upon submittal of a development plan indicating the proposed use (Sec. 9.73(b)(1)).
Appeals go to the board of adjustment in writing, within 30 days of the date of rendition of the engineer's decision (Sec. 9.73(c)).
Variances to the parking article may be granted. The zoning board of adjustment considers them under the procedures and criteria for variances in Appendix B, Article IX, Section 7 of the City Code (Sec. 9.78).
We want to know which approvals apply before you commit. If additional approvals are necessary, we bring the expected process and timing into the lease discussion.
Our role is to help bring these findings into your property decision. Your qualified professionals and reviewing agencies determine the requirements.
Extra items to check
Delivery access. Where will delivery drivers collect orders? Where will employees receive supplies, store inventory and take out trash?
Bicycle spaces. A restaurant needs two bicycle parking spaces per 100 seats, a health club needs two per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area, and a retail store needs one per 10,000 square feet of building area (Sec. 9.72).
Your sign. For each candidate, we request the sign criteria. Signage is on the list of work that requires a permit in Melbourne's Building Section FAQ.
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. Helping you find and evaluate the property is part of our work.
Bring your requirements, budget, preferred area and target opening date, along with your headcount, your busiest hours and your expected staffing. We will use those details to build your search, compare locations and negotiate the lease. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Already found a space? Send me the address and listing. We will start with the property questions and deal terms you need to investigate.
Call 321-514-0876.
Related: the Brevard County Commercial Rent Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can required spaces be on another lot?
Outside the CB-OZ, no more than 50 percent of required parking can be located off-site, and in the CB-OZ, 100 percent can. Off-site spaces must be within 500 feet of the structure they serve to count toward the requirement, and a recorded binding lot agreement is required. All required handicapped parking has to be on the principal, on-site parking lot (Sec. 9.75).
How does Melbourne count parking for a restaurant with no seating?
A restaurant with no seating provides one space per employee on the largest working shift. If a drive-thru or pickup area is provided, three additional spaces are required (Sec. 9.72).
When does Melbourne require parking for an enlarged building?
Sec. 9.72(a) requires minimum off-street vehicular parking spaces when a principal structure is erected, or when it is enlarged or increased in capacity by adding dwelling units, guest rooms, seats or floor area in excess of ten percent of the existing building size.
Sources
Written by Cassandra Hartford, founder and CEO of Reach Commercial Real Estate. She has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across Florida's Space Coast.
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