How to Handle Parking for an Unlisted Use in Melbourne
For an unlisted use in Melbourne, the parking requirement is the one for a similar use (City of Melbourne Land Development Code, Section 9.73(b)(1)).
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease.
1. Check whether Melbourne lists your use
Melbourne's code names no parking or zoning use for a nail salon, boutique, book shop, coffee shop, fitness studio, music venue or tattoo studio. Those uses map to listed categories only by interpretation. A tattoo studio is not in the parking ratios (Land Development Code, Section 9.72).
The code does name beauty salons and barbershops at two spaces per station, health clubs, and retail establishments. It also names restaurants with no seating, which is the closest carry-out category to a coffee shop.
A listing gives us a starting point. For each candidate, we request known use restrictions and parking arrangements. We map headcount, parking, power and signage before you tour.
2. Understand how parking for an unlisted use is decided
The city engineer determines the required parking when you submit a development plan showing the proposed use (Land Development Code, Section 9.73(b)(1)).
We help you organize the property information and questions for the office responsible for the address. We want to know which approvals apply before you commit. If other approvals are necessary, we bring the expected process and timing into the lease discussion.
3. Know your options if you disagree: appeal and variance
You can appeal the city engineer's decision in writing to the board of adjustment, which makes the final determination (Land Development Code, Section 9.73(b)(1)).
You can also ask for a variance. The zoning board of adjustment hears variance applications. It uses the procedures and criteria in Appendix B, Article IX, Section 7 of the City Code (Land Development Code, Section 9.78).
Our lease checklist includes a use clause and a permit contingency.
4. Check whether shared parking applies
Two uses can share a lot and reduce the total if their operating hours don't overlap (Land Development Code, Section 9.73(a)(3)). The reduced total can't fall below the largest number of spaces required plus one-half of the required spaces for each additional use.
With one use at 20 spaces and the other at 10, that's a floor of 25 spaces instead of 30.
5. Check off-site parking
In the CB-OZ, 100 percent of required parking may be off-site. Outside the CB-OZ, no more than 50 percent may be (Land Development Code, Section 9.75).
Off-site spaces count toward the requirement only if they're within 500 feet of the structure they serve. A recorded binding lot agreement is required.
6. Look at the fee in place of spaces
In the CB-OZ and the Eau Gallie art overlay zone, an owner can pay a per-space fee instead of providing required parking (Land Development Code, Section 9.72(a)(57)(E)).
In those zones, converting residential to non-residential can eliminate 100 percent of required parking. Other uses not listed can eliminate up to ten parking spaces or 50 percent, whichever is greater. The city engineer determines the fee, and city council approves it by resolution. The code page shows no dollar amount.
Extra items to add to your list
Accessible spaces stay on site. When some parking is off-site, all required handicapped parking has to be on the principal, on-site parking lot (Section 9.75(a)).
Enlargements. Off-street parking is required when a principal structure is first built. It is also required when the structure is enlarged or increased in capacity. That means adding dwelling units, guest rooms, seats or floor area above ten percent of the existing building size (Section 9.72(a)).
Salons in large centers. A beauty salon or barbershop in a shopping center over 50,000 square feet needs no parking above the retail requirement. That holds only if it does not occupy over ten percent of the center's gross leasable floor area (Section 9.72(a)(9)).
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Call 321-514-0876 with your business type, seating goal, expected staffing and target opening date, or with the address of a space you have found.
See tenant representation and the space needs analysis.
Related: the Brevard County Commercial Rent Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who decides whether an unlisted use is allowed in the zoning district?
The community development director (Appendix B, Article V, Section 2). The director decides whether the use is allowed in the specific zoning district. The director also decides whether it is a permitted use, a permitted use with conditions or a conditional use. The planning and zoning board hears appeals of that decision.
How long do you have to appeal the city engineer's parking decision?
30 days from the date of the city engineer's decision, filed with the board of adjustment (Land Development Code, Section 9.73(c)).
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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