January 1, 1900

by Donald R. Daines

Many planning boards and zoning boards are not familiar with the unique needs of automobile dealerships. Even though automobile dealerships might be a permitted use within a zone, all too often the zoning ordinance requires many design and site plan features that directly frustrate and undermine the business of marketing and selling automobiles. This makes it necessary for the dealership to obtain either variances or waivers from these zoning requirements in order to be able to operate the dealership properly and competitively. These issues arise both with new dealerships and when seeking to improve and enhance existing dealerships.

Zoning Requirements

A typical zoning requirement at odds with automobile dealerships pertains to landscaping. Many communities require that new landscaping be installed along the street frontage of any new commercial use in order to create an aesthetic screen minimizing the visibility of the commercial business. This, however, directly frustrates the ability of the dealership to display its inventory of shiny automobiles as visibility is necessary for the dealership to compete. In addition, landscaping near the vehicles often attracts birds which interfere with the dealerships ability to keep and maintain clean vehicles. Therefore, waivers or variances from the landscaping requirements must be identified and sought during the application and approval process.

Another requirement in most zoning ordinances specifies the placement of plants, such as "planters" or "islands" throughout the "parking area". While this requirement might be beneficial to a shopping center to break-up the parking lot for pedestrians walking to and from their cars, it is generally not conducive to a dealership’s storage and display of inventory. Customers are usually not permitted in the inventory area, with the vehicles being retrieved by dealership employees who are very experienced in driving and parking vehicles within the storage area. The scattering of plantings throughout the inventory/display area would, in addition to attracting birds and blocking visibility, also create problems with snow removal. Thus, relief from such ordinance requirements must sometimes be sought when before the planning board or zoning board.

Parking space dimension requirements found in ordinances can also present automobile dealerships with the need to request relief from the reviewing board. The standard customer parking space dimension requires a much larger area than is needed for inventory or storage. Typically, the zoning ordinance requires a parking space large enough to accommodate opening of all vehicle doors including passenger doors. The zoning ordinance anticipates a model shopping mall parking lot configuration and usage so that people can comfortably enter and exit their vehicles.

Because the dealership stores and displays its inventory in an area not open to the customers, a standard parking stall is unnecessary. Obtaining approval of a smaller space for each vehicle not only increases the number of vehicles that can be stored within the same area, but also reduces the amount of pavement and impervious surface required for vehicle display and storage. The reduction in storage/display pavement area saves on development costs and can mitigate storm water management problems.

Management of storm water runoff is also important to automobile dealerships because the property is normally covered with buildings and vehicle display/storage areas, leaving little open space for detention or retention ponds to handle the increased storm water runoff created by the impervious surfaces. The zoning ordinance and any applicable state storm water regulations need to be examined to determine if underground storm water storage is permitted or, indeed, even required. Such engineering measures allow for the release of rain water at a controlled rate so that the downstream pipes do not become overloaded. Variances or waivers from zoning ordinance requirements, and perhaps relief from state storm water requirements, may be necessary to permit the storm water management techniques that will allow maximum utilization of the dealership site. This could also affect the performance and maintenance bond requirements. Often times, a special storm water inlet will be required similar to that required for office parking areas, which separates oil, salt and other potential contaminants from the rain water before releasing the water to the storm water system.

Zoning for Parking and Display Areas

Zoning ordinances generally do not differentiate between a parking lot and vehicle storage/display area. The ordinance will quite routinely prohibit parking in the front of a building, meaning that no vehicles may be parked closer to the street than the front of the building. Because this would prohibit the display of vehicles in the most visible location of the dealership, a variance or waiver would be required. In addition, zoning ordinances generally specify the minimum distance that parking areas must be from property lines and streets; but such restrictions should not be mechanically applied to the storage and display of inventory. Again, the need for variances or waivers would be presented. The dealership may have to "screen" the side and rear property lines with plantings in exchange for a waiver or variance from the setback distance requirements. In one instance, the zoning ordinance required a berm to be installed along the common property lines between the dealership and abutting residential property. However, the height of the berm required by ordinance made the base so wide that it was impossible to comply without losing a significant amount of vehicle storage area. A waiver from the berm requirement was obtained in exchange for dense landscaping separating the residential property from the storage area.

A final zoning ordinance standard needing careful examination concerns lighting of the storage and display area. Many ordinances specify both a maximum and minimum brightness through the property, including the storage/display area, as well as an average. Too often these ordinances anticipate a customer parking lot, and not inventory storage or display use. Therefore, variance or waivers would have to be requested.

Zoning ordinances too often are "one-size-fits-all" and do not reflect the unique character and needs of the automobile dealer. The attorney handling auto dealership applications needs to be sensitive to the impact that zoning standards and requirements will have upon the business operation of the dealership, not only to help the engineer in the site plan layout, but also to explain to the board why a variance or waiver is justified. The pursuit of land use approvals and permits for dealerships requires a team approach in order to "drive around" the roadblocks created by typical zoning ordinances.

Donald R. Daines is a partner of Hill Wallack and a member of the Land Use Division. He concentrates his practice in land use litigation, federal fair housing and related civil rights issues. His experience includes extensive litigation in state and federal courts.