Off-Street Parking Standards for the MU-2 Mixed Use District in the City of Orlando

In the MU-2: Mixed Use District, the City of Orlando requires off-street parking to be primarily located in the rear or interior of the building site to support a pedestrian-oriented streetscape. Projects within this district are frequently subject to Shared Parking Districts, which allow for a reduction in the total number of required spaces for mixed-use developments through a specific sharing factor matrix. Furthermore, all vehicular use areas in the MU-2: Mixed Use District must be screened from public view by an approved streetwall.

General Location and Design Requirements

In the City of Orlando’s MU-2: Mixed Use District, the placement and aesthetic integration of parking facilities are strictly regulated to prioritize the pedestrian environment.

Rear/Interior Placement: For principal buildings, parking facilities must be permitted at the rear or interior side of the principal structure [Section 62.611].
Streetwall Screening: Vehicular use areas must be screened from the street by a streetwall. This wall must be between three and five feet in height and no more than 50% solid [Section 62.611].
Traditional City Standards: In the MU-2 district within the Traditional City, at least one public entrance of all principal structures must be oriented toward a Main or Town Street. Vehicular openings, such as those for garages or carports, are prohibited from serving as or constituting a public entrance [Section 62.609].

Shared Parking for Mixed-Use Projects

The City of Orlando provides a Shared Parking District model for several corridors where the MU-2: Mixed Use District is applied (such as the SODO and Edgewater Drive Special Plans). This allows mixed-use projects to calculate their total parking requirement by adding the requirements for each individual use and dividing by a "Sharing Factor" [Section 62.499].

Shared Parking Factor Matrix

The following matrix is used to determine the appropriate factor when combining different land uses on a single site in the MU-2: Mixed Use District:

Use	Residential	Lodging	Office	Retail
Residential	1.0	1.1	1.4	1.2
Lodging	1.1	1.0	1.7	1.3
Office	1.4	1.7	1.0	1.2
Retail	1.2	1.3	1.2	1.0

Formula: (Use A Parking Requirement + Use B Parking Requirement) / (Shared Parking Factor) = Required Parking [Section 62.499].

Specific Land Use Requirements

The provided code specifies parking standards for certain accessory and specialized uses within the MU-2: Mixed Use District.

Micro-breweries and Brewpubs: When these are accessory service uses, the City of Orlando requires five spaces per 1,000 square feet for the eating/drinking portion and 1.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet for the manufacturing and processing operations [Section 58.913].
Stationary Mobile Vendors: If a stationary mobile vendor is established on a site, the project must provide at least five parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of the total area occupied by the vendor, including seating and queuing areas [Section 58.722].
Washington Shores Special Plan: In this specific overlay area, MU-2 surface parking must be located in the rear or to the side of the principal building. Side yard parking must be screened by a 30-inch high knee wall and a dense hedge maintained at 15 inches in height [Section 62.499 (I)].

Parking Removal for Compliance

When an existing site in the MU-2: Mixed Use District is being brought into compliance with modern landscaping and bufferyard requirements, the City of Orlando allows the removal of a limited number of off-street parking spaces [Section 58.1182].

Number of Required Spaces on Site	Maximum Spaces Allowed to be Removed
1—6 spaces	None
7—15 spaces	1 space
16—35 spaces	2 spaces
36—70 spaces	3 spaces
71+ spaces	5% of required spaces

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