Riverside, California · General provision

Chapter 19.475 (Drive-thru Businesses)

Dimensional standards

lot requirementsSTREETMin frontage 100 ftMIN LOT AREA30,000 sq ft
Plan view of the district’s stated lot requirements. Solid line: the property line. Dashed: the setback lines the ordinance imposes; a building must stay inside the tinted envelope. Drawn from the figures extracted below — illustrative, not a survey.

Extracted standards

13 individual requirements pulled out of this section’s prose, each with the sentence it came from.

Design

  • Drive-thru windows discouraged on street-facing elevations

    Drive-thru windows are discouraged on any building elevation directly facing a street frontage.

  • MU-U/MU-V: Drive-thru lanes at rear of building

    Drive-thru lanes shall be located at the rear of the building and screened from view from adjacent streets.

  • MU-U/MU-V: Drive-thru pick-up windows not on street-facing elevation

    Drive-thru pick-up windows shall not be located on any building elevation facing a street.

Fencing & walls

Lot

Other

  • Drive-thru lanes screened from street view

    Drive-thru lanes shall be designed in such a way as to be screened from view from the street through elevation differences, landscaping, arbors, trellises, canopies, walls and other architectural features used to reduce the visual presence of drive-thru operations.

  • Minimum drive-thru lane width12 ft

    Each drive-thru lane shall be a minimum of 12 feet in width.

  • Minimum landscape planter width along interior property lines5 ft

    A landscape planter with a minimum width of five feet shall be provided along interior property lines, unless the site part of an integrated, master planned commercial complex, where no landscape setback is required along interior property lines.

  • Minimum landscape planter width between drive-thru lane and parking5 ft

    A minimum five-foot-wide landscaped planter should be installed between the drive-thru lane and parking lot maneuvering area when adjacent to one another, as determined necessary on a case-by-case basis.

  • Minimum other drive-thru lane length36 ft

    All other uses shall maintain drive-thru lanes that are a minimum of 36 feet in length to provide on-site automobile storage for a minimum of two vehicles.

  • Minimum restaurant drive-thru lane length180 ft

    Restaurants shall maintain drive-thru lanes that are a minimum of 180 feet in length to provide on-site storage for a minimum of ten vehicles, as measured from the forward most drive-thru window to the entrance to the queuing space.

  • Minimum landscape planter width along street frontageFrontageThe length of a lot line that touches a public street.15 ft

    Where a drive aisle or parking is adjacent to a street frontage, a landscape planter with a minimum width of 15 feet in width shall be provided along all street frontages.

From the ordinance

The drive-thru business shall maintain a minimum 100-foot street frontage and be located on an arterial street...
Chapter 19.475 (Drive-thru Businesses)