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California Green Building Standard Code

Ground Control Systems® has been designing and providing bike racks to businesses, campuses, and municipalities nationwide for over twenty years. We are well versed in the importance of staying healthy, going green, and providing a product that will help others do just that. Our main objective is to design a product that will help others go green and yet can protect their bicycles from theft and damage while utilizing the space you have allotted for bike parking.

Our most popular bike rack, the Varsity® Bike Dock is also our safest, most efficient and cost effective rack for commercial and private businesses. We offer layout consultation and planning in our services section to help you decide what your best options are for the space you have available and what will best meet the needs of cyclists in your area. Please feel free to call us or email us anytime with questions and inquiries, we would love to hear from you.

Bicycle Parking Codes

These codes and guidelines are authorized by the California Building Standards Commission. These codes are designed to be the basis for the design and construction of all buildings in California. The following section reviews the mandatory measures for bicycle parking.

Nonresidential Mandatory Measures

5.106.4 Bicycle parking. For buildings within the authority of California Building Standards Commission as specified in Section 103, comply with Section 5.106.4.1. For buildings within the authority of the Division of the State Architect pursuant to Section 105, comply with Section 5.106.4.2.

5.106.4.1 Bicycle parking. [BSC-CG] Comply with Sections 5.106.4.1.1 and 5.106.4.1.2; or meet the applicable local ordinance, whichever is stricter.

5.106.4.1.1 Short-term bicycle parking. If the new project or an addition or alteration is anticipated to generate visitor traffic, provide permanently anchored bicycle racks within 200 feet of the visitors’ entrance, readily visible to passers-by, for 5 percent of new visitor motorized vehicle parking spaces being added, with a minimum of one two-bike capacity rack.

Exception: Additions or alterations which add nine or less visitor vehicular parking spaces

5.106.4.1.2 Long-term bicycle parking. For new buildings with 10 or more tenant-occupants or for additions or alterations that add 10 or more tenant vehicular parking spaces, provide secure bicycle parking for 5 percent of the tenant vehicular parking spaces being added, with a minimum of one space. Acceptable parking facilities shall be convenient from the street and shall meet one of the following:

  1. Covered, lockable enclosures with permanently anchored racks for bicycles;
  2. Lockable bicycle rooms with permanently anchored racks; or
  3. Lockable, permanently anchored bicycle lockers.

Intent: The intent of this code provision is to promote the use of bicycles as an alternative means of transportation by ensuring that newly constructed projects or additions and alterations provide short-term and/or long-term bicycle parking accommodations. This goal aligns with California’s aggressive efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are intended to improve the state’s air quality and promote bicycle use as a means of alternative transportation.

Change for 2016: The BSC banner was replaced in Section 5.106.4.1 with the new BSC-CG banner, which has been added throughout CALGreen as an indicator of CALGreen requirements adopted by BSC. The BSC-CG banner applies to all occupancies for which no state agency has the authority or expertise to propose green building standards. Additionally, Section 5.106.4.1.2 has been amended to clarify that the requirements for long term bicycle parking are triggered when there are 10 or more tenant-occupants. Previously the requirement for long-term bicycle parking was triggered when there were over 10 tenant-occupants in a building. The revision aligns with the 10 or more tenant vehicular parking spaces within this code section and also aligns with the requirements for designated parking spaces.

Compliance method:

Short-term bicycle parking:

  1. Determine if the exception for additions and alterations applies.
  2. Construction documents (plans and specifications and/or site plan) should reflect the location of the required number of short-term, permanently anchored bicycle parking racks. The number of bicycle racks is calculated at 5 percent of the visitor motorized vehicle parking spaces, and where applicable, additions and alterations, with a minimum of one two-bike capacity rack.

Long-term bicycle parking:

  1. Determine if the code section applies to additions and alterations.
  2. Determine which of the three options will be used to comply or identify an alternative method(s).
  3. Construction documents (plans and specifications and/or site plan) should reflect the method and location of the required number of long-term, secured bicycle parking facilities for 5 percent of the tenant vehicle parking spaces being added, with a minimum of one bicycle parking facility.

Note: If the code user is seeking a parking capacity reduction under Section A5.106.6 or the local jurisdiction has a zoning ordinance for reduces parking; use the original parking capacity calculation to determine the required number of bicycle racks. This is to ensure that the required number of bicycle racks is not reduced as a result of the tier option selection.

Suggestion: Provide a calculation table or a note on the plans showing the total number of required bicycle racks for either short-term or long term bicycle storage.

Examples:

Short-term: Visitor motorized parking spaces at 42 x 5 percent = 2.1.

Provide racks for three bicycles.

Long-term: Total tenant vehicular parking spaces at 216 x 5 percent = 10.8.

Provide 11 secure bicycle parking facilities by using one of the three methods allowed in Section 5.106.4.1.2.

If specifying lockers, consider using six two-bicycle lockers for long-term bicycle parking.

Enforcement:

Plan intake: The plan reviewer should review the plans and confirm that the correct number of bicycle parking racks and/or secured areas is included with the drawings and that they meet the requirements.

On-site enforcement: The inspector should verify that all required bicycle parking requirements as shown on the plans have been provided and installed.