Research in Ds107-Stripmall
Research in Ds107-Stripmall
DS107
(STRIP MALL)
REFERENCES:
https://www.planning.org/pas/reports/report59.htm
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3141/2060-11
General definition of a shopping center
The land requirements, the number and types of retailers, and the annual gross sales of
the two types of shopping centers will all differ significantly. They also differ in terms
of the trade areas they service and the types of shopping demands they provide.
Market area analysis for shopping centers and criteria and requirements for shopping
center stores were discussed in PLANNING ADVISORY SERVICE Information
Reports Nos. 44 and 47. The current study demonstrates how the previously outlined
analysis relates to a shopping center's gross acreage, parking, and site design needs.
Finally, the paper discusses some of the zoning restrictions that have already been
established for shopping centers, as well as some of the issues that shopping centers
have presented for city planners.
Mini-Malls
Strip malls (also known as plazas or mini-malls) can be found all over the world.
Despite the fact that a single stretch of road may have many strip malls. Traffic
The flow of people in and out is controlled, and there are normally few pedestrians.
The strip mall, despite being relatively new in human history, reflects ancient times.
Retail and commercial zones are generally concentrated in a small band along key
routes as communities adopt single-use zoning.
Strip malls' accessible locations give a considerable advantage due to the separation of
residential and commercial regions. Minimalls are service-oriented shopping centers
that often house tiny businesses.
satisfy the needs of nearby inhabitants on a daily basis (e.g., video rental)
maximizing space and lowering real estate prices Businesses having a low profit
margin
due to low capital reserves and margins, they are able to rent or lease at a reasonable
price. give basic goods and services to the community in a shop areashops and modest
eateries). The majority of businesses in strip malls are small.
as well as small enterprises Therein lays the source of the conflict. The structure was
constructed at a minimal cost.
Strip malls are accused for being unsightly and contributing to the collapse of
conventional business because they are visible to thousands of people every day.
The planner is primarily concerned with the customer and his (her) excursion to the
shopping center, but only after the shopper has driven down the road and entered one
of the center's stores. We then send him off into the realm of stretchy hose and non-
stretchable funds. The planner is particularly concerned with four parts of the
shopper's journey: the route he takes to get to the center, the point at which he exits the
road and enters the center, the hunt for an empty parking place, and the walk to the
stores.
As highlighted in previous studies, shopping center developers must take into account
a number of factors that are not strictly within city planning jurisdiction, such as the
trade potential of the surrounding area and the types of retailers that should be put in a
particular shopping center. The planner becomes increasingly anxious when final
designs for the retail complex emerge, depicting the size and arrangement of the
stores, parking area, and service facilities. In fact, we feel there is enough information
available on the principles and practices of shopping center development for a planner
to be worried about potential shopping center zone placements even before one is
proposed for his area.
As a result, this report attempts to cover the stages of the shopper's journey that
concern the planner, as well as the challenges encountered along the way.
Economics in a Community
are drawn to areas with high levels of convenience and environmental quality (15).
More in-depth economic analyses reveal that
Trees and nature provide economic benefits to both business and non-commercial
enterprises.
as well as retail businesses. Rental rates were found to be 7% higher in one survey.
Questions to Ponder
Several research questions have arisen as a result of community concerns over retail
visual quality and new context-sensitive solution approaches.
were created in order to understand more about the public's reaction to the presence of
In strip malls, there are plants. These research questions served as a guide.
3. Is the character of the landscape a factor in what customers are willing to pay?
Survey Construction
A photo preference exercise kicked off the photo questionnaire. Several To evaluate
consumer perceptions and behavior in relation to various landscape scenarios, new
banks of variables were provided. Demographic characteristics solicited data on
respondents' age, gender, and education.
editing. Building and parking were chosen as the three basic photos.
Strip malls in temperate North American cities are typical of these conditions.
one-story "little box" construction with mounted vendor signs, and the road border and
mall parking lot The images were chosen in order to
recognized confounds in public preference response, such as above utility lines, were
avoided to limit the unpredictability of visual content.
Each basic image was digitally altered to include eight different types of
circumstances.
a wide range of landscape treatments The vegetation structure was one of the
variations.
was omitted due to content similarities and survey space constraints) were presented in
a random order. Respondents were asked to rate how much they like it.
Each image was rated on a Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very) (very much).
plan sketches and photographic composites (Figure 1). The quantity and placement of
plants varied between scenarios.
Litter, building age, and utility are examples of secondary visual distractions.
lines) were left out. There is no vegetation in the "no vegetation" district scenes.
A street scene with mature greenery is depicted in the "mature vegetation" scenario.
mature trees, as well as bushes that go with them There are no tree conflicts.
There are obvious structures or infrastructure.
View
"A"
View
"B"
View
"A"
View
"B"
The First Stage: Getting to the Shopping Center
A big regional retail center's market area, which might serve up to 500,000 people, is
currently limited to thirty minutes of driving time. The area enclosed within a thirty-
minute driving time must be calculated based on the state and congestion of the
roadways, and is not always proportional to linear distance. Five miles of freeway can be
covered in less time than five blocks of a congested business district.
Shopping center developers advocate traffic counts of the key streets servicing the center,
not so much as an indicator of the center's business potential, but as a check on current
traffic congestion and a tool for forecasting traffic when the center opens. Developers and
architects suggest additional research, including future road-construction projects in the
area, as well as future housing developments and population changes in the area, as a
matter of self-preservation, so that other effects on business and traffic can be
determined.
The average number of cars using the center daily can be determined once the center's
gross annual volume of business has been estimated. Also, peak traffic, both in and out,
can be estimated, as well as the time of day when peak loads will occur (see below: Stage
Two). The traffic created by the center must be added to the usual present and
prospective traffic loads of the highways serving the center, and the totals must be
compared to the routes' capacity. If the roadways do not have the additional capacity to
manage future traffic demands, new road building or relocating the center should be
considered. If at all possible, the location for a new shopping mall should be accessible
via existing public highways.
Access to the shopping mall is difficult on both high-density and high-volume roadways.
It will be difficult for drivers to navigate into a position to turn off on the high-density,
relatively slow-moving road. On high-speed routes, the motorist must be given adequate
warning that an exit is approaching, and exits into the center must be provided with safety
elements that account for the higher speeds.
The points of access from the roads to the shopping center should be sufficient to support
traffic during the center's busiest hours. According to Victor Gruen, a shopping center
architect and designer (in "Traffic Impact of the Regional Shopping Center," see library),
a continuous flow exit or entry can manage up to 750 cars per hour. The peak load of a
shopping center can be calculated using the facility's annual gross income. The problem
is threefold: first, determine the largest single-day gross business; second, determine how
many cars will be in and out of the center on that day (based on the average purchase per
car); and third, estimate the number of cars that will enter and leave the center during the
busiest hours of that day (based on the average purchase per car).
According to Gruen, a major regional shopping mall may expect a peak volume of 3,000
automobiles per hour. In this situation, four exits appear to be required to discharge the
3,000 automobiles.
Stage 3: Putting the Car in the Garage
The shopping center's primary benefit over the central business district is parking.
Despite the fact that this is stated often, the shopper may not always be able to get the
parking space he desires. The shopper wants a parking spot that is easy to identify, has
minimal difficulty moving around the parking lot, and is close to the store or store group
where he is going to shop. The developers are sometimes to blame, as they misjudged the
requirement for parking spaces or believed the site was too expensive to be used for
parking. There are sometimes insufficient parking spaces simply because there are too
many individuals looking for them.
The narrower aisles (a) are sometimes supplied as pedestrian pathways, while the larger
aisle (b) between rows of spots is used to move the cars. The layout can be changed to
accommodate several types of angle parking, such as:
The entire parking lot area per car slot (including aisles) has an impact on the customer's
ability (or lack thereof) to find a parking space. According to the Eno study, the lots
evaluated averaged 246 square feet per car for head-in, 90-degree parking, with a
minimum of 192 square feet and a maximum of 307 square feet. 250 square feet per car is
now regarded too little for parking lots in retail centers, with 300 being a more frequent
amount. According to Baker and Funaro in Shopping Centers: Design and Operation, a
minimum of 350 feet is required to be regarded satisfactory. Whatever figure is chosen,
the space itself should not be larger than 200 square feet. A space of 9 by 18 feet is
recommended by Baker and Funaro, and one of 10 by 20 feet should suffice. Aisles, exits
and entrances, and landscaping will take up the balance of the space (150 square feet per
car by their standards). Making spaces smaller than 9 feet wide will not save any land.
Because cars are around 7 feet wide, a smaller area will encourage people to straddle the
dividing lines, resulting in fewer useable places than if the spaces were 9 or 10 feet wide.
3. Walking from the parking spot to the stores: Once the shopper has parked his car
safely in the best available spot, all he has to do now is stroll to the stores. We assumed
that parking would be arranged around the perimeter of the shopping center, with the
main mall dedicated for foot traffic. (For examples of parking lot design in connection to
different types of store groupings, see Figures 5–11.) Some parking lots incorporate
concrete sidewalks between rows of parked cars (aisles marked "a" in figures 1, 2, and 3).
If they are installed, they should be at least 7 feet wide to accommodate the front ends of
the automobiles' overhang and to allow two individuals carrying parcels to pass each
other easily.
The Parkington Shopping Center, which has a five-story self-parking tower in the center
of the shopping center, can brag that no shopper has to walk more than 110 feet from his
parked car without being under protection. Covered pathways for shopping can be a
useful feature, especially where parking is limited and the weather is frequently severe.
Shopping center planners rarely advocate multi-story parking garages because of the
comparatively high cost per parking place, unless the amount of land available is limited
and the cost per square foot is high. For shopping center purposes, a self-service parking
garage is almost required, which provides certain architectural challenges in a multi-level
garage, particularly in terms of the size of the spaces and aisles on each floor, as well as
the width and design of the ramps leading to the floors. Separate ramps lead straight from
each story to the ground in the Parkington self-parking building.
There are two methods for calculating the amount of parking available. The former
method involved comparing the total parking area to the net retail area of the
establishments. As an example, if 50,000 square feet of floor space is dedicated to retail
and 150,000 square feet is dedicated to parking, the ratio is 3:1. The number of parking
spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail area is a relatively recently used metric. If each slot
takes up a total of 300 square feet of parking lot area (including aisles, landscaping, and
other features), then 3.3 automobiles can be parked per 1,000 square feet.
Facilities for loading and unloading trucks
The dimensions and overall size of truck loading berths, as well as the required number,
are detailed in the zoning laws section below (see especially the zoning provisions for
Bismarck and Kansas City). More serious issues arise from the design and location of
truck loading facilities.
One approach is to have depressed loading areas, which means that the trucks are parked
in a slight depression so that the store floor is level with the part of the truck that carries
the goods. As a result, the vehicle can be backed up to the loading dock (which is at
ground level) and the products unloaded without having to hoist or lower them.
Pedestrian activity may be more readily isolated from vehicle and freight traffic with
such depressed loading bays.
Shopping Center Zoning Regulations
A number of existing or proposed zoning rules now include important zoning provisions
for commercial malls. Two key provisions, one in the zoning law of Bismarck, North
Dakota, approved in 1953, and the other in a provision proposed for the zoning ordinance
of Kansas City, Missouri, adopted in 1953, have lately come to our attention. These two
clauses are being published in their entirety at this time because they are one of the rare
attempts in the zoning legislation to deal thoroughly with shopping centers, and because a
reading of them today will clarify some of the zoning issues generated by shopping
centers.
The following regulations apply in any CC Commercial district:
1. Description in broad terms. A CC Commercial district is one where the primary use of
land is for commercial and service uses to serve the surrounding residential districts, and
where traffic and parking congestion can be kept to a minimum to preserve residential
values and promote the general welfare of the surrounding residential districts. The
explicit goal of this provision is to promote the general purposes of this ordinance in the
CC Commercial district.
(a) To encourage the development of land for neighborhood, commercial, and service
purposes, as well as its continuous use;
(b) To restrict residential, heavy commercial, and industrial uses of the site, as well as
any other use that would significantly obstruct the development or continuation of the
district's commercial structures;
(c) To discourage any use that might interfere with the district's use as a shopping and
service hub for the neighboring residential areas due to its nature or size.
a. A retailer's group
b. A set of service providers
c. Station for filling up
d. Group of offices and banks
e. a commercial recreation organization
f. Medical group that focuses on health
3. Area of the parking lot. A CC Commercial district cannot be less than two acres in
size. A single building cannot be built on a zoning lot that is smaller than 5,000 square
feet. However, a building with one or more party walls and a common roof with one or
more comparable buildings, but owned separately, may be on any size lot as long as all
other provisions of this ordinance, including all provisions for off-street parking and
loading, are completely complied with on that lot.
4. The size of the district. Each CC Commercial district must have an average width of at
least 200 feet and a boundary line that is at least 100 feet long.
5. The ratio of floor area to total area. For single-story buildings, the floor area ratio of
the principal building and all auxiliary buildings must not exceed 0.25, and for buildings
with more than one story, it must not exceed 0.35. The total ground area occupied by the
major and accessory buildings must not exceed 25% of the entire lot area.
6. Yards. A building must be at least 50 feet away from any lot line.
7. There are height restrictions. No structure may have more than two stories or be taller
than 25 feet.
9. Uses that are not compliant. The aim of this ordinance and this section is to designate
no area as a CC Commercial district if there is any residential or other nonconforming
use on the date of approval of this code. This ordinance and this clause also state that, to
the extent practicable, all neighborhood commercial and service areas in newly
constructed parts of the city should be located in a CC Commercial district, in order to
reduce traffic and parking congestion and retain the city's residential values. If there is
any use in that district that would be a nonconforming use after the proposed amendment
is passed by the Board of City Commissioners, the City Planning Commission will refuse
to approve any request for an amendment rezoning any area of the city to a CC
Commercial district.
Kansas
Bismarck (adopted
Standards City (proposed
1953)
1953)
varies from: 3
Maximum building
2 stories (25 feet) stories (45 feet) to: 6
height
stories (75 feet)
20 feet (may be 10
feet adjoining an
established
Minimum yards 50 feet commercial district
or may be waived if
fire lane deemed
unnecessary.
No provision for
Minimum lot area 5,000 square feet
commercial lots;
Residential lots
same as R-4 3- & 4-
family dwelling:
1,500 sq. ft. per unit
apartments - 1,000
sq. ft. per unit.
Total area of
Maximum lot buildings 25% or
25% of the lot
coverage less of the net area
of district
C- C- C-
CC
S1 S2 S3
Automobile or trailer
- no yes yes
sales rooms
* Book, magazine,
yes yes yes yes
newspaper store
Business or commercial
no no yes yes
schools
* Clothing, clothing
yes yes yes yes
accessories store
Fix-it, radio or
- yes yes yes
television repair shops
* Gasoline filling
yes yes yes yes
station
Laundry collection
- yes yes yes
offices
Motels no no no yes
Outdoor advertising
no no no no
sign
* Parking lot
yes yes yes yes
(commercial)
Shooting galleries - no no no
Steam bath no - - -
Taxidermy - no no yes
Undertaking
no no yes yes
establishment
Warehousing no no no yes