Snow Storage in parking lots (new england)

[pjhealy]

My site plan has been critiqued by a peer review engineer who stated that my snow storage areas are inadequate. I commonly provide 2-3% of the paved area or increase the minimum parking requirements to provide an area of the lot that can be used to pile snow. Some winters like the last see little snow while others like 2014 see 10 feet of snow over the course of the winter months. Does anyone you have a suggested better rule of thumb or a reference guideline for how much snow storage should be provided? Much appreciated. _PJ

 

[hendersdc]

Did the reviewing engineer give you any alternative amounts or site a source for his comment? Can you follow up with them to see what they use? I understand that sometimes review comments like this should really be worded more like "concern that area provided for snow storage may be inadequate" instead of the more definitive "snow storage is inadequate"

 

[civilman72]

It should be based on local regulations. Most towns in the Rocky Mountains have their own requirements, which generally vary from 20%-30% of the paved area. We also get an average of 300 inches of snow annually...