Count Loading Berths

Loading is a count in the zoning table and a geometry problem on the site, and the two are checked at different times by different people. The count is satisfied on the zoning sheet; the geometry is discovered when a truck cannot make the turn.

Inputs the command needs

1. Jurisdiction and district.
2. The loading table, pasted, with its notes and the berth dimensions and clearances it requires.
3. Uses and floor areas, as the table measures them. Gross, net, or by tenant: the table says which and they differ.
4. Proposed berths: how many, where, and their dimensions.
5. The design vehicle, or the statement that it has not been established.

Workflow

Step 1 — Apply the table

Quote the row for each use, then the arithmetic:

<use>   <area as the table measures it>   <ratio quoted>   =   <berths required>

Then read the table's notes. Loading tables carry more consequential notes than most: whether uses aggregate or are counted separately, whether a shared berth is permitted, whether a smaller berth substitutes, and what happens below a threshold area.

Report required, provided, and the difference.

Step 2 — Check the berths against the stated dimensions

Each proposed berth against the table's required length, width and vertical clearance. Report per berth, not as a total. A berth short by a foot is not a berth.

Vertical clearance is checked along the whole approach, not only at the berth. A berth under a podium reached through a garage with lower clearance is not reachable.

Step 3 — Ask the operational question separately

The table is satisfied or it is not. This is a different question:

• Can the design vehicle reach the berth from the street it will arrive on?
• Can it turn, or does it reverse, and does it reverse from or onto the public right of way? Reversing onto the street is prohibited in many jurisdictions and is a refusal wherever it is not.
• Can it leave in forward gear?
• What does it conflict with on the way: pedestrians, parking, the accessible route, the fire access route, the refuse route?
• Where does it wait if the berth is occupied?
• What hours does it arrive, and does that change the answer?

Report these as findings, each with what would resolve it, and name the traffic or civil engineer as the party who confirms.

Step 4 — Report the two checks separately

Check	Result	Source
Zoning count	required / provided / pass or fail	Table row quoted
Berth dimensions	per berth	Table quoted
Operational access	findings	Design vehicle named

Never merge them into one verdict. A project can meet the count and be unbuildable, or fail the count and work perfectly.

Then: every assumption made rather than supplied, counted, and everything out of scope flagged: swept path analysis, refuse strategy, dock equipment.

Step 5 — Save, if asked

Ask whether to write the check to a file and where.

Rules

• Never supply a ratio, a berth dimension, a clearance, or a design vehicle.
• Read the table's notes and report which were applied.
• Check vertical clearance along the whole approach.
• Report the zoning count and the operational check as two separate results.
• Never state that a truck can make a turn. Name who confirms it.
• Quoting a table found by web search is not quoting the zoning.

Anti-patterns

• Recalling a loading ratio for a use.
• Assuming a design vehicle from the building type.
• Checking clearance at the berth and not on the way in.
• Merging the count and the access check into one pass or fail.
• Accepting a berth that requires reversing onto the street.
• Aggregating uses when the table counts them separately, or the reverse.
• Performing swept path analysis.