All site plan and subdivision applicants, where
appropriate, shall be required to file a landscaping plan with the
application.
A. The landscaping plan shall adhere to the following
design principles:
(1) Landscaping shall be designed to provide for climate
control, to accent and complement buildings, to visually break up
expansive walls and parking areas, to screen parking, storage and
loading areas, to control erosion, to shield different types of land
uses from one another and to lessen deleterious noise and other adverse
effects.
(2) Provisions shall be made for a variety of landscaping.
Landscaping should reflect local soil conditions, water availability,
mature growth characteristics, sight distance requirements, seasonal
changes and other related factors.
B. Shade and flowering decorative trees and upright shrubs
shall be balled with burlap and shall conform to the following:
(1) Shade trees shall be of a deciduous type and shall
not be less than one-and-one-half-inch caliper, measured 18 inches
above the ground, nor less than 10 feet high. They shall be well branched,
the branches to start not less than six feet from the crown to the
root system.
(2) Flowering decorative trees shall not be less than
one-and-one-eighth-inch caliper, measured 18 inches above the ground,
nor less than six feet high. They must be well branched, the branches
to start not less than three feet from the crown to the root system.
(3) Upright shrubs shall not be less than two feet tall
at planting. Spreading shrubs shall have at least a two-foot spread.
(4) Shade trees shall be planted at intervals from 40
feet to 60 feet. Flowering decorative trees shall be planted at intervals
from 25 feet to 40 feet. Trees shall not be planted closer than 30
feet from two intersecting streets or from any streetlight.
C. Evergreens and earthen berms used as screening devices
shall conform to the following:
(1) Evergreens shall be planted in at least two staggered
rows. The rows shall be four feet apart with trees planted at four-foot
intervals in each row. Plants shall be at least four feet tall, balled
and burlapped.
(2) Earthen berms shall be maintained with a minimum height
of four feet and a maximum slope of two feet horizontal to one foot
vertical. The slopes shall be suitably stabilized with vegetation
to prevent erosion.
D. Landscaped buffer areas, where required between abutting properties, shall include evergreens such as white pine, Austrian pine, Canadian hemlock or Serbian spruce. The buffer shall be planted to a depth of 10 feet. Buffer zone area landscaping may include screening devices identified in Subsection
C(1) and
(2) herein. The screen area can be supplemented by deciduous trees and plants and may include fencing and/or walls, if deemed necessary by the approving authority.
E. Existing trees to remain shall be preserved by not
varying the grade around the trees by more than 12 inches, by construction
of tree wells and by erecting protective fences.
F. In parking lots, at least 5% of the area within the
perimeter of the paved surface shall be covered by landscaping. The
landscaping shall be located along walkways, in center islands and
at the end of bays and placed or protected from damage by vehicles
overhanging the edge of the pavement.
G. Where outdoor storage is permitted, it shall be suitably screened and landscaped in accordance with Subsection
C herein.
H. Street trees shall be of a deciduous variety and conform to the standards of shade trees as provided in Subsection
B herein. Street trees shall be planted two feet from the curbline or edge of the pavement. They shall be hard maple, ash or a variety as approved by the approving authority.