This article shall apply to any site plan application.
[Amended 9-12-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-16]
The following standards shall be used to prepare and review
landscaping on any development plan:
A. Parking lots. The interior area of all parking lots shall be landscaped
to provide visual relief from the undesirable and monotonous appearance
of extensive parking areas and to provide shading that will reduce
solar heat gain to both the surface of the parking lot and vehicles
parked thereon. Such landscaped areas shall be provided in protected
planting islands or peninsulas within the perimeter of the parking
lot and shall be placed so as not to obstruct the vision of motorists.
The area and types of plantings shall be provided based on the number
of parking spaces in the lot, as follows:
(1)
For parking lots with 10 spaces or less, no such interior landscaping shall be required if the Board determines there is adequate landscaping directly surrounding the perimeter of the parking lot. If the Board finds that such landscaping is inadequate, then the requirements of Subsection
A(2) below shall apply.
(2)
For parking lots with 11 or more spaces, a minimum of 5% of
the interior area of the parking lot shall be landscaped with a minimum
of one deciduous tree planted for every five parking spaces. The remainder
of any such interior planting areas not containing trees shall be
planted with low-growing evergreen shrubs. If all of the above required
trees can not all be located within such interior planting areas,
then such remaining trees shall be planted in locations directly surrounding
the perimeter of the parking lot.
B. Foundation plantings. The base of all sides of a building shall be
planted with foundation plantings consisting of evergreen and deciduous
shrubs. Such plantings shall be a minimum of two feet tall at time
of planting and spaced an average of three feet on center. To avoid
monocultures, the following species diversity shall be used: where
up to 10 plants are proposed, not more than 1/2 proposed plants shall
be of any one species; where 11 to 30 plantings are proposed, not
more than 1/3 of the proposed plantings shall be of any one species;
and where greater than 30 plantings are proposed, not more than 1/4
of the proposed plantings shall be of any one species. A planting
bed containing extensive flower and ground cover shall extend a minimum
of two feet in front of the foundation plantings along the entire
facade facing a street.
C. Slope plantings. All cut and fill areas, terraces, earth berms and
roadway embankments with slopes steeper than one increment vertical
to three increments horizontal (1 to 3) shall be sufficiently landscaped
to prevent erosion.
D. Drainage facilities. Detention basins, headwalls, outlet structures,
concrete flow channels, riprap channels and other drainage facilities
shall be suitably planted with shrubs and trees. Detention basin embankments
shall be extensively landscaped with wet-site-tolerant plantings.
E. Energy conservation. Landscaping shall be designed to conserve energy,
such as the planting of evergreen windbreaks to provide shielding
from northwesterly winds during the winter and deciduous shade trees
to reduce solar heat gain during the summer.
F. Street or site furniture. Benches, trash receptacles, kiosks, phone
booths and other street or site furniture shall be located and sized
in accordance with the functional need of such. Selection of such
furniture shall take into consideration issues of durability, maintenance
and vandalism. All such furniture shall be architecturally compatible
with the style, materials, colors and details of buildings on the
site.