This article shall apply to any site plan application.
A. 
The following guidelines shall be used to prepare and review landscaping for any development plan. The landscaping plan shall be prepared by a New Jersey certified landscape architect.
(1) 
Landscaping. The entire development shall be extensively landscaped in accordance with a plan conceived as a complete pattern and style throughout the total site. All areas of the site not occupied by buildings and other improvements shall be intensively planted with trees, shrubs, hedges, ground cover and perennials and annuals. Landscaping shall be provided to achieve the following:
(a) 
Preservation and enhancement, to the greatest extent possible, of existing natural features on the site, including vegetation, land forms and bodies of water.
(b) 
Assistance in adapting a site to its proposed development.
(c) 
Mitigation and control of environmental and community impacts from a development.
(d) 
Creation of an attractive appearance for the development, as viewed from both within the site itself and the surrounding area.
(e) 
Enhancement of the habitability of a development.
(f) 
Definition of yard areas and other open space.
(g) 
Energy conservation and micro-climatic control.
(h) 
Maintenance of a desirable ecological balance on a developed site.
(2) 
Other site design elements. The development plan shall incorporate landscaping with other functional and ornamental site design elements, where appropriate, such as the following:
(a) 
Courtyards, plazas, alleys and similar public and semipublic open spaces.
(b) 
Active recreation areas and facilities.
(c) 
Ground paving materials.
(d) 
Paths and walkways.
(e) 
Berms and other earth forms.
(f) 
Ponds, fountains and other water features.
(g) 
Trellises, pergolas, gazebos and other accessory structures.
(h) 
Fences, walls and other screens.
(i) 
Street or site furniture.
(j) 
Art and sculpture.
B. 
General standards. The following general standards shall be used to prepare and review landscaping for any development plan:
(1) 
Plant species. The selection of plant species to be used shall be appropriate in terms of function and size and shall be hardy for the climatic zone in which the Borough is located. Consideration shall be given to soil conditions, availability of water, exposure to sunlight and other existing conditions. Plantings shall be selected from the recommended Borough plant list.
(2) 
Planting sizes. Deciduous trees shall have a minimum caliper of three inches at time of planting. Evergreen trees shall be a minimum of six feet in height at time of planting. Low-growing evergreen shrubs shall be a minimum of 2 1/2 feet in height at time of planting. Size of other plantings shall depend on setting and type of plant material.
(3) 
Planting specifications. Only nursery-grown plant material shall be utilized. All trees, shrubs and ground cover shall be planted according to accepted horticultural standards and the Borough's approved planting specifications. All grass shall be planted in accordance with the New Jersey State Soil Conservation Committee's Standards for Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control in New Jersey, current edition.
(4) 
Mulch. Trees and other vegetation that have been removed may be reduced to chips and used as mulch in landscaped areas.
(5) 
Maintenance. Plantings shall be watered regularly and in a manner appropriate for the specific plant material through the first growing season. All landscaped areas shall be well maintained and kept free of all debris, rubbish, weeds, tall grass, other overgrown conditions and the storage of any equipment or materials.
(6) 
Replacement of dead plantings. The developer shall be required to replace dead or dying plant material for a period of two years from the date of issuance of a final zoning permit for occupancy and shall post a maintenance guaranty for such pursuant to Article 58 of this chapter. If plant material is dead or dying during a planting season, it shall be replaced that same season. If plant material is dead or dying during a nonplanting season, it shall be replaced as soon as is reasonably possible at the start of the next planting season.
[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.