On the site of a building providing an off-street parking area or other vehicular use area, where such area will not be entirely screened visually by an intervening building or structure from any abutting right of-way, there shall be provided landscaping between such area and such right-of-way, as follows:
A. 
A strip of land at least five feet in width, located between the abutting right-of-way and the off-street parking areas or other vehicular use area, which is exposed to an abutting right-of-way, shall be landscaped. Such landscaping shall include one tree for each 25 lineal feet or fraction thereof. Such trees shall be located between the abutting right-of-way and off-street parking or other vehicular use area and shall be installed in a planting area of at least 25 square feet, with one dimension being at least five feet. In addition, a hedge at least two feet in height shall be placed along the perimeter of such landscaped strip. The remainder of the required landscaped areas shall be planted with grass, ground cover, or other landscape treatment, excluding paving.
B. 
All property abutting a right-of-way, other than the required landscaped strip lying between the right of-way and off-street parking or other vehicular use areas, shall be landscaped with, at a minimum, grass or other ground cover.
C. 
Necessary access ways from the public right-of-way through all such landscaping shall be permitted to service the parking or other vehicular use area. Such access ways, however, may not be subtracted from the lineal dimension used to determine the number of trees required.
(Ord. 1244-16 § 3 (Exh. A); Ord. 1418-25, 7/24/2025)
A. 
On the site of a building or structure providing an off-street parking or other vehicular use area, where such areas will not be entirely visually screened by an intervening building or structure from any abutting property, that portion of such area not so screened shall be provided with a hedge that is determined to attain, at maturity, not greater than eight feet, nor less than 3 1/2 feet in height, to form a continuous screen between the off-street parking or other vehicular use areas and such abutting property. This landscaped barrier shall be located between the common lot line and the off-street parking or other vehicular use area exposed to the abutting property. All plant materials shall be installed in a planting strip not less than two and one-half feet in width.
B. 
Additionally, one tree shall be provided for each 25 lineal feet of landscape barrier, or fractional part thereof. Such trees shall be located between the common lot line and the off-street parking or vehicular use area. Each tree shall be installed within a 25-square-foot planting area, and no dimension of this area shall be less than five feet. Each such planting area shall be landscaped with grass, ground cover or other landscape material, excluding paving, in addition to the required tree.
C. 
Exceptions. The provisions of this section shall not be required to be met in the following situations:
1. 
Where a proposed parking or other vehicular use area abuts an existing hedge, wall, or other durable landscaping barrier on an abutting property, said existing barrier may be used to satisfy the landscape barrier requirements of this subsection; provided that said barrier meets all applicable standards of this law, and protection against vehicular encroachment is provided for by hedges.
2. 
Where the abutting property is zoned or used for nonresidential activities, only the tree provision with its planting areas as prescribed in this section shall be required.
(Ord. 1244-16 § 3 (Exh. A); Ord. 1418-25, 7/24/2025)
A. 
Off-street parking areas shall have at least 10 square feet of interior landscaping for each parking space, excluding those spaces abutting a perimeter for which landscaping is required by any other section of this zoning code, and excluding all parking spaces that are directly served by an aisle abutting and running parallel to such a perimeter.
B. 
Additionally, other vehicular use areas shall have one square foot of landscaped area for each 100 square feet of paved area or fraction thereof for the first 10,000 square feet of paved surface, plus one square foot of landscaped area for each 200 square feet or fraction thereof of paved area for all pavement surfaces over 10,000 square feet.
C. 
Where the property contains both parking and other vehicular use areas (off-street loading space, for example), the two types of areas shall be separated for the purpose of determining the landscape requirements of the other vehicular use area. Each separate landscaped area shall contain a minimum of 50 square feet and shall have a minimum dimension along any one side of five feet.
D. 
Each separate landscaped area shall include at least one tree having a clear trunk of at least five feet, with the remaining area landscaped with shrubs, ground cover, or other vegetative material not to exceed three feet in height.
E. 
The total number of trees shall be not less than one for each 100 square feet or fraction thereof of required interior landscaped area. Such landscaped areas shall be located in such a manner as to visually divide and break up the expanse of parking.
F. 
The front of a vehicle may encroach upon any interior landscaped area when said area is at least 3 1/2 feet in depth per abutting parking space and protected by wheel stops or curbing. Two feet of said landscaped area may be part of the required depth of each abutting parking space.
(Ord. 1244-16 § 3 (Exh. A); Ord. 1418-25, 7/24/2025)
When a driveway or other vehicle access way intersects a public right-of-way, or when a subject property abuts the intersection of two or more public rights-of-way, all landscaping within the triangle areas described herein shall provide unobstructed cross-visibility at a level between three and six vertical feet; provided, however, that trees shall have their limbs and/or foliage trimmed in such a manner that no visual impediment exists within the cross-visibility area; and further provided that any trees are located in such a manner as to create no traffic safety hazard. Landscaping, except required grass or ground cover, shall not be located closer than three feet from the edge of any access way pavement. The sight clearance triangle areas referred to above are shown on Figure 16.58-1, below.
Figure 16.58-1
(Ord. 1244-16 § 3 (Exh. A); Ord. 1418-25, 7/24/2025)
The community development director, upon receipt of an application for adjustment of the landscaping requirements provided herein, and executed and sworn to by the owner of the property concerned or his authorized agent, shall have the authority and duty to consider and act upon such application. The applicant shall clearly and in detail state what adjustment of requirements are being requested and the reasons that such adjustments are warranted. The application shall be accompanied by supplemental data, such as sketches, surveys, and statistical information, as is deemed necessary to support the adjustment. The community development director may approve, modify, or deny the requested adjustment, but shall approve or modify only if he or she determines that any adjustment would not be contrary to the public interest, would be in keeping with and preserve the intent of this chapter, and literal enforcement of the above standards would be impracticable and would result in an unreasonable and unnecessary hardship. The community development director shall act upon any such application within 30 calendar days of its official submission by the applicant. If the department does not take any official action within the aforesaid 30-day period, or if there is no mutually agreed upon extension of the time beyond the 30 days, in writing, between the applicant and the community development director, then the application shall be considered to be approved.
(Ord. 1244-16 § 3 (Exh. A); Ord. 1418-25, 7/24/2025)
The provisions of these standards shall be subject to other applicable codes and regulations where such regulations are more restrictive and are not otherwise inconsistent with the provisions of these standards.
(Ord. 1244-16 § 3 (Exh. A); Ord. 1418-25, 7/24/2025)