A.
The bufferyard requirements established in this subchapter shall
apply to all new and expanded R-4 Multifamily, R-5 Apartment, PRD
Planned Residential Developments, as well as to all Neighborhood Shopping,
Commercial, Industrial and Institutional land uses in the Township
approved after this subchapter is adopted.
B.
Screening of all dumpsters, refuse containers and trash containers
is required in all R-4 Multifamily, R-5 Apartment, PRD Planned Residential
Developments, as well as in all P Professional, NS Neighborhood Shopping,
GC General Commercial and I Industrial Zoning Districts.
C.
Screening of all private recyclable containers on private premises
not open to the public is required in all R-4 Multifamily, R-5 Apartment,
PRD Planned Residential Developments, as well as in all P Professional,
NS Neighborhood Shopping, GC General Commercial and I Industrial Zoning
Districts.
D.
Bufferyards shall not be required except in R-1 Limited One-Family
Districts, R-2 One-Family Districts, or R-3 Two-Family Districts or
along those areas where there are 200 feet or more separating adjoining
property lines or street right-of-way lines from any improved area,
accessory structure, storage area or use of land.
A.
When an application or improvement on a lot necessitates a zoning
or building permit in an R-4 Multifamily, R-5 Apartment, PRD Planned
Residential Development, or in an NS Neighborhood Shopping, GC General
Commercial and I Industrial Zoning District, a conceptual landscape
plan shall also be submitted and shall include, illustrated at scale,
the locations of trees, shrubs and ground covers for the following:
(1)
All required bufferyards with proposed plantings;
(2)
All required planting independent of any bufferyard requirements;
(3)
Any planting in excess of the requirements of this subchapter;
(4)
Any existing trees or vegetation which are to be preserved;
(5)
Any existing trees or vegetation which will be removed;
(6)
The location and species of all existing trees six inches in
diameter at breast height (DBH). Applicants are encouraged to maximize
the retention of all healthy existing trees six inches or more DBH;
(7)
The location and description of other landscape improvements,
such as earth berms, walls, fences, screens and paved areas; and
(8)
Planting and installation details as necessary to insure compliance
with all required standards.
In all R-4 Multifamily Dwelling Districts, R-5 Apartment Zoning
Districts, and PRD Planned Residential Developments:
A.
At least one deciduous tree shall be planted for each dwelling unit.
(1)
Tree requirement may be met with a minimum of one deciduous tree
per 40 feet of linear street frontage planted in the front yard no
closer than 10 feet from the front lot line.
(2)
Minimum size for new trees is two-inch DBH.
(3)
All yard areas not utilized for off-street parking, driveways,
gardens, trees or shrubs or similar uses shall be seeded, sodded,
landscaped or paved with a permeable paving material within a reasonable
period of time and in no event later than 365 days after the issuance
of a building permit.
B.
All dumpsters, refuse containers, trash containers and private recyclable
containers in all R-4 Multifamily Dwelling Districts, R-5 Apartment
Zoning Districts, and PRD Planned Residential Developments shall be
screened completely and stored out of public view in all cases except
on collection day.
In all R-4 Multifamily Dwelling Districts, R-5 Apartment Zoning
Districts, and PRD Planned Residential Developments:
A.
A five-foot-wide strip of ground cover, shrubbery, trees or other
landscape materials shall be provided between the right-of-way and
all open, off-street parking areas.
(1)
With the exception of ingress and egress points, said strip shall
be landscaped and maintained to prohibit vehicular and pedestrian
access.
(2)
Landscaping species at their mature heights shall not obstruct visibility
for traffic entering or leaving the lot or traveling on the public
street/alley.
(3)
Trees shall be placed an average of one tree per 40 feet of
right-of-way frontage.
B.
All open, off-street parking areas of five or more spaces shall be
landscaped. The perimeter of parking areas shall be planted with deciduous
canopy trees at a number equal to one tree per 10 perimeter parking
spaces and spaced to provide maximum shading of the parking area.
(1)
At least one canopy tree per 10 parking spaces shall be provided.
This calculation can include perimeter trees and trees within the
parking area, depending on the size of the lot and number of spaces.
(2)
No parking space can be greater than 60 feet from the trunk of a
tree. A minimum of 160 square feet of planting area is required per
tree when the tree is within the parking lot.
(3)
Where overhead utilities are present, ornamental trees may be substituted
at a ratio of three ornamental trees per required canopy tree.
(4)
The requirements of this section may be used to satisfy the
standards of Township buffer requirements.
C.
Landscape islands and planting strips adjacent to off-street parking
areas shall be designed to capture stormwater runoff.
D.
Landscape islands containing trees or other vegetation should be
designed with curbing that will allow water to pass into the island
for maximum reduction of stormwater runoff. Landscape islands may
be enclosed with curbing or a similar device in accordance with Township
standards if the paving material of the parking lot is constructed
with an approved permeable paving material.
All yard areas in all NS Neighborhood Shopping, GC General Commercial
and I Industrial nonresidential zoning districts not utilized for
off-street parking, driveways, gardens, trees or shrubs or similar
uses must be seeded, sodded, landscaped or paved with a permeable
paving material within a reasonable period of time and in no event
later than 180 days after the issuance of a building permit.
In all NS Neighborhood Shopping, GC General Commercial and I
Industrial nonresidential zoning districts:
A.
A five-foot-wide strip of ground cover, shrubbery, trees or other
landscape materials shall be provided between the right-of-way and
all open, off-street parking areas.
(1)
With the exception of ingress and egress points, said strip
shall be landscaped and maintained to prohibit vehicular and pedestrian
access.
(2)
Landscaping species at their mature heights shall not obstruct
visibility for traffic entering or leaving the lot or traveling on
the public street/alley.
(3)
Trees shall be placed an average of one tree per 40 feet of
right-of-way frontage.
B.
All open, off-street parking areas of five or more spaces shall be
landscaped.
(1)
The perimeter of parking areas shall be planted with deciduous canopy
trees at a number equal to one tree per 10 perimeter parking spaces
and spaced to provide maximum shading of the parking area.
(2)
At least one canopy tree per 10 parking spaces shall be provided.
This calculation can include perimeter trees and trees within the
parking area, depending on the size of the lot and number of spaces.
(3)
No parking space can be greater than 60 feet from the trunk
of a tree. A minimum of 160 square feet of planting area is required
per tree when the tree is within the parking lot.
(4)
Where overhead utilities are present, ornamental trees may be
substituted at a ratio of three ornamental trees per required canopy
tree.
(5)
The requirements of this section may be used to satisfy the
standards of Township buffer requirements.
C.
Landscape islands and planting strips adjacent to off-street parking
areas shall be designed to capture stormwater runoff.
(1)
Landscape islands containing trees or other vegetation should be
designed with curbing that will allow water to pass into the island
for maximum reduction of stormwater runoff.
(2)
Landscape islands may be enclosed with curbing or a similar device
in accordance with Township standards, if the paving material of the
parking lot is constructed with an approved permeable paving material.
A.
Applicability. The screening requirements of this section shall apply
to all dumpsters, trash containers and private recyclable containers
in all R-4 Multifamily, R-5 Apartment, PRD Planned Residential Development,
P Professional, NS Neighborhood Shopping, GC General Commercial and
I Industrial Zoning Districts.
B.
Screening requirement.
(1)
All dumpsters on all public and private premises in all R-4
Multifamily, R-5 Apartment, PRD Planned Residential Development, P
Professional, NS Neighborhood Shopping, GC General Commercial and
I Industrial Zoning Districts shall be screened completely and stored
out of public view in all cases:
(2)
Refuse containers, trash containers and private recyclable containers
on all private premises in all R-4 Multifamily, R-5 Apartment, PRD
Planned Residential Development, P Professional, NS Neighborhood Shopping,
GC General Commercial and I Industrial Zoning Districts that are not
stored inside a garage shall be screened to hide the entire trash
container or private recyclable container from public view except
on collection day:
(3)
Placement for collection:
(a)
Trash containers and private recyclable containers may be placed
in the front yard or at the curbline commencing at 4:00 p.m. on the
day preceding the day designated for the pickup of trash and recyclable
materials.
(b)
The resident, owner, person or occupant in charge of the property
from where the trash or private recyclable materials has been picked
up shall remove or cause to be removed from the curbline or front
yard and shall cause to be placed out of view from the street the
emptied trash, garbage, rubbish, recyclable materials or other refuse
container or private recyclable containers no later than 12:00 midnight
on the day of pickup.
(c)
Trash containers and private recyclable containers in the above
zoning districts must not be visible to public view on noncollection
days.
C.
Public recycling containers situated on premises open to the public
are exempt from the screening requirement of this subchapter.
D.
Bufferyards in the R-4 Multifamily Dwelling District, the R-5 Apartment
Zoning District, in PRD Planned Residential Developments, as well
as in all nonresidential zoning districts, shall comply with the buffering
and screening requirements on the attached chart.
E.
Buffers shall be of such nature and density so as to screen activities,
structures and uses on the property from view from the normal level
of a first-story window on an abutting lot at 75% opacity and shall
provide a year-round effective visual screen.
F.
Buffers required along lot lines shall extend to the street right-of-way
line unless the buffer would encroach on a line-of-sight triangle.
G.
In situations where the required buffer width is partially or completely
contained within an existing easement (e.g., power or natural gas
transmission, etc.), the screening requirements shall be met outside
of the easement area.
H.
Buffers where vegetation is nonexistent or is inadequate to meet
the screening requirements shall be planted so as to provide a year-round
screen.
I.
Plantings shall consist of evergreen and deciduous trees native to
the region. Deciduous trees shall be two inches in diameter and evergreen
trees shall be at least six feet in height. Evergreen trees planted
shall be a minimum of six feet in height at time of planting and shall
be a species which will achieve a height of at least 20 feet at maturity.
All shrubs planted shall be a minimum of three feet in height at time
of planting and shall be a species which will achieve a height of
at least six feet at maturity.
J.
All plantings in buffers shall be limited to 34% of one genus of
tree or shrub.
K.
Nonvegetative materials utilized to satisfy screening requirements,
in addition to the use of existing vegetation and/or supplemental
plantings, may consist of buffer walls, fences, earthen berms or any
combination thereof. If walls or fences are to be utilized, their
placement and installation shall be such so as to have minimal disturbance
of existing vegetation and located to provide an effective visual
screen.
L.
A buffering wall must be a maximum of 12 inches wide, a maximum of
four feet high and placed a minimum of three feet from the lot line.
Buffering walls over four feet in height must be designed and sealed
by a professional engineer.
M.
A fence six feet in height may be placed as a buffer, and said fence
may be placed at the lot line. Fencing shall meet minimum opacity
requirements.
N.
Service/utility areas:
(1)
Service areas and equipment/structures related to garbage collection,
utilities, communications and the like shall be screened from public
rights-of-way and adjoining property through the use of landscaping,
berming and/or fencing or a combination thereof that creates 75% opacity
so as to block any view of the service areas and equipment/structures
from all points from the public right-of-way and adjoining property
when viewed from ground level.
(2)
Landscaping three to four feet in height with at least 75% opacity
shall be provided in order to screen the portion of the parking exposed.
Vegetation that is required to be planted or preserved by this
subchapter shall be replaced with equivalent vegetation if it is not
living within one year of issuance of a certificate of occupancy.
Preserved trees which subsequently die shall be replaced by the requisite
number of living trees in according with the standards set forth in
this subchapter.
A.
In all R-1 Limited One-Family, R-2 One-Family, or R-3 Two-Family
Districts, all refuse containers, trash containers and private recyclable
containers on noncollection days shall be stored either inside a garage
or shall be located or placed behind the front facade line of the
dwelling.
B.
Where a lot has more than one frontage on a street or trafficway,
all refuse containers, trash containers and private recyclable containers
on noncollection days shall be stored either inside a garage or shall
not be situated or placed beyond the front facade line on any side
of the dwelling adjacent to any street or trafficway.
C.
Placement for collection:
(1)
Trash containers and private recyclable containers may be placed
in the front yard or at the curbline commencing at 4:00 p.m. on the
day preceding the day designated for the pickup of trash and recyclable
materials.
(2)
The resident, owner, person or occupant in charge of the property
from where the trash or private recyclable materials has been picked
up shall remove or cause the emptied containers to be removed from
the curbline or front yard and shall cause the emptied containers
to be placed or stored either inside a garage or behind the front
facade line of the dwelling no later than 12:00 midnight on the day
of pickup.
A.
The Township Code Enforcement Officer shall enforce the requirements
of this subchapter. Occupancy permits shall not be issued until an
applicant completes the landscaping requirements of this subchapter.
An approved applicant shall guarantee the plants for one year or the
owner will replace them. The property owner shall maintain all trees
and vegetation.
B.
The Township Code Enforcement Officer may issue a temporary occupancy
permit to those applicants from November 1 to March 1 if inclement
weather delays a project. Requests for a temporary occupancy shall
also be approved by the Township Manager.
A landowner and/or developer shall be responsible for all other
landscape and bufferyard requirements related to property maintenance
as identified in the Township Code.
A.
If the provisions of this subchapter conflict with other ordinances
or regulations, the more stringent limitation or requirement shall
govern or prevail to the extent of the conflict.
B.
Where a discrepancy exists between any chart attached to this subchapter
and that which is described in the text of this subchapter, the text
of the subchapter controls and shall be the final authority.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Chart of Screening and Buffering Requirements
attached to this chapter.
