Retaining walls in excess of eight feet in height shall be faced with natural or artificial stone, brick, form-liner art or patterns, or vegetation in order to avoid a stark appearance. Foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening of retaining walls or retaining wall sections over six feet in height and closer than 35 feet to a public or private street shall also be required in accordance with the following standards. Foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening in accordance with the following standards shall also be required for any retaining walls or retaining wall sections over 20 feet in height regardless of location relative to a public or private street. Attached vegetative screening shall consist of stainless steel other approved vine supports structurally integrated into the wall to support vine planting from the approved species list for such applications. Foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening may be considered part of any required buffer, as applicable. Retaining walls 15 feet or less in height shall be exempted from the foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening requirements if faced with natural or artificial stone.
Terracing of retaining walls is allowed and encouraged, provided that no single retaining wall shall exceed 20 feet in height and each successive wall shall be setback at least five feet from the face of the lower wall. The application of foreground landscaping or attached vegetative screening shall be based on the cumulative height of the terraced walls except that a one level reduction in required landscaping from the following table shall be allowed.
Retaining Wall Height | Required Foreground Landscaping or Vegetative Screening (Either/Or) | |
Minimum Required Foreground Landscaping |
Minimum Required Attached Vegetative Screening | |
>6—10 feet | 5-foot wide planting strip at wall base with 3 gallon-sized bushes planted 5 feet on center | 5-foot wide planting strip at wall base with attached vegetative screening supports covering 50% of wall face and plantings consisting of 2 gallon-sized vines planted 3 feet on center |
>10—20 feet | 5-foot wide planting strip at wall base with 3 gallon-sized bushes planted 5 feet on center plus 1 small maturing tree for every 30 linear feet | 5-foot wide planting strip at wall base with attached vegetative screening supports covering 50% of wall face and plantings consisting of 2 gallon-sized vines planted 3 feet on center |
>20—30 feet | 8-foot wide planting strip at wall base with 3 gallon-sized bushes planted 5 feet on center plus 1 small maturing tree for every 30 linear feet | 5-foot wide planting strip at wall base with attached vegetative screening supports covering 60% of wall face and plantings consisting of 2 gallon-sized vines planted 3 feet on center |
>30 feet | 10-foot wide planting strip at wall base with 3 gallon-sized bushes planted 5 feet on center plus 1 large maturing tree for every 40 linear feet | 5 foot wide planting strip at wall base with attached vegetative screening supports covering 75% of wall face and plantings consisting of 2 gallon-sized vines planted 3 feet on center |
(Ord. No. 3493, § 1, 6-19-07; Ord. No. 3572, § 1(n), 1-8-08)