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Criterial of approval for landscape plans shall be as follows:
(a) No site or development plan required under this Code shall receive final approval unless a landscape plan has been submitted and approved.
(b) No certificate of occupancy shall be issued unless the following criteria are fully satisfied with regard to the approved landscape plan:
(1) Such plan has been fully implemented on site; or
(2) Such plan, because of seasonal conditions, cannot be implemented immediately, but has been guaranteed by a postponed improvement agreement between the developer and the City in a form acceptable to the City Solicitor and secured by a letter of credit, cash escrow, or other instrument acceptable to the City Solicitor in an amount equal to the cost of such installation plus a ten percent (10%) allowance for administrative costs, inflation, and potential damage to existing vegetation or improvements.
(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
(a) New development shall provide bufferyards as provided in the Section 1145.07 Bufferyard Requirements of the applicable zoning district. Existing vegetation, that is intended to remain, shall be preserved in accordance with acceptable nursery industry procedures. The following items are suitable for screening use individually or in combination with each other provided they create a dense screen, subject to review and approval by the City. Nursery stock identification tags shall not be removed from any planting prior to inspection and approval of final inspection by the City.
(1) Walls and Fences. When walls or fences are used to fulfill screening requirements, they shall be detailed on the plan. They are to be faced in brick to match the building or other material as approved by the Board of Site Arrangement.
(2) Plants. All plants are to be living and part of the acceptable plants list identified in this Chapter. Plant materials used in conformance with the provision of this Chapter shall conform to the standards of the American Association of Nurserymen and shall have passed any inspection required under state regulations. Trees shall be balled and burlapped or in containers. Shrubs, vines, and ground covers can be planted as bare root as well as balled and burlapped or containers. The City reserves the right to deny any species of plant that is classified as an invasive species.
A. Deciduous trees shall be the minimum caliper of two and one-half inches and shall conform to acceptable nursery industry procedures at the time of planting. If deciduous trees are to be used for screening purposes, additional materials listed in this Chapter must be used to create a dense buffer.
B. Evergreen trees shall be a minimum of six (6) feet in height at the time of planting. Evergreen plantings shall be planted at a maximum distance of fifteen (15) feet on center to provide an effective, dense screen within four (4) years of planting.
C. Required shrubs shall be a minimum of five (5) gallons in size upon installation and shall be at least thirty-six (36) inches in height at maturity.
D. Hedges shall be designed to provide an effective, dense screen and mature height of at least six feet in height within four (4) years of the time of planting.
E. Grass of the Fescues (Gramineak) or Bluegrass (Poaceae) family shall be planted in species normally grown as permanent lawns in Blue Ash. In swales or other areas subject to erosion, solid sod, erosion reducing netting, mats, or suitable mulch shall be used and nurse grass seed shall be sown for immediate protection until complete coverage otherwise is achieved. Bioswales or other alternative designs may be proposed but shall be subject to review and approval by the City. Grass sod shall be clean and free of weeds and noxious pests or diseases. Ground cover shall be planted at a maximum spacing of one foot on center to provide seventy-five (75%) complete coverage after two growing seasons.
(3) Earth. Mounds may be used as physical barriers that block or screen a view. Differences in elevation between areas requiring screening do not constitute an earth mound. Earth mounds shall be constructed of earthen materials and shall conform to the following standards:
A. The maximum side slope shall be three horizontal to one vertical (3:1) and the design shall be reviewed by the City to ensure that proper erosion prevention and control practices have been utilized.
B. Berms and earthforms shall be designed with physical variations in height and alignment throughout their length.
C. Landscape plant material installed on berms and earthforms shall be arranged in an irregular pattern to accentuate the physical variation and achieve a natural appearance.
D. The landscape plan shall show sufficient detail, including a plan and profile of the berm or earthform, soil types and construction techniques to demonstrate compliance with the above provisions.
E. Berms and earthforms shall be located and designed to minimize the disturbance to existing trees located on the site or adjacent thereto.
F. Adequate ground cover shall be used and maintained to prevent erosion of the earth mound.
(b) Existing Landscape Material. Any existing landscape material that is in satisfactory condition may be used to satisfy these requirements in whole or in part when, in the opinion of the Community Development Director, such material meets the requirements and achieves the objectives of this chapter.
(c) Bufferyard Establishment. Once a bufferyard has been approved by the City and established by the owner, it may not be used, disturbed or altered for any purpose.
(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
(a) Required landscaping may be placed wholly or partially in utility or other easements providing all requirements can be fulfilled and the holder of the easements grants approval. Trees placed under overhead utility wires must be from Group B, in Section 1145.12.
(b) In no case, however, shall landscaping and bufferyards be established so as to block the sight distance at street or drive intersections. Ground cover and trees with at least eight (8) feet of limbless trunk shall be permitted within the sight distance triangle. In the case of a City street intersection, the sight triangle shall consist of the area between points twenty (20) feet along both intersecting streets from their respective edge of pavements.
(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
When… | Is Proposed to Abut… | A Minimum Bufferyard of… | Plant Material 1 |
Any multi-family, attached single-family, or two family dwelling use in a residential zoning districts or any use in the DT Zoning district | A detached single family use | 10' side or rear yard is required with… | Either: 1 tree (A) every 25 lineal feet + a 6' evergreen hedge OR 6' wall, brick faced on both sides and 8" thick with a top coarse to be row lock, and 1 tree every 25-35 lineal feet OR A double row, staggered planting of evergreen trees (C) every 15 lineal feet OR A 40' wide, 6' tall earthen berm |
Any use in the BAS, BAN, SP district, or any non-residential use in a PUD Zoning district | A detached single family use | 50' side and/or rear yard is required with… | |
Any multi-family, attached single-family, or two family dwelling use in a residential zoning districts or any use in the DT Zoning district 2 | The public right-of-way, public or private street | 10' shall be landscaped with… | Either: 1 tree (A) every 25-35 lineal feet and shrubs (D or E) planted every 3 lineal feet (1 tree minimum) OR 1 tree (B) every 20-30 lineal feet + shrubs (D or E) planted every 3 lineal feet (1 tree minimum) |
Any use in the BAS, BAN, or SP district | The public right-of- way, public or private street | 20' shall be landscaped with… | Either: 1 tree (A) every 20-30 lineal feet + shrubs (D or E) planted every 3 lineal feet (1 tree minimum) OR 1 tree (B) every 15-25 lineal feet + shrubs (D or E) planted every 3 lineal feet (1 tree minimum) |
1 The width of any driveways or intersecting streets may be excluded from the overall bufferyard length calculation. 2 Any use in the DT Zoning district that is designed to front the public right-of-way is exempt from the applicable bufferyard requirements. Such uses are encouraged to have some landscape elements, if possible, to soften the building and increase the attractiveness of the streetscape, but they shall not be required to install the full bufferyard requirements set forth in this Section. | |||
Figure 1145-1: Graphic illustrates example bufferyard planting between a
single family neighborhood and an office development.
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 | Figure 1145-2: The Bufferyard Requirements in Section 1145.07 identify options for achieving the desired screening between uses. The three images to the left illustrate three of these otions. |
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(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
In the absence of paving for walks or dives, foundation plantings shall be planted and maintained along all front and side exterior walls of all buildings at the ratio of one twenty-four (24) inch spread evergreen shrub every five (5) lineal feet of exterior wall.
(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
(a) All parking areas shall contain a landscaped area of trees and shrubs greater than or equal to five percent (5%) of the internal parking and vehicular circulation area. Entrance drives through front or side yards or buffers are not counted as internal areas.
(b) Landscaped areas shall be distributed throughout the parking area. Rows of parking spaces shall be interrupted at least every fifteen (15) spaces by a planter island that is a minimum of eight (8) feet wide and eighteen (18) feet in length, or a parallel eight (8) foot planting strip shall separate rows of parking spaces.
Figure 1145-3: the graphic represents the two options for landscaped areas within parking lots. The top option illustrates the eight food planting strip and the bottom option illustrates parking islands every fifteen (15) spaces. |
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(c) Landscaping shall be provided as follows and shall be installed in the required landscape islands:
(1) Trees shall be provided at a rate of one tree for each ten (10) parking spaces in the R-1, R-2, R-3, and DT zoning districts and two (2) trees for each ten (10) parking spaces in the BAN, SP, and BAS zoning districts. Any fractional number shall be rounded up to the next whole number.
(2) Shrubs shall be provided at a rate of six (6) shrubs for each ten (10) parking spaces in the R-1, R-2, R-3, and DT zoning districts and three shrubs for each ten (10) parking spaces in the BAN, SP, and BAS zoning districts.
(3) One tree may be substituted by three (3) shrubs. Such substitutions may not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the required number of trees.
(4) Trees and shrubs may be grouped; they do not have to be equally spaced.
(d) All parking spaces shall be within 125 feet of a landscaped area.
(e) No internal landscaping is required for lots less than fifteen (15) spaces.
(f) No landscaping shall obscure visibility at a vehicular intersection within the parking area or other area or other areas where clear visibility is necessary to assure safe circulation. Where safe visibility is impaired, canopy trees shall have branches removed from the trunk at least five (5) feet above the ground and shrubs and groundcover shall not exceed two (2) feet in height. Evergreen trees and understory trees that would impair visibility for safe circulation shall not be planted in these areas.
(g) Any landscape area provided under this section shall not contain bare soil.
(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
(a) The Board of Site Arrangement, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Planning Commission, or the City Council may approve modifications to the bufferyard requirements in conjunction with a review of a site for new construction, building addition, site development, PUD, conditional use, or for any other action that requires Board, Commission, or Council approval. A decision shall be based on any of the following criteria:
(1) The specific conditions that are unique to the applicant's land and the unique conditions or circumstances are not the result of actions of the applicant subsequent to the adoption of this chapter.
(2) The manner in which the strict application of the provision of this chapter would deprive the applicant of a reasonable use of the land in a manner equivalent to the use permitted to other landowners in the same zoning district.
(3) The modification shall preserve, not harm, the public safety and welfare, and shall not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.
(4) The applicant has demonstrated that the proposed bufferyard achieves the spirit of this chapter.
(5) The applicant has proposed green infrastructure elements such as bioswales or rain gardens.
(b) The Board of Site Arrangement, the Board of Zoning Appeals, the Planning Commission, or the City Council may also approve the use of existing trees to be counted towards bufferyard and landscaping requirements.
(Ord. 2017. Passed 1-26-17.)
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