All principal and conditional uses, except business signs, which are situated within 50 feet of residential districts, shall be screened and buffered from the district by a wall and separation of open space which shall have a minimum depth of 30 feet, and shall include a required fence or vegetative screening of not less than seven feet in height above the level of residential districts property at the district boundary. Walls or fences of lesser heights, or planting screens, may be permitted by the City Council if there is a finding that the nature or extent of the use being screened is a lesser degree of screen will, as adequately, promote and protect the use and enjoyment of the properties within residential districts, or there is a finding that a screening of the type required by this chapter would interfere with the provision of adequate amounts of light and air to same the properties. Loading docks in the GB-I District shall be screened so as not to be visible from any public street right-of-way within a residential district. All required screening devices shall be designed so that they are architecturally harmonious with the principal structures on the site, and they shall be properly maintained so as not to become unsightly, hazardous, or less opaque than when originally constructed.
(Ord. 222, passed 6-3-2003)