(A) Landscaping required in parking areas for proposed commercial, professional, office, institutional and multi-family residential development.
(1) Parking areas shall be planted with trees, a minimum of four inches in caliper measured six inches above ground level, so that there is at least one tree per ten parking spaces within the parking lot. The trees must be staked with two three-inch diameter stakes and protected by curbing against damage by vehicles. A minimum planting area, equivalent to 18 square feet per tree shall be provided.
(2) Parking areas shall have a landscaped island at each end of each row of vehicle spaces and an intermediate island for every 15 vehicle spaces. The planting islands shall be not less than nine feet wide in the direction parallel to the row and not less than 20 feet long in the direction perpendicular to the row. Each island shall have a suitable curb of stone or poured-in-place concrete and shall be planted with grass or ground cover. All hydrants shall be located in the islands.
(B) Landscaped buffer between residential and nonresidential uses. Nonresidential vehicular areas shall be set back at least 25 feet from any property line abutting land used for residential purposes or located in a residential zone. The setback areas shall be provided with screening along each side of the property line abutting the residential zone or use. The screening shall be in the form of evergreen trees, a minimum of eight feet high planted not more than ten feet apart, along the extent of the vehicular area facing a residential zone or use.
(C) Protection of existing trees. Significant trees shall be clearly marked for preservation, on the site plan and in the field. The trees shall be protected during construction by cribbing. CRIBBING shall consist of a six-foot high snow fence which shall surround the tree trunk at a distance not closer than three feet from it, and which shall be braced and held in position by four-by-four-inch wood posts set into the ground. Damaged trees shall be repaired by a reputable tree surgeon. Any tree marked for preservation which is removed or damaged beyond satisfactory repair shall be replaced with the same or similar species, six inches in caliper as measured at six inches above ground level, which shall be balled, burlapped and platformed.
(D) Screening of security fences. When the proposed site plan includes the installation of security fences necessary for the operation and maintenance of permissible uses, the Planning Commission may require that the fences be adequately screened from public view.
(E) Lighting standards. The maximum allowable height of any light fixture shall be 14 feet from the ground to the highest point of the fixture.
(F) Sidewalks and walkpaths. To provide safe pedestrian access, sidewalks and walkpaths shall be constructed in locations as may be required by the Planning Board. When required, sidewalks shall be four feet wide and walkpaths shall be three feet wide.
(G) Additional screening, landscaping, buffering. The Planning Commission shall retain the right to require additional screening, landscaping or buffering as deemed necessary to protect adjacent land uses from glare.
(H) Administration. Prior to the issuance of a building permit, a developer shall present to the Planning Commission a plan demonstrating significant trees and the plan for protection of the trees and installation of proper landscaping measures as required by this chapter. Failure to present adequate information or the presentation of knowingly false information shall be grounds for denial of a building permit.
(Ord. 97-04, passed 12-19-1996)