A. Residential lots that have street frontage along two (2) opposite boundaries are not allowed except for reverse frontage lots which are essential to provide separation of residential development from traffic arteries, or to overcome specific disadvantages of topography and orientation.
B. For such lots, in order to improve the visual quality of the streetscape, and to provide adequate protection from the street, landscaped buffer areas must be provided along single-family residential lots whose property lines are adjacent and parallel to collector and/or arterial streets.
1. Perimeter Landscape Buffer:
a. The buffer must be located outside of any planned future right of way, and should not be used for future roadway improvements.
b. The width of the buffer along arterial streets must be a minimum of thirty feet (30'). The width of the buffer along collector streets must be a minimum of twenty feet (20'). Where a subdivision requiring a buffer is less than five (5) acres in size, and located in a developed area where existing subdivisions without buffers abut the adjacent streets, the planting strip must be at least ten feet (10') in width.
c. Buffer zones must be dedicated on the final plat as tracts.
2. Buffer Design Standards: The design of the buffer must comply with the following standards:
a. Landscaping, as used herein, must include as a minimum, grass, native and other drought resistant vegetation and street trees as required by the city. Nonvegetative materials, such as decorative rock, bark, and permabark, may not be used in lieu of landscaping. However, nonvegetative material may be used to augment the landscape or around the base of shrub groupings or flowerbeds as long as the coverage does not exceed twenty percent (20%). The use of bark or other loose material shall be designed or located to keep the bark from being blown onto the paved path.
b. The twenty percent (20%) limitation on nonvegetative material does not apply if the landscape is designed by a licensed landscape architect and the nonvegetative material is used to complement or visually enhance the vegetative material.
c. A permanent irrigation system must be provided for all landscaped areas. The use of hose bibs on the exterior of existing or proposed structures is not an acceptable method of landscape irrigation, unless the landscaped area is adjacent to the existing or proposed structure. All irrigation systems and landscaped areas must be designed, constructed, operated, and maintained so as to promote water conservation and prevent overflow or seepage into adjacent streets or sidewalks/trails.
3. Maintenance: The developer is required to form a property owners' association prior to final plat, with said buffers to be owned and maintained by a perpetual property owners' association. Alternatively, if the subdivision has only one lot fronting on a collector or minor arterial, a homeowners' association will not be required for the maintenance of the greenbelt if a nonrevocable covenant, approved by the city, is recorded against the property fronting the greenbelt memorializing the obligation.
4. Completion Time:
a. All improvements required by this section must be installed prior to final plat approval or occupancy of a building subject to development review.
b. The planning director may authorize a delay in the completion of planting during the months of October through March. Should a delay be granted, a bond or other sufficient security, approved by the city attorney, equal to one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the costs of landscaping, must be provided by the owner/developer and held by the city until the required landscaping is complete. No final certificate of occupancy will be issued until the landscaping is complete. (Ord. 3485, 2014)