(A) Purpose. Landscaping and buffer strip requirements are established to improve the appearance of vehicular use areas and property abutting public rights-of-way; to require buffering between noncompatible land uses; to protect, preserve, and promote the visual appeal, character, and value of the surrounding neighborhoods; and to promote public health and safety through the reduction of noise pollution, heat, glare, air pollution, visual pollution, air temperature, and artificial light glare. Landscaping and buffering requirements of this section shall apply to all property located within the zoning jurisdiction of the county. However, individual residential home sites are exempt from this requirement.
(B) General requirements.
(1) No new site development, building, structure, or vehicular use area shall hereafter be erected, constructed, or used unless landscaping is provided as required by the provisions of this section.
(2) No property lines shall be altered, nor shall any building, structure, or vehicular use area be expanded unless the minimum landscaping required by this section is provided for the property to the extent of its alteration or expansion and not for the entire property. Exemptions may be granted for the first cumulative 3,000 square feet of expansion to buildings, vehicular use areas, and/or open uses of land existing on the effective date of this section.
(C) Plan review and approval.
(1) Whenever any property is affected by these landscape and buffer requirements, the property owner or developer shall prepare a plan for submittal to, and approval by, the Zoning Enforcement Officer. The Zoning Enforcement Officer shall follow the requirements of this section in approving or disapproving any plan required. The contents of the plan shall include the following:
(a) The dimensions and acreage of each lot or plot or portion to be built upon or otherwise used;
(b) The layout of the entire project including the proposed uses of all buildings, and its relation to surrounding properties;
(c) The layout of all off-street parking and loading uses including the location of entry and exit points, the internal vehicular circulation pattern, and the location and dimension of required parking and loading spaces;
(d) The location and dimensions of present and proposed streets and highways;
(e) The location of all existing and proposed plantings and screenings including botanical and common name, installation size, and quantities to be installed;
(f) The location of walls, fences, and railings and an indication of their height and construction materials; and
(g) Title; north arrow; scale; names of owner, developer, and person responsible for plan preparation; and the date that the plan was drawn.
(2) No building permit shall be issued until the required landscaping plan has been submitted and approved, and no certificate of occupancy shall be issued until the landscaping is completed as certified by an on-site inspection by the Zoning Enforcement Officer unless a performance bond or other acceptable guarantee of improvements has been posted.
(3) Where site plan approval by the Project Review Committee is required, no building permit or certificate of occupancy shall be issued until such approval has been granted. In the event that the requirements of this section conflict with those of other sections of this chapter, the more restrictive shall apply.
(D) Street frontage landscaping requirements. On the site of a building or other vehicular use area where such area will not be entirely screened visually by an intervening building or structure, landscaping shall be required along any side that abuts the right-of-way of a street, road, or highway where the requirements of division (H) below are not violated. Such landscaping shall be provided as follows:
(1) A landscaping strip of ten feet in depth shall be located between abutting right-of-way and any off-street parking, loading, or other vehicular use area except where driveway openings are to provided; and
(2) The landscaping strip shall be planted in accordance with the following standards:
(a) One tree should be planted for each 40 linear feet of the landscaping strip when it is not planted with shrubs, trees, or covered by a wall or other barrier; and
(b) All portions of the landscaping strip not planted with shrubs and trees, or covered by a wall or other barrier shall be planted in grass or ground cover.
(E) Required screening type. Screening shall be required along the side and rear property boundaries of the zoning lot.
(1) Type A.
(a) Buffer: Thirty feet.
(b) Screening shall consist of:
1. A row of trees, 40% of which are large maturing trees and which are not less than ten feet high at the time of planting and are spaced not more than six feet apart and a row of evergreen conifers or broadleaf evergreens placed not more than five feet apart which would grow to form a continuous hedge of at least six feet in height within two years of planting and lawn, low-growing evergreen shrubs or broadleaf evergreens, evergreen ground cover, or rock mulch covering the balance of the buffer; or
2. a. An opaque fence located within the required buffer; such fence shall be a minimum height of six feet; and
b. Lawn, low-growing evergreen shrubs or broadleaf evergreens, evergreen ground cover, or rock mulch covering the balance of the buffer.
(2) Type B.
(a) Buffer: Twenty feet.
(b) Screening shall consist of:
1. A row of evergreen conifers or broadleaf evergreens placed not more than five feet apart which would grow to form a continuous hedge of at least six feet in height within two years of planting;
2. A wall located within the required buffer; such wall shall be a minimum height of six feet (above finished grade) and, if a block wall, it shall be painted on all sides; or an opaque fence six feet in height;
3. A berm and planting combination, with the berm an average height of three feet and dense plantings which will, when combined with the berm, achieve a minimum height of six feet and 75% opacity within two years; or
4. Lawn, low-growing evergreen shrubs, evergreen ground cover, or rock mulch covering the balance of the buffer.
(3) Type C.
(a) Buffer: Ten feet.
(b) Screening shall consist of:
1. A row of evergreen conifers or broadleaf evergreens placed not more than five feet apart which would grow to form a continuous hedge of at least six feet in height within two years of planting; and
2. Lawn, low-growing evergreen shrubs, evergreen ground cover, or rock mulch covering the balance of the buffer.
(F) Land use relationships. The following land use relationships shall be used to determine required screening and buffering.
Screening and Buffering
| |||||
Adjacent Land Use  |
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | |
Screening and Buffering
| |||||
Adjacent Land Use |
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | |
Proposed Land Use | Group 1 | None | Type C | Type B | Type A |
Group 2 | Type C | Type C | Type B | Type A | |
Group 3 | Type A | Type A | Type C | Type C | |
Group 4 | Type A | Type A | Type C | Type C | |
a. Group 1 (least intensive): This includes all permitted uses in the R-A and R-20 Districts. | |||||
b. Group 2: This includes all permitted uses in the R-12, R-8, R-M, H-B, N-B and C-S Districts. | |||||
c. Group 3: This includes all permitted uses in the G-I Districts. | |||||
d. Group 4 (most intensive): This includes all permitted uses in H-I and S-P Districts. | |||||
(G) Parking lot landscaping.
(1) The following standards shall apply to all new parking areas with 12 or more spaces and all expansions to existing parking areas which add 12 or more spaces, unless otherwise noted. In an expansion, only the area of expansion is required to be included in the calculation; however, the landscaping may be provided anywhere within the parking area.
(2) Trees and shrubs shall be planted along all internal driveways as follows:
Type | Minimum Number Per 100 Linear Feet |
Large trees | 1 |
Small trees | 2 |
Fractions generated by applying the minimum number of plants required per 100 linear feet to the actual linear footage of an area shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number. (For example, a 50-foot area would be required to have 1 large tree and 1 small tree.) | |
(3) The area between required trees and shrubs shall be completely filled in with perennials, annual flowers, ornamental grasses, turf grasses, a minimum of three inches of landscaping mulch, or a combination thereof.
(4) No more than two parking aisles (defined as a travel lane and the parking located on each side) shall abut. Otherwise, parking aisles shall be separated from each other by planted medians which may include pedestrian walkways. No more than 30 parking spaces shall be contained within one parking aisle (there must be at least one landscape island on each side of a parking aisle every 15 parking spaces).
(5) At least 5% of the interior of all parking areas where landscaping is required, excluding access drives, shall be landscaped. There shall be at least one large tree, two small trees and five large or ten small shrubs for each 20 parking spaces. Parking lots with fewer than 20 spaces shall be required to plant at least one large tree, two small trees, and five large or ten small shrubs. Trees shall be spaced such that no parking space is more than 65 feet from the trunk of a canopy tree. Shrubs may be located in end planters and around the perimeter of the parking area but not in a required streetyard. All landscape islands and end planters in parking lots shall be completely filled-in with low-growing evergreen shrubs or drought resistant turf grasses. Interior parking landscaping requirements for large trees may be omitted if streetyard and landscape buffer widths are increased by 50% and the remaining provisions of this section are met. It is the intent that this provision shall not apply to large-scale parking lots.
(6) Whenever parking areas abut streets, an opaque wall or fence a minimum of three feet in height shall be installed adjacent to a street right-of-way where no streetyard is required, except that:
(a) A continuous hedge may be substituted for the wall or fence in any district as long as the hedge is a minimum of 18 inches in height at the time of planting, has the ability to achieve a height of two feet during its first full growing season; and
(b) A vegetated berm may be substituted for a portion of the wall, fence or hedge.
(7) Optional interior landscaping and design for large parking lots. The following divisions are intended as an option for large parking lots containing 300 or more parking spaces where design flexibility is needed to accommodate the unusually high number of parking spaces required for large retail and shopping center development due to high vehicle to square foot floor area ratios. Additional design features are included.
(a) In parking lots designed for any single large retail store or any shopping center containing 300 or more parking spaces, up to four parking aisles (defined as a travel lane and the parking located on each side) may abut, provided the optional interior landscaping requirements of this section are met within the parking lot excluding any perimeter, streetyard, internal driveway, required buffer, or other landscape area required by this section. The maximum distance between required landscape medians shall be no greater than 250 feet.
(b) No parking space shall be further than 65 feet from the trunk of a large tree. However, large trees are not required within 75 feet of the primary building façade or immediately adjacent to a handicap parking space.
(c) Tree wells are encouraged along any portion of the building façade not planned for outdoor display, ingress/egress, or loading and unloading. Tree wells shall have a minimum dimension of eight feet and contain at least one understory or small decorative tree.
(d) Adequate corrals for shopping carts and other similar customer merchandise carts shall be provided throughout all large parking lots.
(e) At least one distinctive pedestrian crosswalk shall be provided between the large parking lot and each main entrance to a large retail store or shopping center. A distinctive pedestrian crosswalk may consist of a raised speed table, speed bumps, textured paving surface or other low maintenance surface materials such as pavers, bricks, or scored concrete installed in the drive lane located between the main entrances to the store and the parking lot. A distinctive crosswalk will be designed to enhance pedestrian safety and comfort as well as the attractiveness of the crosswalk. Traffic calming devices shall be required between the store front and the parking lot.
(f) Parked vehicles may overhang a landscaped area no more than two and one-half feet, provided curbing or other wheel stops are installed to ensure no greater overhang or penetration of the landscaped area. Landscaping, walls, fences, and any other material shall be so located to prevent its damage and/or destruction by overhanging vehicles.
(8) Industrial parking areas.
(a) Any parking areas shall meet the required setbacks for structures in the underlying zoning district.
(b) The parking areas shall be exempt from the interior landscaping and aisle requirements.
(c) A Type C landscape buffer shall be required along the perimeter of such a parking area.
(H) Residential screening and buffer requirements. Screening and buffering shall be provided in the locations and in accordance with the following provisions.
(1) In all residential developments, a buffer strip at least 20 feet in depth or width shall be provided adjacent to all limited-access highways, all railroad rights-of-way, and commercial and industrial uses or districts. The buffer strip shall be in addition to the normal lot depth, setback, or width required and shall be a part of the platted lots, having the following restrictions designated on the plat: “This strip reserved for the planting of trees and shrubs by the owner; the building of structures hereon is prohibited.”
(2) In all R-8 Residential-Multiple Dwelling Districts or R-M Residential-Manufactured Home Districts, 15-foot buffer strips shall be provided adjacent to all railroad rights-of-way, limited-access highways, and commercial and industrial uses or zoning districts. The buffer strip shall be planted with evergreen or deciduous trees spaced not more than 40 feet apart and supplemented with grass and shrubs to effectively screen the view of adjacent properties from the uses within the subject property.
(3) In all R-12 and R-20 Residential Zoning Districts, a 20-foot buffer strip shall be provided adjacent to all railroad rights-of-way, limited-access highways, and commercial or industrial area. A 15-foot buffer strip shall be planted along the side and rear property lines where a multiple-family project of three or more units abuts another residential use. The buffer strip shall be planted with evergreen or deciduous trees spaced not more than 40 feet apart with grass and shrubs to effectively screen the view of adjacent properties from the uses within the subject property.
(I) Sight distance requirements, driveways, and street intersection.
(1) To ensure that landscape materials do not constitute a driving hazard, a “sight triangle” will be observed at all street intersections of driveways with streets. Within the sight triangle, no landscape material, wall, or other obstructions shall be permitted between the height of two feet and six feet above the street or driveway elevation.
(2) The sight triangle referred to above consists of the following:
(a) The area of property on both sides of a driveway formed by the intersection of each side of the driveway and the public right-of-way line, with two sides of each triangle being 25 feet in length from the point of intersection and the third side being a line connecting the ends of the two other sides; and
(b) The area of property located at a corner formed by the intersection of two or more public rights-of-way, with two sides of the triangular area being 25 feet in length along the abutting public right-of-way lines, measured from their point of intersection, and the third side being a line connecting the ends of the other two lines.
(J) Installation and maintenance.
(1) Existing landscape material in satisfactory condition may be used to satisfy these requirements in whole or in part when such material achieves the objectives of this division (J). Otherwise, all landscaping shall be of good quality and installed in a sound, workmanship-like manner, and according to accepted good construction and planting procedures.
(2) The type of landscape material used in meeting the requirements of this division is at the option of the owner or developer. However, a recommended plant list shall be maintained by the Zoning Enforcement Officer to provide detailed information on acceptable plant material.
(3) All trees to be used shall be a minimum of eight feet in overall height upon planting. Shrubs shall be a minimum of two feet in height when measured immediately after planting. In any event, plant material required for the purpose of screening shall be of such initial size to reach the required height within two growing seasons after installation.
(4) The owner or tenant of the property shall be responsible for the continued proper maintenance of all landscaping materials, and shall keep them in a proper, neat, and orderly appearance, free from refuse and debris, at all times. All landscaped areas shall be provided with a readily available water supply with at least one outlet within 150 feet of all plant material to be maintained. All unhealthy or dead plant material shall be replaced within one year, or by the next planting season, whichever comes first.
(1996 Code, § 155.172) (Ord. passed 5-21-1984; Ord. passed 4-16-2001; Ord. passed 8-4-2008; Ord. passed 9-3-2013; Ord. passed 2--2017; Ord. passed 5-3-2021)