A. Applicability: All parking lots designed for ten or more parking spaces shall provide landscaping in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Parking lots designed for less than ten parking spaces shall provide landscaping as may be deemed appropriate by the zoning administrator.
1. Interior Parking Lot Landscaping: Not less than five percent of the interior of a parking lot shall be devoted to landscaping. Landscaped areas located along the perimeter of a parking lot beyond the curb or edge of pavement of the lot shall not be counted toward the satisfaction of this requirement.
2. Landscaped Areas: The landscaped areas defined in subsection B.1 of this section, shall be improved as follows:
Location and Design Standards: | |
Interior parking lot landscaping areas must be improved with curb and gutter and shall be raised at least six inches above the surface of the parking lot. Landscape areas shall be located at the end of every parking row and after each 30 spaces within a row. Additional landscaping shall be dispersed throughout the parking lot in a design and configuration that aesthetically corresponds to the size and shape of the parking lot. | |
Clustering of landscaping areas should be considered when possible. | |
Size: | |
Interior parking lot landscaping areas shall be a minimum of 100 square feet in area and shall be a minimum of eight feet in width, as measured from back of curb to back of curb. | |
Landscape Material: | |
Type: The primary plant materials used in parking lots shall be shade tree species in conformance sections 12-10-4 and 12-10-5 of this chapter. Ornamental trees, shrubbery, hedges, and other plant materials may only be used to supplement the shade tree plantings. | |
Quantity: One shade tree shall be provided for every one hundred square feet of landscaping area. | |
Ground Cover: A minimum of 50 percent of every interior parking lot landscaping area shall be planted with an approved ground cover in the appropriate density to achieve complete cover within two years. Mulch may be substituted for other ground cover if it is applied to 100 percent of the landscaping area at a thickness of at least two inches. | |
B. Perimeter Parking Lot Landscaping:
1. Purpose: Perimeter parking lot landscaping for all zoning lots is to provide for the enhancement of parking lots by requiring a uniform scheme of landscaping along public streets.
2. Applicability: Perimeter landscaping is required for parking lots with ten or more spaces and located within a required yard and/or within 20 feet of a lot line.
3. Landscape Area: Where perimeter landscaping is required, it shall comply with the following requirements:
Location: | |
A perimeter landscape area shall be established along the end of the parking lot that is within a required yard and/or within 20 feet of a lot line. | |
Size: | |
The perimeter landscape area shall at least five feet in width, as measured from the back of the parking lot curb and excluding any parking space overhang area. | |
Required Improvements: | |
Shade Trees: One tree for every 40 feet of perimeter landscape area length. Trees may be clustered based on specific site requirements. | |
Shrubs: One shrub, measuring a minimum of 18 inches at planting and not to exceed four feet at maturity, for every three feet of perimeter landscape area length, clustered or spaced linearly as determined by the zoning administrator. The landscape treatment shall run the full length of the parking lot area when abutting a residential use and 75 percent of the yard when abutting a nonresidential use. | |
Ground Cover: Landscaped area outside of shrub masses shall be planted in turf or other ground cover approved by the zoning administrator. (Ord. Z-8-20, 2-18-2020) | |