This section describes the minimum requirements that shall be met in regard to perimeter buffer landscaping for different land use areas, perimeter landscaping for vehicular use areas, interior landscaping and shading of parking lots, landscaping for service areas, and additional site landscaping for businesses, buildings, structures or other new developments.
(A) Perimeter buffer landscaping requirements.
(1) Purpose. It is the purpose of this section to improve the appearance of vehicular use areas, to separate vehicular and pedestrian traffic areas, to reduce the effects of glare from automobile headlights, to screen the appearance of parking areas from public rights-of-ways and adjacent properties (vehicular use area perimeter requirements), and to require buffering between different land uses and along certain public rights-of-way (property perimeter requirements).
(2) Opacity requirements. Landscape materials, fences, and walls used to fulfill perimeter landscaping requirements shall be installed to provide 100 percent year round opacity. Landscape materials must be an evergreen species. The height of plant material used to fulfill the requirements of this section must be installed per § 153.135 and meet height and opacity requirements within four years after installation.
(3) Perimeter buffer landscape zone. The perimeter buffer landscape zone shall be provided by the property owner adjoining the street, unless the authority building the street has fully met all requirements on the street right-of-way. When adjacent to other common boundaries, the perimeter buffer landscaping:
(a) May be placed on either adjoining parcel, or astride the boundary, if both owned and being processed by the same owner; or
(b) Generally shall be placed on the activity listed under Appendix A, column B and Appendix B, column B, when adjoining parcels have different owners; or
(c) May be placed astride the boundary of adjoining parcels having different owners if a written agreement, signed by both owners, is filed with the Planning Director, as a public record; or
(d) Shall be placed on the activity or parcel being processed when adjoining property is already developed with the exception of Appendix A, lines 6 and 7; or
(e) Shall not be required along the common boundary if the requirements of this chapter have been fully complied with on the adjoining property, in fulfillment of the requirements of this chapter.
(4) Property perimeter requirements. Property perimeter requirements provide buffering between different land uses and along certain rights-of-way. See Appendix A.
(5) Vehicular use area perimeter requirements. Vehicular use area perimeter requirements provide buffering of areas used by vehicles such as parking lots and driveways from adjacent property or public rights-of-way. See Appendix B.
(6) Requirements conflicts. Whenever a parcel or activity falls under two or more of the categories listed in the table of division (A)(4) or (5) hereof, only one category, that with the most stringent requirements, shall be enforced.
(7) Perimeter buffer landscape zone conflicts. The required perimeter buffer landscape zone may be combined with a utility or other easement as long as all of the landscape requirements can be provided in addition to, and separate from, any other easement. Cars or other objects shall not overhang or otherwise intrude upon the required perimeter buffer landscape zone more than two and one-half feet, and wheel stops or curbs shall be required.
(8) Existing landscape material. Existing landscape material shall be shown on the required plan, and any material in satisfactory condition may be used to satisfy these requirements in whole or in part when, in the opinion of the public approval authority, such material meets the requirements and achieves the objectives of this chapter.
(9) Landscaping at driveway and street intersections. To insure that landscape materials do not constitute a driving hazard, a sight triangle shall be observed at all street intersections or intersections of driveways and streets. Within this sight triangle, no landscape material nor parked vehicles, except for required grass or ground cover, shall be permitted. Within the sight triangle, trees shall be permitted as long as, except during early growth stages, only the tree trunk is visible between the ground and eight feet above the ground, or otherwise does not present a traffic visibility hazard. The sight triangle is defined in the following sections and is illustrated in Appendix C.
(a) Driveway intersection sight triangle. At intersections of driveways with streets, the sight triangle shall be established by locating the intersection of the street curb with the driveway edge, and by measuring from this point a distance of ten feet along the driveway to a point and a distance of 20 feet along the street curb to a point and connecting these points.
(b) Street intersection sight triangle. At street intersections, the sight triangle shall be formed by measuring at least 35 feet along curb lines and connecting these points.
(B) Interior landscaping for vehicular use areas. Any open vehicular use area, excluding loading, unloading and storage areas in an industrial zone or business zone, containing more than 6,000 square feet of area, or 20 or more vehicular parking spaces, shall provide interior landscaping in addition to the previously required perimeter landscaping. Interior landscaping may be peninsular or island types, and must include at least one deciduous shade tree per penlnsula or island (from Appendix E, Group A or B) to be counted towards the required landscape area.
(1) Purpose. It is the purpose of this section to break up large areas of impervious surfaces in order to provide shade and heat abatement, and enhance the appearance of the community.
(2) Landscape area. For each 100 square feet or fraction thereof, of vehicular use area, a minimum total of five square feet of landscaped area shall be provided.
(a) Minimum area. The minimum landscape area permitted shall be 112 square feet with a minimum inside dimension width of seven feet, and a four-foot minimum dimension to all trees from edge of pavement where vehicles overhang.
(b) Maximum contiguous area. In order to encourage the required landscape areas to be properly dispersed, no individual landscape area shall be larger than 350 square feet in size, and no individual area shall be larger than 1,500 square feet in vehicular use areas over 30,000 square feet. In both cases, the least dimension of any required area shall be four feet minimum dimension to all trees from edge of pavement where vehicles overhang. Individual landscape areas larger than above are permitted as long as the additional area is in the excess of the required minimum total.
(3) Tree planting requirement. The following number and size of trees are required within the interior landscaped area. This requirement is based upon total ground coverage of structures and vehicular use areas:
(a) There shall be a minimum of one tree for every 5,000 square feet of ground coverage. Trees must be at least two inches in caliper at installation.
(b) Permitted trees to fulfill this requirement include those listed in Appendix E, Group A or B. Ornamental and evergreen trees cannot be used to fulfill this requirement.
(c) Trees shall have a clear trunk of at least five feet above the ground, and the remaining area shall be landscaped with hardwood mulch, shrubs, or ground cover, not to exceed two feet in height.
(4) Vehicle overhang. Parked vehicles may hang over the interior landscaped area no more than two and one-half feet, as long as concrete or other wheel stops are provided to insure no greater overhang or penetration of the landscaped area. See illustration Appendix D.
(Ord. 13-91, passed 5-18-81)
(C) Screening For Service Structures. Service structures shall be screened in all zoning districts. For the purposes of this section, service structures shall include but not be limited to loading docks, storage tanks, dumpsters, electrical transformers, utility vaults which extend above the surface, cooling towers, roof top units and other equipment or elements providing service to a building or a site. Structures may be grouped together; however, screening height shall be based upon the tallest of the structures. Roof top mechanical units must be screened to the full height of the unit.
(Ord. 17-88, passed 3-6-89)
(1) Screening requirements. A continuous (having 100% opacity) planting, hedge, fence, wall of earth, which would enclose any service structure on all sides is required, unless such structure must be frequently moved, in which case screening on all but one side is required. The height of the screening material shall be one foot more than the height of the enclosed structure, but shall not be required to exceed 12 feet in height. Whenever a service structure is located next to a building wall, perimeter landscaping material or vehicular use area landscaping material, such walls or screening material may fulfill the screening requirement for that side of the service structure if that wall or screening material is of sufficient height to meet the height requirement set out in this section. Plant material used to screen a service structure shall be an evergreen species which retains its needles throughout the year. Deciduous plant material cannot be used to fulfill this screening requirement. The height of the evergreen plant material at installation must be equal to, or greater than, two-thirds of the height of the service structure(s), and meet the height and opacity requirements within four years. No interior landscaping shall be required within an area screened for service structures.
(2) Curbs to protect screening material. Whenever screening material is placed around any trash disposal unit or waste collection unit which is emptied or removed mechanically on a regularly occurring basis, a curb to contain the placement of the container shall be provided within the screening material on these sides where there is such material. The curbing shall be at least one foot from the material and shall be designed to prevent possible damage to the screening when the container is moved or emptied.
(D) Additional Site Landscaping Requirements. All new developments, regardless of type, and all alterations or expansions to existing developments, shall provide site landscaping in addition to any previously required perimeter landscaping. Site landscaping shall consist primarily of new tree planting or the preservation of existing trees or hedges within the development site.
(1) Preservation of wooded areas. Efforts shall be made to preserve natural vegetation areas. Streets, lots, structures and parking areas shall be designed to avoid the unnecessary destruction of heavily wooded areas or outstanding tree specimens. Whenever possible, heavily wooded areas may be designated as park reserves. (Refer to §§ 153.140 - 153.148 Tree Preservation.)
(2) Site planting requirements.
(a) Purpose. It is the purpose of this section to provide landscaping to enhance the appearance and customer attraction of commercial and industrial areas, to enhance the architectural character and aesthetics of residential neighborhoods, and to enhance the beauty of the city. This section pertains to additional landscaping located around the building and other portions of the site. It does not include landscape material that has been provided to fulfill the planting requirements for interior landscaping, vehicular use area perimeters, property perimeters, and street trees.
(b) For all new development the following landscape requirements shall apply:
Use | Requirement |
R-4, R-10, R-12, and PUD Districts | There shall be tree plantings equal to one-inch in tree trunk size for every 300 square feet or fraction thereof in ground coverage by a multi-family structure. |
Business and Community Shopping (per lot) | There shall be landscaped areas equal to 2% of the building ground coverage area, or fraction thereof. Landscaped areas shall contain trees, planting beds, hedges, fences, walls, earth mounds, benches or other materials designed and located in a manner complementary to the architecture of surrounding buildings. |
Office - Institutional | There shall be tree plantings equal to one inch in tree size for every 1,500 square feet of building ground coverage, or fraction thereof. |
Industrial | There shall be tree plantings equal to one inch in tree size for every 2,000 square feet of building ground coverage, or fraction thereof. |
Use | Requirement |
Single-Family | Front yard trees are required on every single family lot at the quantity and size specified in the following table. The trees to be planted shall be an approved front yard tree as listed in Appendix H (Approved Front Yard Trees for Dublin, Ohio) and have a minimum truck caliper of no less than 2 inches. Trees shall be located in front of or along any front-facing facade of the home, no closer than three feet to a side property line. Corner and through lots shall meet these requirements on all street frontages. |
Lot Width | Front Building Setback | Tree Size and Quantity |
Up to 59.9 feet | Less than 20 feet | 1 small tree |
20 feet or more | 1 medium tree | |
60-90.9 feet | Less than 20 feet | 1 medium tree plus 1 small tree |
20 feet or more | 1 large tree plus 1 medium tree | |
91 feet or more | Less than 20 feet | 1 large tree plus 2 trees of any size |
20 feet or more | 2 large tree plus 1 tree of any size |
(c) Parking lots: See division (B) of this section.
(d) New tree plantings shall not be required if the aggregate trunk sizes of existing trees meet or exceed the requirements set forth in this chapter and providing that the trees are evenly distributed throughout the developed area and not confined either to dense clusters or to the perimeter of the developed area. A tree preservation plan to include location of tree fencing, fertilization and pruning techniques, and utility placement must be submitted. The minimum tree size for existing trees shall be no less than two inches in trunk diameter. Trees to be preserved shall be subject to review by the Director of Land Use and Long Range Planning or a designee.
(Ord. 13-81, passed 5-18-81)
(Ord. 46-97, passed 5-5-97; Am. Ord. 95-96, passed 10-5-98; Am. Ord. 59-03, passed 11-3-03; Am. Ord. 40-07, passed 7-2-07)