Landscaping for TPD Districts shall be as follows:
A. General Purpose.
The purpose of this section is to promote the health, safety morals, and general welfare of the residents of the community by providing for open space, visual screening and landscape buffers to remove, reduce, lessen or absorb the shock of impact of incompatible uses of real properties between one use or zone district and another.
B. Specific Intent.
The intent of this section is:
1. To create a park-like environment conducive to the permitted uses;
2. To extend space or to screen undesirable views to reduce the impact of the one land use upon another;
3. To increase soil water retention through landscape requirements;
4. To protect and preserve the appearance and property values of residential uses from adverse effects of adjoining nonresidential uses; and
5. To enhance careful land use planning and not be considered as a substitute for it.
C. General Provisions.
1. Landscape buffering may include, but shall not be limited to, trees, shrubs, bushes, grass cover, earth berms or a combination thereof.
2. Screening shall consist of plant material.
3. Buffering is the act of enhancing or lessening the impact of one (1) area on another.
a. Location and width.
Buffered areas shall be located on those portions of land bordering or abutting (adjacent to) more restrictive zoning districts and shall be a minimum of twenty (20) feet in width, unless varied by the Planning Commission.
b. Use.
Designed buffered areas shall be used for no other purpose than planting or screening, except necessary ingress to or egress from the buffered area.
c. Design.
A buffered area shall be designed to allow for access to easements in order to perform the functions for which such easements were granted and for fire protection purposes.
4. Fencing and walls are not desirable and may be used only as needed for screening and limited storage areas. Natural architectural elements of extension from the building may be used for screening. Chain link and/or perimeter fencing are prohibited. Earth mounding is encouraged to be used in screening applications and where aesthetic values could be gained in their placement.
(Ord. 98-176. Passed 8-3-98.)