Trees and shrubs are required in and around vehicular use areas with more than six spaces to provide attractive views from roads and adjacent properties, provide shade to reduce the heat generated by impervious surfaces, reduce glare from vehicular use areas, and to help filter exhaust from vehicles.
(A) Perimeter and interior plantings. Vehicular use areas must be planted with at least one tree and two shrubs for every 4,000 square feet of vehicular use area, which includes parking spaces, aisles, driveways, and loading areas. Trees shall be spaced so that no parking space is more than 63 feet from a tree. At least 75% of the required parking lot trees must be broadleaf canopy trees. Trees and shrubs must be planted within 20 feet of the vehicular use area to count as parking lot landscaping; provided, however, all street trees required by other provisions of this chapter shall count as parking lot landscaping.
(1) When a development contains 20 or more parking spaces, 50% of the trees and shrubs must be planted in islands or medians located within the parking lot. Tree islands shall be evenly distributed throughout the parking lot in order to provide an even tree canopy throughout the lot. At a minimum, such tree islands shall consist of an area at least equal in size to two parking places side-by-side (360 square feet). Parking bays shall be broken up with landscaped islands or medians to avoid long monotonous rows of parking. Planting trees in groups is encouraged to increase the total amount of planting area for roots to grow.
(2) At the time of planting, trees and shrubs required in this section shall meet the following minimum size requirements:
(a) Broadleaf canopy trees: one and one-half to two-inch caliper;
(b) All other trees: five to six feet in height;
(c) All shrubs: height or spread of 18 to 24 inches.
(B) Planting strips. When a vehicular use area lot is located within 100 feet of an abutting property and no bufferyard is required, a planting strip which is a minimum of five feet wide shall be planted between the vehicular use area and the abutting property, except along approved driveway openings which run perpendicular to the planting strip. One large evergreen or deciduous tree and five evergreen or deciduous shrubs shall be planted for every 40 linear feet of property line that parallels the vehicular use area. Fifty percent of these trees and shrubs may be counted toward the parking lot trees and shrubs required in division (A) if the planting strip is located within 20 feet of the vehicular use area. Adjacent businesses on separate lots which share parking or driveways shall be exempt from this requirement provided that the required planting strip would interfere with the reasonable use of the shared parking or driveway. Vehicular use areas located behind buildings and screened from view from public rights-of-way shall be exempt from this requirement.
(C) Buffering from street. Vehicular use areas greater than 4,000 square feet any portion of which is located within 50 feet of the right-of-way of a street must be buffered from the street. The buffer shall be at least three feet high at maturity and can consist of plant material alone, or berms, fences, walls, or grade changed combined with plant material. A vegetative buffer shall consist of at least one evergreen or deciduous shrub planted for every five linear feet of buffer required. If a fence or wall is used, it must be constructed of wood, brick, stone or other masonry and be architecturally compatible with the proposed structure. Seventy-five percent of the fence or wall must be opaque with any spaces evenly distributed. The finished side of the fence or wall shall face the street. At least one shrub shall be planted on the street side for each eight linear feet of fence or wall. Berms and grade changes must be completely covered with vegetation. All shrubs planted can count toward the parking lot landscaping requirements.
(D) Structured parking facilities. Structured parking facilities, or parking decks, shall be excused from the parking lot landscaping requirements contained in this section but shall comply with the provisions of this paragraph. In the event that any openings for ventilation, service, or emergency access are located at the first floor level in the building facade, then they shall be an integral part of the overall building design. These openings as well as pedestrian and vehicular entrances shall be designed to minimize visibility of parked cars. The remainder of street level frontage shall be either commercial space or an architecturally articulated facade designed to minimize the visibility of parked cars. All levels of a structured parking facility shall be designed and screened in such a way as to minimize visibility of parked cars. In no instance will rails or cabling alone be sufficient to meet this screening requirement. The design elements of this paragraph shall only apply to building facades which are visible from a public right-of-way.
(E) Automobile sales facilities. Automobile sales facilities, due to the fact that inventory is typically stored and displayed for sale on vehicular use areas, require separate analysis with regard to the parking lot landscaping requirements in this section. Automobile sales facilities are, accordingly, exempted from the need to comply with interior parking lot landscaping requirements for that portion of an automobile sales facility utilized exclusively for the display of goods for sale. Automobile sales facilities are required to comply with the perimeter and planting strip requirements of this section; provided, however, such facilities shall be permitted one display area, which shall not be required to be screened, for each 100 feet of roadway frontage. Each display area shall extend no more than 50 feet in length.
(F) Effect on other regulations. Areas devoted to meeting the landscaping requirements of this section may count toward the common open space requirements contained in §§ 152.090 - 152.105, hereof. Where site characteristics and development considerations make it prudent and feasible, landscaping proposed to meet the requirements of this section may also contribute toward meeting the buffering and screening requirements contained in this subchapter.
(G) Small lots. Small lots, defined as lots with less than 75 feet of frontage on a roadway or with less than 75 feet of depth, may have site constraints which make strict compliance with the regulations contained in this section a hardship. In such cases, the approving authority for the town may approve deviations from such regulations so long as the plans of development are consistent with the goals and objectives stated herein.
(Ord. passed 10-1-07)