(A) Each licensed junkyard shall, within 9 months of the issuance of the license, be enclosed to screen the junkyard from view by the traveling public and from adjoining properties. The screening shall consist of vegetative or structural materials, or both, as specified by the Board. The Board may waive the requirement for installing additional screening where the Board concludes that the junkyard will not be visible from a public road or from every adjoining property, provided that the applicant agrees to maintain such screening as then exists.
(B) The screening shall be installed by the licensee in accordance with plans approved by the Board as part of the license and shall be maintained in good order and repair by the licensee. The screening shall be constructed according to setback requirements in § 111.41.
(C) Vegetative screening shall be preferred, to consist of trees, shrubs, or other plant materials of such aggregate size, location and density as to comply with division (A) of this section. The screening shall, at the time of planting, be not less than 5 feet in height and shall be designed to grow to and shall be maintained at a height of not less than 7 feet. The screening shall ordinarily have a depth of not less than 10 feet measured perpendicularly from tree centers. The vegetative screening shall consist of 2 staggered rows of trees with the rows being 10 feet apart measured perpendicularly from tree centers. Trees within the respective rows shall be spaced not further than 12 feet apart (measured from centers). The proposed species of vegetation shall be indicated on the site plan submitted in accordance with § 111.21(B). The Board shall, upon request, supply a list naming desirable vegetative species to fulfill this vegetative screening requirement.
(D) In lieu of vegetative screening, the Board may authorize and require screening constructed of mounded earth, wood, stone, or brick, or other appropriate material, if the Board finds that such constructed screening would be more harmonious than vegetative screening with the present or intended future character of the neighborhood. If authorized by the Board, the screening shall be sightly and shall not be of a different quality, type, or dimension, and shall be maintained and/or painted so as not to detract from the surroundings. The screening shall be kept in good repair at all times and shall have no openings through which persons or animals may enter, except for doors or gates necessary for ingress or egress to the junkyard, which said doors or gates shall be kept closed except when actually needed for ingress or egress.
(E) Upon a finding of unnecessary hardship pursuant to § 111.21(G), the Board may, in the case of a nonconforming junkyard, authorize a permanent variance from the requirement in division (A) of this section that the junkyard be completely screened. The variances shall be sparingly granted, and only in the case where the Board finds, from an examination of the topographical character of the properties involved, that it would not reasonably be possible to achieve complete screening; such variances shall be granted only for as much of the perimeter of the junkyard as meets this criterion and shall not relieve the licensee of the responsibility to install and maintain as much screening as the Board shall judge reasonable under the circumstances.
(Ord. —, passed 11-6-1978; Am. Ord. —, passed 11-6-1979; Am. Ord. —, passed 6-15-1983; Am. Ord. —, passed 3-7-1988)