(a) Interior parking lot landscaping. The interior of parking areas of more than 20 vehicles shall have a minimum of five percent of the parking lot planted as landscaped island areas or an area equal to five percent of the parking lot shall be set aside for landscaping of the parking lot in order to provide visual relief from broad expanses of pavement. Each landscaped island shall be not less than ten feet in any horizontal dimension and shall provide at least one shade tree having a clear trunk height of six feet and a caliper of not less than two inches. Shrub plantings adjacent to the building along the perimeter of the lot shall not be counted as interior landscaping. For the purpose of this section, the area of the parking lot shall be the total vehicular service area, including circulation lanes.
(b) Parking and loading areas adjacent to residential districts. All loading areas and parking areas accommodating five or more vehicles for commercial, industrial, retail or general public use or non one-family uses abutting one-family residential lots in a residential district, shall be screened from view from such properties through landscaping or ornamental walls or fences to promote harmony with the adjacent property development.
(1) Screening shall consist of one or any combination of the following:
A. A dense vegetative planting incorporating trees and/or shrubs of a variety which shall be equally effective in winter and summer, e.g. evergreens; and/or
B. A landscaped mound or berm.
(2) Visual screening walls, fences or mounds and fences in combination shall be a minimum of six feet high in order to accomplish the desired screening effect.
(3) Vegetation shall be planted within such minimum height to assure that the required six-foot screening effect shall be achieved not later than 12 months after the initial installation.
(4) All screening shall be free of advertising or other signs.
(5) Landscaping shall be maintained and replaced when necessary.
(6) Materials used in any ornamental wall or fence shall be compatible with the character of the development and abutting properties.
(Ord. 09-O-5, passed 5-18-2009)