(a) General. Within parking lots, landscaping shall be used for shade and climate control, to enhance project design, and to screen the visual impact of vehicles and large expanses of pavement as set forth in the following paragraphs.
(b) Parking Lot Shade. Trees shall be planted and maintained in all parking lots at a ratio of one tree for every ten parking spaces. The trees shall be placed throughout the parking lot in a manner that will ensure that all portions of the lot receive tree shade. Trees shall be of varieties that provide a broad canopy.
(c) Parking Lot Screening. Landscaping within the perimeter planter between parking lot and street right-of-way shall be designed and maintained for partial screening of vehicles to a minimum height of thirty inches, measured from the finished grade of the parking lot. Screening materials may include any combination of plant materials, earthen berms, solid masonry walls, raised planters, or other screening device deemed by the community development director to comply with the intent of this requirement.
(d) Percent Coverage. A minimum of ten percent of the parking lot area shall be landscaped. Parking lot landscaping shall not count toward required landscape coverage otherwise required for the zoning district in which a project is located.
(e) Screening of Drive-through Aisles. To screen vehicles in a drive-through and associated headlights from view of abutting street rights-of-way, a minimum, continuous, and immediate three-foot-high landscape screen shall be established along the outer edge of drive-through aisles. Screening materials may include a combination of plant materials and raised planters as approved by the community development director.
(f) Irrigation. All landscaped areas shall be equipped with an underground automated irrigation system.
(Ord. 710, § 9 (part), 2019)