(A) Landscaping on the Interior of Parking Lots. Interior landscaping of parking lots shall be provided in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) When any parking area is designed to accommodate ten or more vehicles, a minimum of 10% of the parking surface area shall be planted as landscaped island areas, developed and reasonably distributed throughout the parking surface areas so as to provide visual and climatic relief from broad expanses of pavement. The total parking surface area for such calculation shall not include parking area in a parking garage other than the top level which is open and exposed for parking whether at ground surface or the roof level of an above ground parking structure. The total parking surface area shall also include any impervious surface area intended for stopping, standing, traveling, display or inventory of motor vehicles.
(a) Landscaped islands shall be developed and distributed throughout the parking lot to define major circulation aisles and driving lanes and provide visual and climatic relief from the broad expanses of pavement.
(b) Each island shall be a minimum of 6 feet in any horizontal dimension.
(c) Within the landscaped islands, there shall be provided one major shade tree for the first 20 parking spaces and one additional shade tree for every 10 additional parking spaces, provided there is no impairment to the visibility of motorists or pedestrians. Each tree, at the time of installation, having a clear trunk height of at least 6 feet and a minimum caliper of 2 inches.
(d) Shrubs or low, spreading plant materials may be planted within the required landscaped islands provided there is no impairment to the visibility of motorists or pedestrians.
(e) Landscaping needed to meet the perimeter landscape requirement shall not be counted toward interior landscaping.
(2) For the purpose of this section, the area of a parking lot shall be the total vehicular surface area including circulation aisles.
(B) Screening Along Public Streets and Perimeter of Parking Areas. Whenever parking areas consisting of 5 spaces or more are located such that the parked cars will be visible from a public or private street, screening, in addition to the interior landscaping required in division (A) above, shall be provided and maintained between the parking area and the street right-of-way.
(1) All shrubs, berms, walls, and fences, shall have a minimum height of 3 feet, and shall cover 100% of the perimeter of the parking area. When the screening or a portion thereof is intended to be provided with landscaping, the minimum height at installation must be 24 inches.
(2) Such landscaping and/or screening shall be located parallel to and within 5 feet of the edge of the parking lot.
(C) Interior landscaping islands shall be designed to serve as bioretention areas, unless determined to be inappropriate by the City Engineer. A minimum of one tree shall be installed for every 435 square feet and one shrub shall be installed for every 30 square feet of interior landscape areas. Figure 151.3408(F) illustrates an example of an interior parking lot bioretention area.
(D) Shrubs or low, spreading plant materials may be planted within the required landscaped islands provided there is no impairment to the visibility of motorists or pedestrians.
(E) Landscaping needed to meet the perimeter landscape requirement shall not be counted toward interior landscaping.
(Ord. 5-2005, passed 3-23-05; Am. Ord. 2-2009, passed 3-4-09; Am. Ord. 16-2013, passed 11-6-13)