Applicants proposing new or altered landscaping shall comply with each of the following requirements in the design, installation, and maintenance of the landscaped area unless an exception is granted pursuant to Section 22-244.
(A) Landscape plan. Applicants shall submit a landscape plan depicting the landscaped area and all existing landscaping to remain on the lot as determined by the development services department. Landscaping shall be designed to be irrigated at no more than 0.7 of the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and shall not exceed the MAWA. The city reserves the right to require modifications to plans in quantity and quality of the landscape to meet the landscape water conservation standards requirements.
(B) Use of turf and water wise plants.
(1) The landscape area of projects proposing commercial or industrial uses shall be designed without the use of turf and with 100% water wise plants. The exception to this is where a turf type is specified for any required bio-swale or bio-filter systems.
(2) Turf is the appropriate choice in parkways where vehicle parking is permitted adjacent to the parkway curb. The parkways may include a maximum of two non-permanent hardscape areas where space permits. The non-permanent hardscape area can be pervious pavers, decomposed granite, brick on sand, concrete pavers or other materials approved by the development services director or designee and may serve as a pedestrian landing between the parkway curb and the sidewalk. Each non-permanent hardscape area may be no larger than 4'-0" in width and be installed and sized in such a manner that it can be easily removed should the city or utility company need to do work in the parkway in the future. The pedestrian landing area must be a minimum of 5'-0" away from the street tree and 3'-0" away from any meter boxes, cable boxes, transformers, street lights, or other objects that may be in the parkway.
(3) Where parking is not permitted adjacent to the parkway curb, the parkway shall be designed using 100% water wise plants.
(4) The landscape area of single-family residential, multi-family residential, and institutional type of projects shall be designed with no more than 40% of the landscaped area in turf or plants that are not water wise plants. In the case of single-family residences and other residences with a rear yard that is enclosed by a fence separate from any other residence's rear yard or common area, the area to be used in the calculation of the "landscape area" shall only include the front yards and any side yard outside the individual dwelling unit's private area (typically, a rear yard). Approved turf parkways are not a part of the 40% turf limitation.
(5) Turf is not permitted in medians or parking lot landscape finger planters.
(6) Turf shall not be used on slopes of 20% (5:1) or greater within the landscape area.
(7) Notwithstanding requirements (1) and (2) above, additional turf areas may be approved by the development services director or designee for areas designed and used for outdoor sporting and recreational activities or for an approved functional use. Approved turf areas may be watered at 1.0 of the reference evapotranspiration (ETo).
(C) Mulch. The landscape area, except those portions of the landscaped area planted in turf shall be covered with mulch material to an average thickness of at least three inches throughout. In areas with groundcovers planted from flats, mulch shall be installed to an average thickness of one and one-half inches. Additional mulch material shall be added from time to time as necessary in order to maintain the required depth of mulch.
(D) Irrigation. All new or altered irrigation systems which require a planning or building permit, whether or not new or altered landscaping is proposed, shall incorporate the following requirements in their design, installation and maintenance:
(1) Irrigation systems shall be designed and installed to avoid overspray and runoff.
(2) Valves shall be separated for individual hydrozones based on plant water needs and sun/shade requirements.
(3) Water budget calculations (Sec. 22-242(J)) shall be shown on irrigation plans.
(4) An automatic irrigation system is required and shall include a weather based irrigation controller with a rain shut-off sensor.
(5) Areas less than eight feet wide are a particular challenge and shall be irrigated with appropriately selected equipment that provides the proper amount of water coverage without causing overspray onto paved surfaces.
(6) All sprinklers shall have matched precipitation rates within each valve and circuit. All irrigation systems shall be designed to include optimum distribution uniformity, head to head spacing and setbacks from walkways and pavement.
(7) All irrigation systems shall provide check valves at the low end of irrigation lines to prevent unwanted draining of irrigation lines.
(8) Pressure regulators may be required on the irrigation system as determined by the development services director or designee.
(9) Irrigation systems shall be installed and irrigation controllers shall be programmed to comply with current city code regarding water conservation and/or water waste.
(10) All landscaping serviced by a dedicated landscape irrigation account shall be enrolled in the city's landscape water budget program. This program promotes ongoing effective management of irrigation water in new and existing landscapes by providing a periodic comparison of actual water used to a designated water budget.
(Ord. No. 2822)