Wherever in this Zoning Code landscaping is required, the area required to be landscaped shall be made fertile and planted prior to the date of issuance of a final certificate of occupancy, and thereafter reasonably maintained with permanent plantings and materials equal in characteristics to the suggested plant materials in subsections (c) and (d) below.
(a) Lot Planting Requirements.
(1) The unpaved or unimproved portions of all lots in all districts which are not in a natural wooded state or in which the natural state has been disturbed by grading or filling, including but not limited to common areas, easements, disturbed wetlands or riparian areas, required front yards, side yards, rear yards and other open spaces, shall be landscaped with sod, grass or other horticultural materials prior to the date of issuance of a certificate of occupancy. This provision shall not be construed to prohibit private gardening or farming operations.
(2) There shall be not less than one tree or shrub for each 3,000 square feet of the total lot area exclusive of buffer strip planting requirements, in all zoning districts of the City.
(b) Buffer Strip Planting Requirements.
(1) Buffer strips shall be landscaped with sod, grass or other horticultural materials.
(2) The minimum planting width shall be thirty feet along the common property line.
(3) Tree and shrub materials shall not be placed closer than four feet from a fence or wall line.
(4) An evergreen (see subsection (c) hereof) shall be planted at least every ten feet of the length of the buffer strip.
(5) Three intermediate shrubs (see subsection (d) hereof) shall be planted for each evergreen required in paragraph (4) of subsection (b) hereof.
(Ord. 12-2015. Passed 3-10-15.)
(c) | Suggested Evergreen Planting | Required Size of Planting Stock |
Medium Evergreens juniper red cedar American arborvitae (white cedar) Canadian hemlock | All medium evergreen plantings shall be a minimum of three to four feet in height. | |
Narrow Pyramidal Evergreens pyramidal arborvitae columnar juniper Irish juniper taxus hicksi | All pyramidal evergreen plantings shall be a minimum of three to four feet in height. | |
(d) | Suggested Shrub Plantings | Required Size of Planting Stock |
Tree-like shrubs: flowering crabs Russian olive smoker bush clump birch mountain ash dogwood redbud rose of Sharon | All tree-like shrub plantings shall be a minimum of three to four feet in height. | |
Large Deciduous Shrubs: viburnum mock orange lilacs butterfly bush ninebark | All deciduous shrub plantings shall be a minimum of two to three feet in height. | |
(e) | Trees that are not permitted in off-street parking areas: | |
box elders | poplars and cottonwoods | |
soft maples | ailanthus (Chinese tree of heaven) | |
fruit trees | ribes (gooseberry) | |
nut trees | All thorned trees and shrubs; honey | |
willows | locust, etc. | |
elms | ||
(Ord. 72-72. Passed 8-31-72.) | ||