(a) Shade Trees. Residential lots shall provide a minimum of one parkway shade tree per street frontage (corner lots) and one additional shade tree per street frontage to be located in the front or corner side yard of the zoning lot. The required additional tree(s) may be of an alternate species as deemed appropriate for the intended location and use.
(b) Buffering. Where a residential development abuts a more intensive land use, including residential, business, or manufacturing districts, parking lots, railways, or arterials, a minimum twenty-foot buffering strip shall be required to reduce the negative impacts of the adjacent development. This buffer may be achieved using a variety of arrangements, including parallel, serpentine, or broken planting rows, landscape berms, fencing, or any combination thereof.
Buffering materials shall be designed to provide a year-round screen of at least four feet in height in three growing seasons. Landscape berms shall be a minimum of three feet in width and not exceed a fifty percent slope. Openings in buffering materials shall be provided along dedicated easements, rights of way, and, where necessary, for emergency vehicle access.
(c) Ground Cover. All lot areas not covered by site improvements or required buffering, trees, bushes, or other vegetation shall be covered using sod, seed, hydro-seed or some combination thereof.
(1) New development. All new residential developments shall be required to sod all yard areas of the lot prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy.
(2) Existing development. Where ground cover is removed, destroyed, or dies for any reason, the property owner shall replace said ground cover using one or a combination of the methods permitted within this chapter.
(d) Parking Lot Landscaping. A minimum of ten percent of the interior parking space for nonresidential uses (schools, churches, police/fire station, planned developments, cemeteries, and other permitted special uses) shall be reserved for landscape plantings, including, but not limited to, parking islands, hedges, berms, rocks, trees, and ground cover. One interior parking area shade tree shall be planted for every fifteen parking spaces. Interior shade tree requirements are in addition to the required number of street and parkway trees.
(1) Location. All landscaping shall be planted within center islands, at the ends of parking bays, and along sidewalks, so as to provide protection from automobile and pedestrian traffic. All plantings and trees shall be installed so as to not impede sight lines between four and eight feet.
(2) Plant type. The planting of evergreens are encouraged along the perimeter of parking lots for their screening characteristics. Deciduous trees shall be planted within center islands and parking bays to provide shade.
Parking blocks, curbs and other such devices shall be used to prevent automobiles from overhanging landscaped areas. Any area that will be under the overhang of an automobile shall be mulched or paved.
(e) Paving Materials. A variety of designs and paving materials, including concrete, asphalt, paving block, brick, cobblestone, tile, and other materials, are permitted in residential districts. The paving materials to be used shall be resistant to weathering and installed with due consideration of function, cost, availability, appearance, and the user. (See Appendix A following the text of this chapter.)
All paved areas, with the exception of residential driveways, patios, and sidewalks, shall be designed to meet the minimum weight requirements for emergency vehicle access as established by the Village Fire Department.
(f) Privacy Walls and Fences. Walls and fences may be erected where necessary for privacy, screening, separation, security, erosion control, or other reasonable function.
The design and materials used shall be functional and compatible with the surrounding environment and meet the requirements of Section 4.00, entitled "Fences," of the Zoning Ordinance.
(g) Street Furniture/Ornamentation. Street furniture, including, but not limited to, benches, sculptures, flag poles, lighting, and ornamentation, shall be regulated as accessory structures in residential districts according to their respective sections of the Zoning Ordinance. The location and size of all furniture and ornamentation shall be in accordance with the function served and the applicable regulations for the residential district in which it is to be located.
All street furniture and accessory structures shall be compatible in form, material, and finish, to the principal building. Street furniture shall be selected with due consideration of theme, function, durability, maintenance, and overall cost.
All trash containers shall be located in the rear of the principal structure and required to be screened from sight using fencing or vegetation, or a combination thereof. Nonresidential uses shall be required to screen trash containers using solid fencing materials.
(Ord. 940. Passed 4-14-97; Ord. 1143. Passed 6-23-03.)