(a) There shall be provided and maintained between any nonresidential and Residential District, between any Multiple-Family and One-Family District and between certain uses listed herein, an obscuring wall or landscaped earth berm as follows, except as otherwise excluded in subsection (c) hereof:
Use | Minimum Requirements |
Use | Minimum Requirements |
(1) P-1 Vehicular Parking District | Five feet high |
(2) Off-street parking area (other than P-1 Districts) | Five feet high (nonresidential uses in Residential Districts shall provide the wall or earth berm immediately adjacent to the parking area) |
(3) RM and MH Districts | Five feet high (nonresidential uses in Residential Districts shall provide the wall or earth berm immediately adjacent to the parking area) |
(4) RO Districts | Five feet high |
(5) C-1, C-2 and C-3 Districts | Six feet high |
(6) M-1 District | Six feet high |
M-1 District (open storage areas, loading or unloading areas, service area) | Six feet high (or to the height necessary to provide the most complete obscuring possible) |
(7) Auto wash, drive-in restaurants | Six feet high |
(8) Hospital (ambulance and delivery areas) | Six feet high |
(9) Utility buildings, stations and/or substations | Six feet high |
(b) For those districts and uses listed in subsection (a) hereof, there may be provided, in lieu of an obscuring wall, an obscuring landscaped earth berm (earth mound). When such earth berm is provided in place of a wall, or in combination with a wall, the berm shall be landscaped and maintained in a clean, orderly and growing condition, and shall meet the following minimum design standards:
(1) Continuous earth berms shall be provided with an undulating horizontal and vertical top and sides. The height of the earth berm shall be not less than required for a wall in the district. Earth berms may consist of opaque screen plantings within the horizontal berm depressions or architectural masonry walls, or a combination of both, so long as the minimum required height of the earth berm plantings or walls, or a combination thereof, is maintained.
(2) Berms shall be a landscaped earth mound possessing a maximum slope ratio of three feet of horizontal plane for each one foot of vertical height. The berm shall have a nearly flat horizontal area at its crest of at least two feet in width. The side slopes shall be protected from erosion by sodding or seeding. Sodding shall be used only if the sodded areas are provided with irrigation. If seeded, they shall be protected with a straw mulch held in place by jute netting until a permanent lawn is established. However, other nets designed and intended to control erosion may be used as well.
(3) The Planning Commission shall review the effectiveness of an earth berm against other screening devices set forth in this Zoning Code and shall determine if the berm is an acceptable alternative. The Commission, in making its review, shall consider the type of objects to be screened, the type of land use that the objects are to be screened from, topographic conditions in the area and general appearances.
(c) Required walls or earth berms shall be located on the lot line, except where the standards of this section require them to be located on the residential side of an alley or located immediately adjacent to a parking lot in a Residential District, and except:
(1) Where underground utilities interfere;
(2) Where this Zoning Code requires conformity with front yard setback lines in abutting Residential Districts;
(3) Where a nonresidential district is located directly across a street from a Residential District, in which case the wall shall be placed on a line parallel to and twelve feet, six inches back from the street right-of-way line. The wall shall parallel the nonresidential frontage for the full extent that the nonresidential district lies across the street from the Residential District. The area between the wall and the street right-of-way line shall be landscaped with lawn, shrubs and trees.
(d) Required walls shall be located on the opposite side of an alley right of way from a nonresidential district that abuts a Residential District.
(e) Required walls shall be constructed of architectural masonry materials which may include all decorative masonry units, i.e. monolithic and/or precast concrete walls. Precast concrete walls, or commercial/industrial rated wall panels with stone or brick design shall be stained or painted in colors complementary to the color of exterior materials used in buildings on the site.
(Ord. 458. Passed 1-4-89; Ord. 495. Passed 6-19-91; Ord. 606. Passed 3-5-97; Ord. 23-1031. Passed 2-1-23.)