(A) Landscape minimum. At least 25% of the area of the street yard shall be landscaped area.
(B) Tree requirements. For areas within the street yard, trees of not less than one and one-half inches in caliper and six feet in height (either existing or planted) shall be required as per the ratios found in Table 13.1. A minimum of five different species must be planted if more than 50 caliper inches of trees are required. A minimum of 75% of all required trees shall be large canopy trees. All provisions of §§ 150.770 through 150.788 apply regarding replacement tree plantings.
Total Street Yard Area | Required Trees |
Less than 10,000 square feet | 2 trees per 1000 square feet or fraction thereof |
Over 10,000 square feet | 20 trees, plus 2 trees per 2,500 square feet or fraction thereof over 10,000 square feet |
Quantity of trees required shall be rounded up | |
(C) Shrub requirement. A maximum of 20% of the 25% required landscaped street yard area shall consist of shrub plantings and should be more or less evenly distributed throughout the street yard so as to not create a geometric alignment. Hedgerows and straight lines of plantings are discouraged.
(D) Plant selection. All required vegetation shall be plants included in the Sunset Valley Recommended Plant List. Should an approved plant not be available at time of installation, a plant within the same category in the Sunset Valley Recommended Plant List may be substituted with the approval of the City Landscape Architect or other designated City Agent.
(E) Landscaping credits. The following may receive credits toward landscaping and buffering requirements:
(1) Existing preserved tree credit. An existing surveyed or planted tree which is at least four inches shall be considered as two trees for purposes of satisfying requirements of this division. Up to one third of the required trees may be Juniperus virginiana or Juniperus ashei, the native eastern and western cedars, respectively; and/or Prosopsis glandulosus, the native mesquite. Trees that are excluded from protection per §§ 150.770 through 150.788 cannot be considered for credit.
(2) Drip line credit. The impervious cover within the area encompassed by the drip line of any existing tree in a required landscaped area may not exceed 50% of such area. Each square foot of permeable surface below the drip line of the existing preserved tree shall count as 125% square feet of landscape credit. Trees for which extra credit is being applied shall be inspected prior to, during and at time of final inspection for healthiness and probability of survival. Credit shall be subject to the following limitations:
(a) Overlapping drip line cannot be counted twice.
(b) No credit will be given where damaging grade changes within the drip line of a tree has occurred.
(c) No storage of materials or vehicular traffic is to be permitted in this area in order to prevent compaction of soil.
(d) The total credit for the tree drip line cannot exceed the total footage within the drip line. The total credit must be equal or less than 100% of the area within the drip line
(3) Pedestrian amenities. For each square foot of publicly accessible special pedestrian facilities and features such as plazas, covered walkways, fountains, lakes and decorative water ponds, seating areas and outdoor recreation facilities; such areas will reduce the amount of required landscaped area of the site by an equivalent square footage up to only 10% of the required landscaped street yard.
(4) Berm credit. Landscape areas incorporating berms a minimum of three feet in height will be given 5% additional credit toward reducing square footage requirements for landscaped areas. Berms must have no greater than three to one slope.
(5) Proposed trees credits. Newly planted trees of at least four caliper inches and at least twelve 12 feet tall shall be considered as one and one-half trees for purposes of satisfying the requirements of this chapter. All newly planted trees shall be planted in a permeable area whose minimum dimension is no less than 15 feet wide measured from the back of the curb
(F) In no case shall the actual landscaped area of a lot be less than 80% of the required minimum area of the street yard.