(a) When an application for a development plan is made, the Director of Planning shall determine if the buffering requirement might be applicable. If he or she determines that the request comes under the buffering requirement, the Director shall so advise the applicant and shall submit a request to the Planning Commission that the matter be reviewed once the applicant has furnished the Commission with the following:
(1) A copy of the site plan;
(2) The topography of the building site and surrounding area; and
(3) A complete description of the area to be constructed or modified.
(b) The applicant shall provide the Commission with a detailed description and sketch of the landscape buffer, prepared by a landscaping expert, which visually and verbally outlines the nature and the effect of the proposed landscape buffer.
(c) The Commission may request photographs or other descriptive data if the Commission deems such data necessary.
(d) The Commission shall notify all owners immediately adjacent to the property in question prior to any meeting at which the landscape buffering requirement will appear on the agenda.
(e) A certificate of occupancy shall not be granted until buffering requirements have been completed. If compliance is delayed because of the growing season, a temporary permit to occupy may be granted by the Inspector of Buildings. Such delay should not extend beyond the next growing season following the date upon which the certificate of occupancy is requested.
(f) Where buffering is required, a building permit shall not be issued by the Inspector of Buildings until an agreement has been reached between the applicant and the Commission as to the buffering requirement. The agreement between the Commission and the owner and/or developer shall include, among other requirements, provisions for the following:
(1) Maintenance of the landscape buffer on the part of the applicant;
(2) Replacement procedures for any portion of the landscape buffer that is for any reason no longer viable;
(3) Replacement of the landscape buffer involving plant material that does not extend beyond the next growing season;
(4) Replacement of landscape material such as fences; and
(5) Replacement of landscape material within sixty days from the date of notification by the Inspector of Buildings.
(Ord. 95-2-12. Passed 4-4-95.)