A. Responsibility.
1. The responsibility for maintenance of required landscaping areas shall remain with the owner of the property, their successors, heirs, assignees or any consenting grantee.
2. Maintenance is required in order to ensure the proper functioning of the plantings as a landscaped area which reduces or eliminates nuisance and/or conflict.
3. Failure to adequately maintain required landscaping material is a violation of this Ordinance subject to the remedies and penalties in Article 8: Enforcement.
B. Maintenance.
1. All plantings shall be maintained in an attractive and healthy condition. Maintenance shall include, but not be limited to: watering, mulching, fertilizing, pest management, mowing, weeding, removal of litter and dead plant material, and necessary pruning and trimming.
2. Necessary pruning and trimming shall be accomplished in accordance with the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) Standards for the Professional Arborist, and shall not include:
a. The topping of trees;
b. Removal of 30 percent or more of the crown material in one calendar year;
c. Removal of the central leader; or
d. Any other similarly severe procedures that may cause irreparable harm to the natural form of the tree.
3. Dead or diseased plantings shall be removed. Unless specifically exempted (such as understory trees shaded by canopy trees), replacement plantings shall be provided for any dead, diseased, or removed vegetation when such replacement plantings are necessary to meet the standards or this Ordinance or maintain the screening objective of the landscaping material.
4. Landscape structural features such as walls, fences, berms, or water features shall be maintained in a structurally safe and attractive condition.
5. Where other uses, including pedestrian and bicycle accessways, are allowed within a required landscaping area, these uses shall be maintained to provide for their safe use.
C. Excessive Pruning or Trimming. Pruning or trimming exceeding the TCIA standards or activities exceeding necessary pruning or trimming as identified in subsection B above shall be a violation of this Ordinance, and shall require replacement of damaged vegetation in accordance with Section 5.6.18, Replacement of Required Vegetation.
D. Failure to Maintain. Failure to maintain required landscaping areas is a violation of this Ordinance, in accordance with Article 8: Enforcement.
(Ord. 2020-36, passed 12-2-2019)