§ 94-443. Nonresidential and multifamily screening and buffering requirements.

(a)

Buffering of nonresidential uses adjacent to residential property. The owner of property used for nonresidential purposes located adjacent to a residential zoning district shall install and maintain along the entire property line a protective screen wall and a landscaped buffer. For the purposes of this provision, nonresidential uses does not include park uses. Protective screen walls and buffers are required to meet or exceed the specifications of this section. The property owner of the nonresidential property may have the required protective screen wall waived if a notarial waiver is duly signed under seal by all abutting landowners waiving objection to the existence of an unwalled nonresidential use.

(1)

Protective screen walls .

a.

Walls shall be at least five feet in height, except, when erected within 20 feet of a residential front property line, shall be reduced to 30 inches in height. Walls shall be constructed of brick, decorative concrete, other decorative masonry, or comparably durable and aesthetic wood or metal, excluding metal or wood slats in chainlink fences.

b.

Walls shall not contain any openings except those gates or similar means of access that may be approved in the course of site plan review.

c.

Walls shall extend the full length of the nonresidential property adjacent to a residential district. Walls in excess of 30 inches in height shall not be erected within 20 feet of a residential front property line. The five-foot wide landscape buffer shall be installed between the required wall and the property line when an alley separates the nonresidential property and the residential district.

(2)

Landscape buffer .

a.

All landscape buffers shall be a minimum of five feet in width.

b.

All portions of the landscape buffer shall be covered with natural grass, ground cover, shrubbery, mulch, or other suitable live plant material.

c.

At least one shade or flowering tree shall be planted in a required buffer for each 30 linear feet or portion thereof. Required shade or flowering trees may be planted at intervals or may be clustered if clustering improves the effectiveness of the buffer. Required trees to serve as a landscape buffer adjacent to a residential zoning district must be visible from the opposite side of the wall to enhance the buffering effect. Clustering of required trees shall be subject to city approval. If there is additional landscape area adjacent to the buffer strip, required trees may be placed adjacent to the buffer strip to allow a greater area for tree development.

d.

Hedges shall be planted in a required landscape buffer at two-foot intervals or clustered if the effectiveness of the buffer is improved.

e.

The amount of required plant material and of required buffer length shall be measured along the centerline of the buffer.

f.

Required trees, hedges and shrubs may not be clustered when planted next to buffer parking lots.

(b)

Buffering of nonresidential uses adjacent to a public thoroughfare and nonresidential zoning district. The owner of property used for nonresidential purposes shall install and maintain a landscaped buffer strip along the entire edge of property adjacent to a public thoroughfare and other nonresidential zoning districts. The buffer strip shall be designed and landscaped as follows:

(1)

For industrial uses and uses in industrial districts, the buffer strip shall be at least ten feet wide along the edge of property when adjacent to a public thoroughfare and at least five feet wide along the edge of property when adjacent to nonresidential zoning districts. For all other nonresidential uses, the buffer strip shall be at least five feet wide along the entire edge of property when adjacent to a public thoroughfare, and when adjacent to nonresidential zoning districts.

(2)

The buffer strip may not be interrupted by more than 25 percent of its required length to provide for signs or vehicular ingress and egress. This provision may be waived by the planning and zoning administrator to accommodate normal vehicular ingress and egress for properties possessing less than 100 feet of frontage along a thoroughfare. However, not more than 50 percent of this requirement may be waived.

(3)

Trees, shrubs, natural grass, ground cover, or other suitable live plant material shall be planted over the entire buffer strip area. However, paving may be used in areas of intensive pedestrian circulation.

(4)

At least one shade or flowering tree shall be planted in a required buffer strip for each 30 linear feet or portion thereof. Paved areas used for pedestrian circulation and vehicular access shall be included when calculating the length of the buffer strip. Trees may be clustered or planted irregularly as deemed appropriate. Clustering of required trees shall be subject to city approval.

(5)

To determine the amount of required plant material, the required buffer strip length shall be measured along the centerline of the buffer.

(c)

Screening and landscaping for vehicular use areas. The owner of property that contains vehicular use areas shall install and maintain a landscape buffer when such uses are adjacent to or visible from a public thoroughfare. Vehicular use areas for multifamily residential uses shall provide an additional decorative wall when such uses are adjacent to a residential zoning district. Screening and landscaping shall be installed as required by the following:

(1)

A decorative wall: Vehicular use areas shall be screened from residential uses and districts by a 36-inch high brick, decorative concrete, other decorative masonry, or comparably durable wood or metal wall around the periphery. The screen does not include metal or wood slats in chainlink fences. The wall may not be interrupted along more than 20 percent of required length to provide vehicular ingress and egress; however, this provision may be waived to accommodate normal vehicular ingress and egress for properties possessing minimal frontage.

(2)

A landscaped buffer . Vehicular use areas shall be screened from thoroughfares and residential uses and districts by a landscape buffer of at least five feet in width. Hedges shall be planted within the landscape buffer and are subject to the requirements of subsection 94-445(4)e. Shade trees must be planted at 30-foot intervals. The requirements of this section shall not apply when property lines are adjacent to an existing structure.

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TABLE XIV-1

MINIMUM REQUIRED LANDSCAPE BUFFER FOR THE VARIOUS ZONING DISTRICTS

Adjoining Proposed	Multifamily	Commercial	Industrial	Public Thoroughfare
Multifamily ≤ 4 units		0	0	Setback
Multifamily > 4 units	5 feet	5 feet	5 feet	10 feet
Commercial	5 feet plus 5-foot high wall	5 feet	5 feet	5 feet
Industrial	5 feet plus 5-foot high wall	5 feet	5 feet	10 feet
Vehicular use areas	5 feet plus 3-foot high wall	5 feet	5 feet	5 feet

 

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(3)

Off-street parking lots . Off-street parking lots containing at least 12 interior parking spaces shall contain landscape areas. The total size of such landscaped areas shall be equal to ten square feet for each parking space and shall be provided within the interior of an off-street parking area. A minimum of 75 percent of all trees that are required to be planted within the interior of an off-street parking area shall be category 1 shade trees, as designated in the landscape design manual. The shade trees shall be located in such a manner to produce maximum overhead canopy for the vehicles. All parking lot landscaped areas shall be planted with natural grass, ground cover, shrubbery, or other suitable live plant material. Parking lot landscaped areas shall be designed, planted, and maintained to permit clear vision between the height of two feet and eight feet above grade; however, this requirement shall not apply where the lack of clear vision is not deemed to be a safety hazard. Terminal islands, interior islands and divider medians should be designed to retain maximum water in the turf areas and are subject to the following requirements. Figure XIV-1 is an example of the location and relationship between the parking lot landscape areas and the property.

a.

Terminal islands . Each row of parking spaces shall be terminated by landscaped islands of not less than eight feet in width and not less than the length of the adjacent parking stall. Each landscaped island shall have a minimum radius of two and one-half feet at its end so as to allow car maneuvering. Each landscaped island shall contain at least one shade or flowering tree per row of parking.

b.

Interior islands . One interior landscape island shall be required for every ten parking spaces in a row. Interior landscape islands shall be at least eight feet wide measured inside the curb and shall contain at least one shade or flowering tree per row of parking.

c.

Divider medians . Divider medians shall be provided within the landscape area if there are more than three consecutive rows of parking, and they shall form a continuous landscaped strip between abutting rows of parking spaces. The divider strips shall be located to provide placement of shade trees to maximize tree canopy coverage for parking spaces. The minimum width of such a divider median shall be eight feet. Shade or flowering trees within a divider median shall be planted at 30-foot intervals. The clustering of divider median trees may be approved by the planning and zoning administrator. The maximum spacing of trees however, shall not exceed 50 feet.

(4)

For other paved areas utilized by motor vehicles, including aisles, loading areas, circulation areas and drive-in service areas, additional landscaping shall be provided as follows: four square feet of landscaped area shall be required for each 100 square feet, or fraction thereof.

(5)

Landscape areas and plant materials must be protected from vehicular encroachment by curbs or wheel stops. Parked vehicles shall not extend into a landscaped buffer area that is five or less feet wide unless two additional feet are added to the buffer. The two additional feet of landscaping shall contain no plant, irrigation device, or other object higher than six inches above the top of the curb of subsection (a) of this section. Landscape areas and sidewalks in the vehicular use area shall be designed in accordance with the minimum requirements set forth in Figure XIV-2. The usage of curbs is more preferable to wheel stops. However, wheel stops should be utilized when on-site drainage is a concern. Curbing and usage of wheel stops are subject to the following requirements:

a.

Curbs. Landscape areas shall be separated from vehicular use areas by non-mountable, concrete curbing of the type characterized as "Type D" in the current edition of the "Roadway and Traffic Design Standards Manual" prepared by the state department of transportation, or curbing of comparable durability. Extruded concrete curb shall not be placed on top of asphalt. Cemeteries shall not be required to provide curbing along internal roadways where such roadways directly abut areas of interment. Public parks and public utility facilities shall not be required to provide curbing along internal roadways. Curbing and wheel stops shall be required for cemeteries, public parks and public utility facilities in parking areas.

b.

Wheel stops. Landscape areas adjacent to off-street parking areas shall be protected from encroachment or intrusion of vehicles through the use of wheel stops. Wheel stops shall have a minimum height of six inches above the finished grade of the parking area. Wheel stops shall be anchored as approved by the city engineer and shall be continuously maintained in good condition. Only one wheel stop may be used for one parking stall. One-half wheel stop placed in front of a single wheel stall shall not be accepted.

(6)

Parking areas containing more than 40 parking spaces shall have the following options to redistribute landscape area within the parking field to provide additional root zone for shade trees and produce maximum overhead tree canopy for the vehicles.

a.

Interior landscape islands within the perimeter row of the parking may be eliminated if the tree canopy located adjacent to the perimeter row of spaces has the potential to shade the row of parking spaces. If the corresponding length of landscape area is a required perimeter landscape buffer, it must be a minimum width of eight feet and can be planted with category 1 shade trees without inhibition by utility easements or overhead wires. The landscape area square footage of the eliminated islands must be added to other interior islands or the adjacent landscape buffer.

b.

The interval of required interior landscape islands may be increased from ten parking spaces to 12 spaces in a row if the landscape island is increased in width to ten feet, and islands are split and alternated for each of two adjacent rows of parking to minimize overlap of tree canopies.

(d)

Additional landscaping requirements for multifamily residential uses. The owner of property used for multifamily residential uses shall install and maintain the following landscaping:

(1)

A landscape buffer shall be required for multifamily residential uses adjacent to a public thoroughfare. Such a landscape buffer shall be equal to the setback for properties that contain four or less multifamily dwellings, and at least ten feet in width for properties that contain five or more multifamily dwellings. A landscape buffer of at least five feet in width is also required for properties that contain five or more multifamily dwellings along the multifamily residential use and the adjacent properties. The buffer strip shall be designed and landscaped as required by the following:

a.

The buffer strip shall not be interrupted at more than 20 percent of its required length to provide vehicular ingress and egress; however, this provision may be waived to accommodate normal vehicular ingress and egress for properties possessing minimal frontage along a thoroughfare;

b.

All portions of the buffer strip shall be covered with natural grass, ground cover, shrubbery, mulch, or other suitable plant material;

c.

At least one tree shall be planted in a required buffer strip for each 30 linear feet or portion thereof. Required street trees may be clustered or planted irregularly as deemed appropriate. Clustering of all required trees shall be subject to city approval.

(2)

Shade trees to be planted and landscaped on the exterior of all structures as required by the following:

a.

At least two shade or flowering trees for each dwelling unit for multifamily residential structures with two to five units per structure, and at least one shade or flowering tree for each dwelling unit for multifamily residential structures with six or more units per structure.

b.

At least 40 percent of the linear feet around the exterior of all structures shall be planted with trees, shrubs or hedges.

c.

All remaining, nonpaved areas shall be covered with natural grass, ground cover, mulch or contain beds of preserved native shrubs. Artificial turf shall only be permitted subject to the requirements of section 94-451.

(e)

Additional landscaping requirements for nonresidential uses. The owner of property which is used for nonresidential uses shall install and maintain the following landscaping:

(1)

At least 30 percent of the linear feet around the exterior of all commercial structures shall be planted with trees, shrubs or hedges;

(2)

At least 20 percent of the linear feet around the exterior of all industrial structures shall be planted with trees, shrubs or hedges;

(3)

All remaining, nonpaved areas shall be covered with natural grass, ground cover, mulch or contain beds of preserved native shrubs. Artificial turf shall only be permitted subject to the requirements of section 94-451.

(Code 1979, § 33-162; Ord. No. 4191-08, § 2, 12-15-2008; Ord. No. 4420-12, § 3, 6-11-2012; Ord. No. 4660-16, § 10, 12-5-2016; Ord. No. 4689-16, § 3, 4-11-2017; Ord. No. 4756-17, § 3, 2-12-2018)