7-9-112. LANDSCAPING AND SCREENING.
(1) Parking Lots with five or more spaces must have a minimum of a 20-foot wide landscape strip in all yards adjacent to any Street. Side Yards adjacent to a Street may reduce the landscape strip to 10 feet if they incorporate a 3-foot high masonry screen wall with the Landscaping sloping upward to the top of the wall. 20-foot wide landscape strips shall incorporate a berm with a minimum elevation of three feet above the Parking Lot. Exterior perimeters of the Parking Lot, which are not adjacent to a Street, shall have a minimum of a five-foot wide Landscaping strip. Parking Lots adjacent to an Agricultural Zone or Residential Use or Zone shall have a minimum of a 10-foot wide landscape strip.
(2) The Planning Commission may consider alternatives to the berming requirement as a Conditional Use on properties of at least ten (10) acres. This provision applies only to properties in the Manufacturing (M) zone and only on interior Streets within the Development, not on any High-Image Arterial Streets as defined in Chapter 7-10. If berming requirements are so modified, screening for adjacent Parking Lots shall be required using a combination of hedges, shrubs, trees, landscape boulders, screen walls and similar devices.
(3) At least 15 square feet of Landscaping for each Parking Space shall be provided within the interior of all off-Street parking areas. Such Landscaping shall be dispersed throughout the interior of the parking area. For parking areas with 20 or more total Parking Spaces in a double-loaded aisle, Landscaping shall include at least a 5' x 36' landscape area with two trees at each end of the aisle. For parking areas with 28 or more total Parking Spaces in a double-loaded aisle, Landscaping shall include at least a 5' x 36' landscape area with two trees at each end of the aisle and incorporate one of the four options below (Figure 7.1):
a. 5' x 5' landscape diamonds (measured along each side of the diamond) placed no more than 7 Parking Spaces apart;
b. 5' x 36' landscape areas with two trees placed 10 Parking Spaces apart;
c. a 5' landscaped median with trees planted 40' apart; or
d. Other similar designs that disperse Landscaping throughout the parking area and are acceptable to City staff.
(4) All landscaped areas shall consist of at least 50% live plant materials and be serviced by a permanent underground irrigation system. The remaining 50% may include mineral or nonliving organic permeable material. Landscape areas that are less than 8 feet wide shall utilize drip or bubbler irrigation and shall not include sod. Trees shall be planted in the landscape areas at a minimum ratio of one tree per 300 square feet of gross landscape area. Where trees are required, four shrubs per tree shall also be required. Trees shall be a minimum size of 1.5” caliper and shrubs shall be a minimum size of 1 gallon.
(5) Where any Parking Lot of five or more spaces borders an Agricultural Zone or Residential Use or Zone, a six-foot concrete or masonry wall and landscape buffer shall be installed in accordance with the following requirements:
a. The wall shall be constructed concurrently with the foundation of the first Building on the Lot.
b. The six-foot height requirement shall be measured from the Grade of the higher Lot to the top of the screen wall.
c. When future Commercial Use of the neighboring residential property is recommended in the General Plan, a waiver or substitution for the wall requirement may be approved by the Planning Commission for Conditional Uses or the Zoning Administrator for Permitted Uses.
i. If a substitution would allow visibility into a neighboring residential property, the substitution shall not be approved unless the Owner of the residential property records a deed restriction against his or her property in a form acceptable to the City Attorney’s Office prohibiting the installation of a solid Fence.
ii. Substitutions permitting visibility into a neighboring residential property shall be constructed with six-foot powder coated ornamental aluminum alloy or similar non-rusting product.
