17.18.085 Interior landscaping required.
1. Any off-street parking lot adjacent to a residential use or residential zone shall provide a minimum ten-foot (10') landscaped buffer from the parking lot to the adjacent residential use or zone. In addition to the following requirements, landscaping shall meet the design requirements of Chapter 17.19. Trees shall be planted at least every ten feet (10') along the landscaped strip adjacent to the residential use or residential zone. Trees must be a minimum of two-inch (2") caliper measured one foot (1') off the ground and at least six feet (6') tall when planted. In addition to any required fencing, trees shall be of a variety that will mature to a height of at least twenty feet (20') tall in order to provide a visual barrier between the nonresidential use and the residential use. The planning commission has flexibility to grant exceptions to this landscape screening standard if existing vegetation or other existing screening is found to meet the intent of the screening requirements found in this section.
2. For all required parking lots in any zone, interior parking lot landscaping is required as follows and meets the design requirements of Chapter 17.19:
a. Any parking lot that has at 10 or greater required parking spaces shall provide at least 40 square feet of interior landscaped area for each parking space;
b. The landscape materials shall consist of at least 75% living vegetation including ground cover, trees, and shrubbery. The remaining 25% may consist of xeriscape (desert landscaping) materials;
c. Trees that are 2" caliper measured one foot off the ground and at least 6' tall when planted shall be installed within the interior parking lot landscaping areas at a ratio of one tree for every 10 required parking spaces. The applicant may determine the location of the trees within the interior landscaping areas as defined by this ordinance.
d. The landscaping must be dispersed throughout the parking area and shall be separated from the parking lot by 6" high concrete curbing;
e. Perimeter landscaping required along public street frontages or required adjacent to residential zones or uses may not substitute or count towards square foot requirements for interior landscaping. However, interior landscaping may join perimeter landscaping as long as it extends at least four feet into the parking area from the perimeter landscape line.
f. Layout of interior landscaped areas. The layout of the interior landscaped areas must meet either one or a combination of the standards of this subparagraph:
i. Option 1: Landscape strips.
•Interior landscaping must be arranged in landscape strips at least four feet wide between rows of parking stalls, as shown in Figure 1 and 2.
•Where the front portions of parking stalls are landscaped as allowed above, an additional 2' landscaped strip must be adjacent to the four-foot landscape strip to accommodate the over-hanging of vehicles, as shown in Figure 2.
ii. Option 2: Other landscape patterns.
•Interior landscaping must be arranged in areas at the ends of rows of parking or between parking spaces within rows of parking. See Figure 3.
•Interior landscaping may join perimeter landscaping as long as the interior landscape area extends at least 4 feet into the parking area from the perimeter landscape line. See Figure 3.
•Landscaping that abuts, but does not extend into, the parking area may be included as interior landscaping if all of the following are met:
-The abutting landscaped area must be in addition to required perimeter landscaping;
-Only the first ten (10) feet of the abutting landscaped area, measured from the edge of the parking area, may be included as interior landscaping. See Figure 3; and
-The landscaped area is not abutting and parallel to required perimeter landscaping unless 4 feet wider than the required perimeter landscaping. See Figure 3.
g. Individual tree-planting spaces. Where an individual tree is planted in a space surrounded by pavement, the planting area must have a minimum interior dimension of five feet. See Figure 4.
h. Exception for existing parking lots. Where compliance with the interior landscaping requirements listed above would result in the loss of existing required parking spaces, the amount of parking spaces required shall be reduced by up to a 20% in order to accommodate the interior landscaping required. (Ord. 2023-1 §1, amended, 2023)