Title 18 - Unified Development Ordinance

18.450.070 Planting Requirements within Parking and Vehicular Use Areas

Except in those districts not requiring a landscaping plan, automobile storage lots, multiple level parking structures and parking lots having a paved area no wider than a double-loaded aisle or more than 65 feet in width, all parking areas and all zoning districts shall include the following as minimum requirements in order to encourage interior landscaping within vehicular parking areas, to break up the large expanses of pavement, to provide relief from reflected glare and heat, and to guide vehicular and pedestrian traffic:

1. A.
   Not less than 6% of the interior of a parking lot shall be landscaped. The interior of a parking lot shall be calculated by multiplying the number of parking spaces by 280 square feet. Plantings required along the perimeter of a parking lot shall not be considered as part of the interior landscaping requirement.
2. B.
   Landscaping and planting areas shall be reasonably dispersed throughout the parking lot.
3. C.
   The interior dimensions of any planting area or planting median shall be sufficient to protect the landscaping materials planted therein and to ensure proper growth; in no event shall any such area be less than 60 square feet in area or less than seven feet in width. Each area shall be protected by Portland cement concrete curbs or similar structures.
4. D.
   The primary landscaping materials used in parking lots shall be trees which provide shade or are capable of providing shade at maturity. Shrubbery, hedges and other planting materials may be used to complement the tree landscaping, but shall not be the sole means of landscaping. Effective use of earth berms and existing topography is also encouraged as a component of the landscaping plan.
5. E.
   Landscape islands in parking lots may alternately be designed and planted to serve as a dual-purpose landscape area and stormwater treatment facility. When landscape islands are designed as a stormwater treatment facility, usage of trees as the primary landscaping material shall not be required when the City determines that trees are incompatible with native plantings proposed for use as a means of stormwater treatment.
6. F.
   In those instances where plant materials exist on a parking lot site prior to its development, such materials may be used if approved as meeting the requirements in Section 18.450.060.
7. G.
   No landscaping, tree, shrub, fence, wall or similar item shall be placed in zones of ingress or egress at street corners, or in the intersection of a public right-of-way, that the Traffic Engineer of the City, or his or her designee, determines is an obstruction to visibility, extends into a sight distance triangle as set forth in Section 18.420.070, or is otherwise a traffic hazard.

(History: Ord. ZRR-2848 §30, 2010; ZRR-2675 §13, 2008; ZRR-1725; ZRR-1637; ZRR-987 §6; ZRR-889 §18.56)

Effective on: 1/1/1901