Sec. 55-715. - Street yard landscaping.
Landscaping shall be provided adjacent to each street property line and within street yards as set forth in Table 55-715. (See the drawings on the page following the table.)
(a) Credit for landscaped right-of-way (R-O-W): On properties located in an R6 or more intensive zoning district, a maximum of one-half of the area of any landscaped street R-O-W more than 35 feet back from the center line of such street and planted and maintained by the adjacent property owner, may be credited toward the fulfillment of the landscaping requirements for the adjacent street yard, subject to the following conditions:
(1) Such landscaped R-O-W must be visually contiguous to the street yard, and must be landscaped and maintained as part of the adjacent property.
(2) The maximum area that may be credited toward fulfillment of the street yard landscaping requirement in the R-O-W shall be 20 feet multiplied by the applicable street frontage.
(3) A minimum of one tree must be planted and maintained for each 500 square feet of landscaped R-O-W credited toward satisfaction of the street yard landscaping requirement. Trees required under this schedule may be located elsewhere within the street yard. Each tree planting plan for street R-O-W shall be reviewed and approved by the public works director and the city forester, or their designees. In no event shall any such tree be planted closer than 12 feet from the final proposed curb line.
(4) The minimum depth requirement for street yard landscaping must be fulfilled.
(5) The credit set forth herein shall not cause the required landscaped area within the first 100 feet of street yard depth to be reduced to less than the minimum equivalent street landscaping for the applicable zoning district.
(6) Reduction of any landscaped right-of-way developed pursuant to this section by reason of eventual public use shall not be considered to create a nonconformance with the requirements of this article.
(b) Lots with multiple frontage: When a lot contains more than one street frontage, the area of al street yards and the proposed street yard landscaped areas may be combined for the purpose of determining compliance with this schedule.
(c) Shallow lots: On any lot within a CC Community Commercial, GC General Commercial, or GI General Industrial District, with a perpendicular dimension of 150 feet or less measured from the street property line, the following exceptions to the minimum depth provisions of this section shall apply:
(1) The required minimum depth may be reduced to ten percent of the depth of the street yard. Such minimum depth shall not be less than five feet, except as provided by section 55-715(c)(2).
(2) The landscaped area required by the minimum depth provisions may alternately be provided in grouped landscaping areas extending back from the street property line, subject to approval by the planning director.
(d) Irregular residential lots: For irregular lots within residential districts, the width of the street yard shall be defined by lines drawn perpendicular from the intersection of the front building line with the side property line of the lot.
TABLE 55-715
STREET YARD LANDSCAPING
District | Minimum Equivalent Street Landscaping (As a Percent of Street Yards) | Minimum depth
AG | 90% | 35 feet
DR | 80% | 30 feet
R1 | 75% | 30 feet
R2 | 70% | 25 feet
R3 | 65% | 20 feet
R4 | 60% | 15 feet
R5 | 55% | 15 feet
R6 | 55% | 15 feet
R7 | 50% | 10 feet
R8 | 50% | 10 feet
LO | 30% | 10 feet
GO | 25% | 10 feet
LC | 25% | 10 feet
CC | See Schedule A | 10 feet
NBD | No requirement, unless required by conditional or special use permit
GC | See Schedule A | ½ of required front yard
CBD, DS | No requirement, unless required by conditional or special use permit
CH | 20% | 15 feet
LI | 20% | 10 feet
GI | 10% | ½ of required front yard
HI | No requirement, except as required by conditional or special use permit
AV, PUD, PUR, MD | As required by development plan approval
SCHEDULE A
This schedule establishes required street yard landscaping in the CC and GC districts. It shall not overrule any more restrictive landscaping requirements set forth elsewhere in this chapter.
STREET YARD LANDSCAPING
Depth of Street Yard Measured from Property Line | Total Minimum Equivalent Street Landscaping (as a Percent) of the Defined Yard Area | Minimum Landscaping in Defined Street Yard
0 to 150 ft. | 20% | 20%
150 to 300 ft. | 10% | 5%
Over 300 ft. | 5% | 5%
Example
[image omitted; see the official code]
Figure 55-715
A developer wants to build a commercial building on a 250-foot by 200-foot site, as shown. The site is zoned CC. What are the street landscaping requirements?
[image omitted; see the official code]
Commercial Building
Solution
The size of the street yard is 80 feet by 250 feet, or 20,000 square feet. In the CC district, 20 percent of this area must be landscaped. Thus 4,000 square feet of the street yard must be landscaped.
The minimum depth of the street landscaping from the front property line is ten feet. This accounts for 250 feet by ten feet or 2,500 square feet of the required street yard landscaping.
Therefore, an additional 1,500 square feet of landscaping is required. Diagrams (a), (b), and (c) give examples of how the street landscaping requirements could be satisfied.
[image omitted; see the official code]
Landscaped Areas
Example 2
A developer wants to build a commercial building on an 800-foot wide by 400-foot deep site as shown below. The site is zoned CC community commercial. What are the street landscaping requirements?
[image omitted; see the official code]
Example 2—Shopping Center
Solution
The size of the entire street yard is 250 feet by 800 feet, or 200,000 square feet. In the CC district, the total amount of required street landscaping is equal to the sum of 20 percent of the first 150 feet of street yard measured from the property line, ten percent of the next 150 feet, and five percent of any additional depth. In this example, the required landscaping is calculated as follows:
First 150 feet: 150 × 800 × 0.20 = 24,000 sq. ft.
Next 100 feet: 100 × 800 × 0.10 = 8,000 sq. ft.
Total 32,000 sq. ft.
A minimum of 20 percent of the first 150 feet of the street yard, or 24,000 square feet must be landscaped. However, some of the required landscaping within the second 100 feet may be transferred to the front of the lot, provided that not less than five percent of this second area is landscaped. Thus, the developer could choose to transfer up to 4,000 square feet of landscaping from the second part of the street yard to the front 150 feet.
The minimum depth of the street landscaping from the front property line is ten feet. This minimum accounts for 800 × 10, or 8,000 square feet of the required landscaping in the front 150 feet of the street yard. An additional 16,000 square feet must be provided within this area.
In certain situations, landscaping that is planted and maintained within the public right-of-way may help fulfill these street landscaping requirements. (Refer to section 55-715, Schedule A, for the use of this credit.)
_____
(Code 1980, § 55-715; Ord. No. 37810, § 26, 8-14-07; Ord. No. 38677, § 7, 3-16-10; Ord. No. 40041, § 4, 7-15-14)
