Vehicular Use Area Landscaping
Biloxi Land Development Ordinance § 23-6-3(D)
in effect(D) - Vehicular Use Area Landscaping
Except where exempted by Section 23-6-3(D)(1), Exemptions, all vehicular use areas shall include landscaping both within the interior of the vehicular use area and around its perimeter, as a means of mitigating the parking area's microclimate and visual impacts.
(1) Exemptions
The following uses shall be exempt from the standards of this subsection:
a. Single-family detached residential development;
b. Two-family dwellings;
c. Three- to four-family dwellings;
d. Manufactured homes; and
e. Off-street surface vehicular use areas with five or fewer spaces.
(2) Interior Landscaping Standards
Vehicular use areas shall provide and maintain landscaped planting areas within the interior of the vehicular use area in accordance with the standards in this subsection. These standards shall not apply to parking structures or vehicle display areas.
a. Configuration
Interior planting areas shall be designed in accordance with the following standards:
1. Islands shall be located at the end of parking bays and have an area of at least 152 square feet for single-loaded parking bays, and at least 304 square feet for double-loaded bays.
2. Off-street surface parking areas with 500 or more spaces shall be organized into a series of smaller modules of 25,000 square feet or less per module, and be visually separated by continuous landscaped islands at least 11 feet wide that contain pedestrian pathways located at least every six parking bays.
3. Landscaped planting areas shall be distributed throughout the parking area for the purpose of heat abatement.
4. Driveway medians with shrubs shall be at least four feet wide and six feet long and driveway medians with shrubs and understory trees shall be at least six feet wide.
5. No parking space shall be separated from the trunk of a deciduous canopy tree by more than 60 feet. Perimeter vehicular use area landscaping or other required landscaping may be used to meet this requirement.
6. Each interior planting island shall contain canopy or understory trees at the minimum rate of one and one-half aggregate caliper inches (ACI) per every 152 square feet, or portion thereof, of the total vehicular use area. (See Figure 23-6-1(G)(3)b., Vehicular Use Area Configuration.)
b. Screened Backfill
Soil utilized in vehicular use area islands, driveway medians, and other areas internal to a vehicular use area shall be screened prior to deposition in planting areas.
c. Protection of Planting Areas
All planting areas shall be protected from vehicle damage by the installation of curbing, wheel stops, or other comparable methods. This standard shall not prohibit the use of planting areas as on-site stormwater management devices.
(3) Perimeter Landscaping Strips
[image omitted; see the official code]
Figure 23-6-3(D)(3): Perimeter Landscaping Strip
Where a vehicular use area serving a use subject to these standards abuts a street right-of-way, vacant land, or any other development (except another vehicular use area), perimeter landscaping strips shall be provided and maintained between the vehicle use area and the abutting right-of-way or property line in accordance with the following standards. (See Figure 23-6-3(D)(3), Perimeter Landscaping Strip.)
a. Location
1. Perimeter landscaping strips shall be located on the same land as the vehicular use area, and shall be placed to assure visibility and safety of pedestrians on the public street and within the vehicular use area.
2. Perimeter landscaping strips may not be placed within future street rights-of-way as identified in the Biloxi Thoroughfare Plan.
b. Minimum Width
When a vehicular use area is located within 50 feet of a street right-of-way, the perimeter landscaping shall be located within a planting strip at least eight feet wide. In all other instances, the strip shall be the minimum width necessary to assure required landscaping is not damaged by vehicles or other on-site activity. In no instance shall the strip be less than three feet wide.
c. Continuous, Opaque Visual Screen Required
Perimeter landscaping strips shall form a continuous, opaque visual screen, excluding required sight clearances at driveways.
d. Protection of from Vehicular Damage
The perimeter landscaping strip shall be protected from vehicular damage by the installation of curbing, wheel stops, extra width in the landscaping strip, or other method approved by the Director of Community Development.
e. Planting Height
1. Shrubs associated with the perimeter landscaping strip shall be maintained at a minimum height of three feet above the surface elevation of the adjacent vehicular use area within four years of planting. To allow security surveillance of parking areas, the maximum height of shrubs in the perimeter landscaping strip shall be five feet.
2. The perimeter landscaping strip shall allow compliance with all city, state, and federal highway sight distance standards.
f. Required Materials
1. Evergreen shrubs shall be used to form the continuous, opaque visual screen in the perimeter landscaping strip.
2. In addition to the evergreen shrub requirements, each perimeter landscaping strip shall include at least eight aggregate caliper inches (ACI) of canopy trees per 100 linear feet of landscaping strip. Understory trees may be used beneath overhead utilities.
g. Adjacent to Perimeter Buffers
Perimeter landscaping strips associated with a vehicle use area may be credited towards perimeter buffer standards (See Section 23-6-3(E), Perimeter Buffers.), provided the minimum buffer standards of this section are met.
(4) Incentives
a. The total aggregate caliper inch (ACI) requirements for canopy and understory trees in this subsection may be reduced by five percent when:
1. At least 30 percent of the required parking is located to the side or rear of the building;
2. At least 30 percent of the total required parking is subject to a shared parking agreement (See Section 23-6-2(H)(2), Shared Parking); or
3. Pervious parking surfacing is used for 20 percent or more of the total vehicular use area.
b. Nothing shall prohibit the combination of these incentives or the resulting cumulative reduction in the amount of required tree ACI.
Source: City of Biloxi, Mississippi, Code of Ordinances and Land Development Ordinance (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/ms/biloxi/codes/land_development_ordinance?nodeId=ART23-6DEST_3LA_DVEUSARLAFetched: 11/2/2026