§ 9162.52. Off-Street Parking - Landscaping Requirements.

• A. Interior Parking Lot Facilities.

  1. Except for parking lot facilities serving retail petroleum outlets, all required automobile parking facilities and any parking facilities visible from the public right-of-way shall have interior landscaping of not less than five (5) percent of the area of such facilities.

  2. Required setback landscaping abutting a street, sidewalk or structure, and border plantings up to five (5) feet in width abutting a building, shall not be considered as interior landscaping for the purposes of this Section.

  3. No interior landscaping shall be located in a truck maneuvering or truck loading area.

  4. Interior landscaping shall be arranged so as to provide shade for vehicles and to enhance visual attractiveness from adjoining streets and walkways.

  5. Interior landscaping shall be maintained with an irrigation system, permanently installed, which delivers water to all landscaped areas.

  6. All landscaped areas and parking facilities shall be maintained to present an attractive appearance at all times.

  7. Unless the Director shall determine that such is not feasible, all interior areas of outdoor parking facilities which, as a result of the parking design, are unused and which are visible from a public street or walkway shall be landscaped and maintained with an irrigation system, permanently installed, which delivers water directly to all landscaped areas. Such landscaping may be included in computing the five (5) percent interior landscaping requirement.

• B. Screening.

  1. If a parking facility is located adjacent to a public street or walkway, there shall be a landscaped strip, not less than ten (10) feet in width, running parallel to and along the public street or walkway, excluding space devoted to driveways and other access points. Such landscaped strip shall not be included in computing the five (5) percent landscaping requirement. All landscaped strips shall be maintained with an irrigation system, permanently installed, which delivers water directly to all landscaped areas.

  2. All parking facilities, and truck parking, loading and maneuvering areas, shall be screened from the public right-of-way. Such screening may be accomplished by use of a decorative wall, a retaining wall, mounded landscaping planter, a densely landscaped planter, or a combination thereof.

  3. All decorative walls used for screening shall be architecturally designed and treated so as to be compatible with existing or proposed improvements on the site, and shall comply with the following requirements:

     • a. In a required setback abutting a public right-of-way, no decorative wall shall exceed three and one-half (3-1/2) feet in height.

• b. A decorative wall in a required setback abutting a public right-of-way and not within a manufacturing zone may be of a maximum height of six (6) feet; provided, that it does not impair visibility by obscuring more than ten (10) percent of the area in the vertical plane above three and one-half (3-1/2) feet. Such wall shall be tapered or eliminated within three (3) feet of any driveway or access point to protect against damage from vehicular traffic.

  - c. Decorative walls within a manufacturing zone which are not within a required setback may exceed eight (8) feet in height. Such decorative walls shall be designed and scaled so that their mass and height is compatible with other existing or proposed improvements on the site. 
  

• C. Setbacks. Any front, side or rear setback shall be landscaped which: (1) contains no permitted encroachment by a structure, parking facility, or other site development improvement; (2) is adjacent to a public right-of-way; and (3) is visible from the public right-of-way. Such landscaping shall be maintained with an irrigation system, permanently installed, which delivers water to all landscaped areas. Such landscaping shall not be included in the computation of the five (5) percent interior landscaping requirement.

• D. Specific Landscaping and Irrigation Requirements.

  1. Any area required by this Section to be landscaped, or any landscaping area otherwise provided, excluding single-family dwellings, shall have a permanently installed, wellbalanced automatic irrigation system and shall be operated by electrically timed controller stations set for early morning irrigation.

  2. Irrigation systems for landscaping covering clay soils and slope areas shall be equipped with low output sprinkler heads permitting a slow water application rate.

  3. Prior to installing any landscape irrigation system, the area to be landscaped shall be scarified and covered with a mixture of not less than four (4) inches of topsoil, preferably native topsoil, in a reasonable quantity and type approved by the Director.

  4. All landscaped areas which abut a walkway, driveway, parking space, loading area, or public right-of-way, and are not protected by a wall, shall be enclosed with six (6) inch by six (6) inch concrete curbing.

  5. All landscaping and irrigation plans shall be prepared by a licensed landscape architect.

6. Any landscaped area or parking area which becomes deteriorated or blighted shall be replaced or repaired to the satisfaction of the Community Development Department.

(Ord. 90-905 § 3; Ord. 89-890 §§ 1 – 3; Ord. 87-821 § 11; Ord. 78-442; Ord. 79-479 § 10)