25.180.070 Parking lot landscaping.
(1) The width of parking lot buffers shall be as follows:
(a) Parking lots between the building and an arterial street shall have a minimum buffer of 10 feet between the parking lot and the property line.
(b) Parking lots adjacent to local access streets and alleys shall have a minimum buffer of five feet between the parking lot and the property line.
(2) Interior parking area landscaping shall be provided within all parking lots with 10 or more parking stalls for the purpose of reducing surface water runoff, providing shade, and diminishing the visual impacts of large paved areas. All other required buffers and setbacks shall not count toward the interior parking lot landscaping requirements. Parking lots within industrial districts shall be excluded from any interior parking lot landscape requirement.
(a) All developments shall provide interior parking landscape areas at the following rates:
(i) If parking lots have 10 to 30 parking stalls, then 20 square feet of interior parking landscape per parking stall shall be provided.
(ii) If parking lots have 31 to 50 parking stalls, then 25 square feet of interior parking landscape per parking stall shall be provided.
(iii) If parking lots have 51 or more parking stalls, then 30 square feet of interior parking landscape per parking stall shall be provided.
(b) Interior parking lot landscape areas distributed as planting islands or strips shall have an area of at least 100 square feet and with a narrow dimension of no less than five feet in any direction.
(c) Priority for location of interior parking lot landscaping shall be:
(i) First, at the interior ends of each parking bay in a multiple lane parking area. This area shall be at least five feet wide and shall extend the length of the adjacent parking stall. This area shall contain at least one tree.
(ii) Second, with the remaining required square footage of landscape area being equally distributed throughout the interior of the parking lot either as islands between stalls or landscape strips between the two rows of a parking bay or along the perimeter of the parking lot. Interior landscape islands shall be at least five feet wide and shall extend the length of the adjacent parking stalls. Landscape strips must be a minimum five feet wide.
(d) Up to 100 percent of the trees required for the interior parking lot landscape may be deciduous.
(3) All parking lot buffers and interior parking lot landscape areas shall be treated with a variety of landscape elements, with no less than 65 percent of said landscaped areas treated with live vegetation at the time of planting.
(4) Landscaped areas and buffers must be adequately protected from damage by vehicles through the use of a permanent curbing.
(5) Parking lots and the accompanying landscaping shall be configured so that no parking stall shall be located more than 75 feet from the edge of any interior parking lot landscape area.
(6) One tree shall be provided for every six (1:6) parking spaces.
(7) Trees shall be evenly distributed throughout the interior parking lot landscape.
(8) For all parking lots that contain greater than 400 parking stalls, pedestrian walkways shall be provided as follows:
(a) Pedestrian walkways within parking areas shall provide a distinct linkage between a main entrance to the building and a concentration of vehicle parking stalls.
(b) A minimum five-foot-wide pedestrian connection shall be clearly defined in a combination of two or more of the following ways (except walkways crossing vehicular travel lanes):
(i) A six-inch vertical curb in combination with a raised walkway.
(ii) A trellis, special railing, bollards, and/or other architectural features to accent the walkway between parking bays.
(iii) Special paving, such as concrete, or contrasting surfacing, in an asphalt area.
(iv) A continuous landscape area minimum of four feet wide shall be provided on at least one side of the walkway. [Ord. 4110 § 28, 2013; Ord. 3763 §10, 2006; Code 1970 § 25.75.070.]