Secondary and Cumulative Impacts Master Management Plan - 2014

Article 5: Development Standards Section 5.12. Landscaping 5.12.4. Vehicle Use Area Landscaping

g. Ground cover or turf shall be planted in all areas not covered by trees, shrubs, or walls. 441

3. Width 442 The perimeter landscaping strip shall be the minimum width necessary to adequately accommodate the proposed plantings and other screening materials and avoid damage to such materials by vehicles within the vehicle use area. In no instance shall the strip be less than four feet wide. Perimeter landscaping associated with a vehicle use area may be credited towards compliance with perimeter and streetyard buffer standards to the extent landscaping within the strips complies with applicable buffer standards (see Section 5.7, Perimeter and Streetyard Buffers). D. Interior Landscaping Standards 443 Vehicle use areas except those containing 15 or fewer vehicle parking spaces shall provide and maintain landscaped islands within the interior of the vehicle use area in accordance with the following standards. These standards shall not apply to parking structures or vehicle display areas. 1. General a. For each 2,000 square feet of area within a vehicle use area, at least one shade tree and ten shrubs meeting the standards in Section 5.12.3.A, New Planting Standards, shall be provided. Up to 25 percent of the shrubs may be deciduous. 444 b. Understory trees may be substituted for shade trees in areas beneath or immediately adjacent to overhead utilities or exterior lighting fixtures. 445 c. Those parts of planting islands not containing required shade trees shall be landscaped with other trees, shrubs, or ground cover. 446 Planting Islands within Parking Bays a. A planting island shall be provided at each end of every row of parking spaces. Where a row of parking spaces contains more than 20 parking spaces, additional planting islands shall be provided at a spacing no greater than one island at the end of every 20 contiguous parking spaces. b. A planting island at the end of single loaded parking bays shall be at least 175 square feet in area. A planting island at the end of double-loaded bays shall be at least 350 square feet in area. c. Each planting island shall be at least ten feet wide. If the planting islands at the ends of parking bays include a connecting walkway in accordance with Section 5.10.6.C, Large Parking Lots, they shall be at least 15 feet wide and designed to maximize shading of the walkway and minimize disturbance of vegetation by pedestrians. d. Each planting island shall contain at least one shade tree. 447 2. 441 This new standard sets a minimum width for perimeter landscaping strips. 442 This new standard is intended to ensure the minimum width needed to accommodate the requisite screening. 443 Part C, Art. IX, Sec. 7.3 of the current Zoning Ordinance requires 1 shade tree and 10 shrubs per 2,000 sf of VUA, requires all parking spaces to be located within 50 ft from a shade tree, and requires landscaped island at the ends of parking bays or spaced no more than 20 parking spaces apart within a parking or between parking bays. This subsection requires carries forward the standards in that section. 444 This carries forward the shade tree and shrub ratios in Part C, Art. IX, Sec. 7.3 of the current Zoning Ordinance, referencing the general new planting standards that contain the planting size standards in that section. 445 This new section recognizes that large trees are not appropriate immediately adjacent to overhead electric lines or light poles. 4. Credit Towards Perimeter and Streetyard Buffer Standards

446 This new standard is intended to preclude the paving or graveling over of landscaped islands. 447 This new standard is intended to ensure shade trees are distributed throughout the parking lot.

June 2013 Page 5-126

Morrisville, NC

Unified Development Ordinance - Public Hearing Draft