15% to 25%: No more than 30% of such areas shall be altered, regarded, cleared or built upon.

25% or steeper: No more than 15% of such areas shall be altered, regraded, cleared or built upon.

Areas of steep slope that are less than 3,000 square feet shall be exempt from these standards.

No more than 50% of woodlands not associated with another environmentally sensitive resource shall be altered, regraded, cleared, or built upon. The remaining 80% shall be maintained as permanently preserved.

No more than 20% of woodlands associated with another environmentally sensitive resource shall be altered, regraded, cleared or built upon. The remaining 80% shall be maintained as permanently preserved.

Delineation of wetlands. When the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) Maps indicate wetlands on a site or when a site contains hydric soils[1] or an area with a predominance of wetlands vegetation,[2] an on-site investigation shall be conducted to determine if wetlands are present on the site. A landowner or an applicant shall use one of the following methods to delineate wetlands:

Wetlands of one acre or greater in size shall remain undeveloped. Such areas shall not be altered, regraded, filled, piped, diverted or built upon, except for minor road crossings where design approval is obtained from the Township, where state and federal permits have been obtained, and where no other reasonable access is available.

Wetlands of less than one acre in size shall not be altered, regarded, filled, piped, diverted or built upon except where state and federal permits have been obtained.

During actual construction on premises, that portion of the topsoil present which covers an area to be occupied by permanent structures or permanently located materials of an impervious nature or ponds and lakes may be considered excess, and may be removed by the owner.

During regrading operations conducted upon premises, whether or not carried on in conjunction with on-site construction, excess topsoil remaining after restoring a minimum compacted depth of four-inch topsoil cover to the art::as of the parcel upon which regarding operations were conducted may be removed by the owner.

Step 1, Site Analysis and Determination of Buffer Yard Class: For each property boundary, the applicant shall determine the adjacent land use. Land use information shall be determined by an on-site survey. Table 1 specifies the buffer yard class for each boundary.[1] The applicant shall match the proposed land use with the corresponding adjacent land use for each property boundary. The letter indicates the buffer yard class.

Step 2, Selection of the Planting Option for the Buffer Yard Class: After determining the buffer yard class, the applicant shall select a planting option from Table 2.[2] For each buffer class, several planting options are available, one of which the applicant shall select to meet the buffer yard requirement for each boundary.

Step 3, Selection of the Plant Materials From the Plant Materials List: For each planting option, any of the plant materials outlined in Table 3[3] may be utilized. Minimum plant size, given either in height or in caliper, is indicated on this table. Council may permit other plant types if they are hardy to the area, are not subject to blight or disease, and are of the same general character and growth habit as those listed in Table 3. All plant material shall meet the standards of the American Association of Nurserymen. The applicant shall not be required to provide a buffer yard should existing planting, topography, or man-made structures be deemed acceptable for screening purposes by Council or the Zoning Officer.

Location of buffer yard.

All buffer yards shall be maintained and kept clean of all debris, rubbish, weeds and tall grass.

No structure, sign, manufacturing or processing activity, commercial activity, parking, or storage or display of materials shall be permitted in the buffer yard.

Existing buffer: All existing deciduous and coniferous trees larger than two inches in caliper and/or six feet in height may be considered to contribute to the definition of an existing buffer on the property. If the amount of existing plant material that size or greater equals any of the planting requirements, the equivalent reduction of required plant material may be taken. In all cases, existing plant material of the above caliper and height shall be preserved in any buffer yard except where clearance is required to insure adequate sight distance. Any removal shall, where feasible, involve relocation rather than clearing.

Plant materials shall be permanently maintained and any plant material which does not live shall be replaced.

Planting design: It is encouraged that plant materials in buffer yards be planted in natural clusters that will give privacy but do not block views or vistas. The exception shall be commercial or industrial uses bordering residential uses. Here a dense, visual screen is required. Thus, plant material shall be at least four feet high when planted and be of such species as will ultimately produce a screen at least eight feet high.

The plant material shall be so placed that at maturity it will be no closer than three feet from any property or street line.

A clear sight triangle shall be maintained at all street intersections and at all points where private accessways intersect public streets in accordance with § 205-128.

The screen planting shall be broken only at points of vehicular or pedestrian access.

Prior to the issuance of any building permit, complete plans showing the arrangement of all buffer yards and the placement, species and size of all plant materials to be placed in such buffer yard shall be reviewed by the Zoning Officer to ascertain that the plans are in conformance with the terms of this chapter.

All berms incorporated into the design of landscape planting for required buffer yards shall have slopes ratios of three horizontal to one vertical.

Buffer yard requirements along expressway and arterial streets.