A.

Applicability. This chapter applies to all of the following landscape projects:

1.

New construction projects with an aggregate landscape area equal to, or greater than, five hundred (500) square feet requiring a building or landscape permit, plan check or design review;

2.

Rehabilitated landscape projects with an aggregate landscape area equal to, or greater than, two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet requiring a building or landscape permit, plan check, or design review.

3.

Existing landscapes that were installed before December 1, 2015 and are over one (1) acre in size.

4.

Cemeteries.

B.

Prescriptive compliance method. Any project with an aggregate landscape area of 2,500 square feet or less may comply with the performance requirements of this ordinance or conform to the prescriptive compliance option measures contained in Section 16.07.150.

C.

Exemptions. This chapter does not apply to:

1.

Registered local, state or federal historical sites;

2.

Ecological restoration projects that do not require a permanent irrigation system;

3.

Mined-land reclamation projects that do not require a permanent irrigation system;

4.

Existing plant collections, as part of botanical gardens and arboretums open to the public; and

5.

Any project that is lawfully constructed, erected, or approved prior to the effective date of this chapter, or for which the application for entitlement is deemed complete prior to the effective date of this chapter, in compliance with applicable laws, and which project does not conform to the requirements of this Chapter shall be accepted and allowed as a legal nonconforming project. Legal nonconforming projects shall comply at all times with the laws, ordinances, and regulations in effect at the time the application was deemed complete, and any applicable Federal or State laws as they may be amended or enacted from time to time, and shall at all times comply with the conditions of approval. Any legal nonconforming project which fails to comply with applicable laws, ordinances, regulations, or conditions of approval may be required to conform to the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 386, § 7(Exh. C), 7-12-2022)