Clark County Unincorporated
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
LANDSCAPE AND
LAND USE BUFFERS
§ 155.205 INTENT.
The intent of these guidelines is to provide a conservation plan to improve the appearance of vehicular use areas and property abutting public rights-of-way; to require buffering between non-compatible land uses; and to protect, preserve, and promote the esthetic appeal, character, and value of the surrounding neighborhoods; to promote public health and safety through the reduction of noise pollution, visual pollution, air temperature, and artificial light glare.
(Prior Code, § 13.1) (Ord. 94-6, passed 8-25-1994)
§ 155.206 SITES AFFECTED.
(A) New sites. No new site development, building, structure, or vehicular use area should hereafter be created and used unless landscaping is provided as required by the provisions of these guidelines.
(B) Existing sites. No property lines should be altered nor should any building, structure, or vehicular use area be expanded, unless the minimum landscaping provided by the provisions of these guidelines is provided for the property to the extent of its alteration or expansion, and not for the entire property.
(Prior Code, § 13.2) (Ord. 94-6, passed 8-25-1994)
§ 155.207 WHERE LANDSCAPE MATERIAL IS REQUIRED.
This section describes the minimum requirements that shall be met in regard to interior and perimeter landscaping for vehicular use areas, and perimeter landscaping for non-compatible land uses areas.
(A) Perimeter landscaping requirements. Unless otherwise provided, landscape materials shall be installed to provide a minimum of 50% winter opacity and a 70% summer opacity between one foot above finished grade level to the top of the required planting hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound within four years after installation. The required landscaping should be provided either in easements in certain zones or adjacent to vehicular use area. A “plant list” shall be maintained by the Planning Department to provide more detailed information on the acceptable plant material.
(1) Property perimeter requirements. When the following adjoins the following, a minimum landscape easement of this average widths (with three feet as the least dimension) is required, which will contain this material, to achieve opacity required.
A. When the following | B. Adjoins the following | C. A minimum landscape *1 easement of this width is required | D. Which will contain this material *3 to achieve opacity required. |
A. When the following | B. Adjoins the following | C. A minimum landscape *1 easement of this width is required | D. Which will contain this material *3 to achieve opacity required. |
1. Any Residential Zone except Mobile Home District | Any Mobile Home District | Ten feet, adjacent or astride to all common boundaries, including street frontage | One tree 40 feet of lineal boundary, OFT *2, from Group A, B, or C of plant list plus continuous six feet high planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound. |
2. Any Single-Family Residential Zone except Mobile Home District | Any Multi-Family Residential | Ten feet adjacent or astride to all common boundaries except street frontage. | Same as 1(D) |
3. Any Residential Zone including Mobile Home District | Any Office Zone | Six feet, adjacent or astride to all common boundaries except street frontage | One tree 40 feet of lineal boundary, OFT *2, from Group A or B of plant list plus continuous six feet high planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound. |
4. Any Residential Zone including Mobile Home District | Any Business Zone | Same as 1(C) | Same as 3(D) |
5. Any Residential Zone including Mobile Home District | Any Industrial Zone | Twenty feet adjacent or astride to all common boundaries except street frontage | One tree 40 feet of lineal boundary, OFT*2, from Group A of plant list plus continuous six feet high planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound. |
6. Any Office or Business Zone | Any Industrial Zone | Fifteen feet adjacent or astride to all common boundaries except street frontage | Same as 3(D) |
7. Any Professional Office Zone | Any Business Zone | Same as 3(C) | Same as 3(D) |
8. Any Recreational Zone | Any zone except Agricultural Zones | Same as 3(C) | Same as 3(D) |
9. Any zone except Agricultural Zones | A freeway or arterial street prohibiting driveways | Twenty feet for residential zones including Mobile Home Districts and ten feet for all other zones, adjacent to freeway or arterial | One tree 30 feet OFT *2, from Group A or B of plant list, plus continuous six feet high planting, hedge, wall, fence, or earth mound. |
10. Railroads (except spur tracks) | Any zone except Agricultural and Industrial Zones | Twenty feet for residential zones including Mobile Home District and ten feet for all other zones, adjacent to railroad boundaries. | Same as 9(D) |
11. Any property including street rights-of-way | Utility substation, junk yards, landfills, sewage plants, or similar uses | Fifteen feet adjacent to all boundaries, except only five feet for utility substations measured adjacent to the enclosure. | Same as 9(D) |
*1 Grass or ground cover shall be planted on all portions of easement not occupied by other landscape material. *2 OFT means “or fraction thereof”. Trees do not have to be equally spaced, but may be grouped. *3 To determine required area of landscape easement, multiply required average width by length of common boundary. Using item 1(C) as an example, the ten feet average required width times as assumed 100 feet of common boundary equals 1,000 square feet of required landscape area. Thus, if some sections of the easement are only three feet in width, other sections will have to be greater than ten feet in width in order to obtain the required 1,000 square feet of landscape area. | |||
(2) Vehicular use area perimeter requirements. When the following adjoins the following, a minimum landscape easement of this width is required, which will contain this material *3 to achieve opacity required.
A. When the following | B. Adjoins the following | C. A minimum landscape *1 easement of this width is required | D. Which will contain this material *3 to achieve opacity required. |
1. Any residential office, educational institutional, or business building (except in B-2 Zones) | Any vehicular use area *2 on any adjacent property. | Four foot minimum to all trees from edge of paving where vehicles overhang, and a three-foot strip (that prohibits any overhang) for other areas, adjacent to portion of vehicular use area *2 that faces building on adjacent property. | One tree 40 feet of boundary of vehicular use area *2, OFT *4, from Group A, B, or C, plus a three foot average height planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound. |
2. Any public right-of-way (except freeways) | Any vehicular use area outside B-2 (except vehicular sales facilities or service stations) in any zone.*2 | Same as 1.C. above except applies to V.U.A. *2 portion facing public or private street right-of-way. | One tree 40 feet OFT *4 from Group A or B, plus a three feet average height continuous planting, hedge, fence, wall, or earth mound. |
3. Any public or private right-of-way (except freeways) | Any vehicular sales area or service station. | Same as 2(C) | One tree 50 feet, OFT from Group A or B, plus one low shrub ten feet OFT (opacity requirements do not apply). |
4. Any public or private right-of-way (except freeways) | Any vehicular use area (except loading and unloading areas) in B-2. | Three-foot strip adjacent to the portion of a vehicular use area *2 that faces a public or private street right-of-way. | The foot average height continuous planting, hedge, fence, or wall. |
*1 These provisions may be included within the property perimeter required by division (A)(1) above, where landscape easements are also applicable. *2. A vehicular use area (V.U.A.) is any open or enclosed area containing more than 1,800 square feet of area and/or used by six or more, of any type of vehicle, whether moving or at rest, including, but not limited to, parking lots, loading and unloading areas, mobile home parks, and sale and service areas. Driveways are considered to be vehicular use areas whenever they are adjacent to public streets or other vehicular use elements described previously in this paragraph (and intervening curbs, sidewalks, landscape strips, and the like, do not eliminate adjacency). *3 Grass or ground cover shall be planted on all portions of the easement not occupied by other landscape material. *4 OFT means “or fraction thereof”. | |||
(3) Who provides easement. The landscape easement and material required adjacent to any street under division (A)(2) above should be provided by the property owner adjoining street, unless the authority building the street has fully met all requirements on the street right-of-way. When adjacent to other common boundaries, the landscaping easement and materials, may be placed on either adjoining parcel, or astride the boundary, if both are owned and being processed by the same owner; or generally should be placed on the activity listed under divisions (A)(1) and (A)(2), when adjoining parcels having different owners; or may be placed astride the boundary or adjoining parcels having different owners if there is a written agreement, as a public records; or should be placed on the activity or parcel being processed when adjoining property is already developed with the exception of division (A)(1) item 9 above.
(4) Requirement conflicts. Whenever a parcel or activity falls under two or more of the categories listed in the table of divisions (A)(1) or (A)(2) above, only one category (that with the most stringent requirements) should be enforced.
(5) Easement conflicts. The required landscape easement may be combined with a utility or other easement as long as all of the landscape requirements can be fully met, otherwise, the landscape easement should be provided in addition to, and separate from, any other easement. Cars or other objects should not overhang or otherwise intrude upon the required landscape easement more than two and one-half feet, through the use of wheel stops or curbs.
(6) Existing landscape material. Existing landscape material should be shown on the plan, and any material in satisfactory condition may be used to satisfy these requirements in whole or in part when, in the opinion of the public approval authority, such material meets the requirements and achieves the objectives of these guidelines.
(7) Landscaping at driveway and street intersections. To ensure that landscape materials do not constitute a driving hazard, a “sight triangle” should be observed at all street intersections of driveways with streets. Within this sight triangle, no landscape material nor parked vehicles except for required grass or ground cover should be permitted. Within the sight triangle, trees should be permitted as long as, except during early growth stages, only the tree trunk (no limbs, leaves, and the like) is visible between the ground and eight feet above the ground, or otherwise does not present a traffic visibility hazard. The sight triangle is defined in the following sections.
(a) Driveway intersection sight triangle. At intersections of driveways with streets, the sight triangle should be established by locating the intersection of the street curb with the driveway edge perpendicular to the curb.
(b) Street intersection sight triangle. At street intersections, the sight triangle should be formed by measuring at least 35 feet along curb lines and connecting these points.
(B) Interior landscaping for vehicular use area. Any open vehicular use area containing more than 6,000 square feet of area or 12 or more vehicular parking spaces, shall provide “interior” landscaping in addition to the previously required “perimeter” landscaping.
(1) Landscape area. For each 100 square feet, or fraction thereof, of vehicular use area, five square feet of landscaped area shall be provided.
(a) Minimum area. The minimum landscape area permitted shall be 64 square feet, with at least dimension of eight feet.
(b) Maximum contiguous area. In order to encourage the required landscape areas to be properly dispersed, no required landscape area shall be larger than 350 square feet, in vehicular use areas under 30,000 square feet in size, and no required area shall be larger than 1,500 square feet in vehicular use areas over 30,000 square feet. In both cases, the least dimension of any required area shall be eight feet. Landscape areas larger than above are permitted as long as the additional area is in excess of the required minimum.
(2) Minimum trees. A minimum of one tree shall be required for each 250 square feet, or fraction thereof, of required landscape area. Trees shall have a clear trunk of at least five feet above the ground, and the remaining area shall be landscaped with shrubs, or ground cover, not to exceed two feet in height.
(3) Vehicle overhang. Parked vehicles may hang over the interior landscaped area no more than two and one-half feet, as long as concrete or other wheel stops are provided to ensure no greater overhang or penetration of the landscaped area.
(Prior Code, § 13.3) (Ord. 94-6, passed 8-25-1994)
§ 155.208 LANDSCAPE MATERIALS.
The landscaping materials shall consist of the following and are described in more detail in the “Planting Manual” on file at the office of Planning and Community Development.
(A) Walls and fences. Walls shall be constructed of natural stone, brick, or artificial materials arranged in a linear, serpentine, or other alignment; while fences shall be constructed of wood. Chain link fencing will meet approval only if covered with wood strips or plant material. In industrial zones, there should be no height limitation on walls or fences; in all other zones, however, there should be a six-foot height restriction for walls or fences in front yards, and eight-foot height restriction in all other required yards. All walls or fences shall have a minimum opacity of 80%.
(B) Earth mounds. Earth mounds shall be constructed with proper slopes and adequate plant material to prevent erosion.
(C) Plants. All plant materials shall be living plants (artificial plants are not permitted) and shall meet the following requirements.
(1) Quality. Plant materials used in conformance with the provisions of these guidelines shall conform to the standards of the American Association of Nurserymen and shall have passed any inspections required under state regulations.
(2) Deciduous trees. (Trees which normally shed their leaves in the fall.) Shall be species having an average mature crown spread of greater than 15 feet and having a trunk(s) which can be maintained with over five feet of clear wood in areas which have visibility requirements, except at vehicular use area intersections where an eight-foot clear wood requirement will control. Trees having an average spread of crown less than 15 feet may be substituted by grouping of the same so as to create the equivalent of a 15-foot crown spread. A minimum of ten feet overall height or a minimum caliper (trunk diameter, measured six inches above ground for trees up to four inches caliper) of at least one and three-quarter inches immediately after planting shall be required. Trees of species whose roots are known to cause damage to public roadways or other public works shall not be planted closer than 15 feet to such public works, unless the tree root system is completely contained within a barrier for which the minimum interior containing dimension shall be five feet square and five feet deep and for which the construction requirements shall be four inches thick, reinforced concrete.
(3) Evergreen trees. Evergreen trees shall be a minimum of five feet high with a minimum caliper of one and one-half inches and a minimum spread of three feet immediately after planting.
(5) Vines. Vines shall be at least 12 or 15 inches at planting, and are generally used in conjunction with walls or fences.
(6) Grass or ground cover. Grass (of the fescue (Gramineak) or Bluegrass (Poaceae) family) shall be planted in species normally grown as permanent lawns in the county, and may be sodded, plugged, sprigged, or seeded; except in swales or other areas subject to erosion, where solid sod, erosion reducing net, or suitable mulch shall be used, nurse-grass seed shall be sown for immediate protection until complete coverage otherwise is achieved. Grass sod shall be clean and free of weeds and noxious pests or diseases. Ground cover such as organic material shall be placed in such a manner as to present a finished appearance. In certain cases, ground cover also may consist of rocks, pebbles, sand, and similar approved materials.
(D) Maintenance and installation. All landscaping materials shall be installed in a sound, workmanship like manner, and according to accepted good construction and planting procedures. The person in charge or in contract of the properties, whether as owner, lessee, tenant, occupant, or otherwise, shall be responsible for the continued proper maintenance, free from refuse and debris, at all times. All unhealthy or dead plant material shall be replaced within one year, or by the next planting period, whichever comes first; while other defective landscape material shall be replaced or repaired within three months. Violation of these installation and maintenance provisions should be grounds for the Building Inspector to refuse a building occupancy permit or to institute legal proceedings as set forth in other sections of the zoning regulations.
(Prior Code, § 13.4) (Ord. 94-6, passed 8-25-1994)
§ 155.209 PLAN SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL.
Whenever any property is affected by these landscaping requirements, the property owner or developer should prepare two copies of a landscape plan for submittal to, and approval by, the Planning Office. The Building Inspector shall follow the requirements of these guidelines in approving or disapproving any landscape plan required by these guidelines. Landscape plans also may be submitted as part of any development plan required by the Planning Commission.
(A) Plan content. The contents of the plan should include the following:
(1) Site plan, drawn to an easily readable scale, showing and labeling by name and dimensions, all existing and proposed property lines, easements, buildings, and other structures, vehicular use areas (including parking stalls, driveways, service areas, square footage, and the like), water outlets, and landscape material (including height at planting time, average mature height, and on-center planting dimension for all plants);
(2) Typical elevation and cross-sections as may be required;
(3) Title box with the pertinent names and addresses, (property owner, person drawing plan, and person installing landscape material), scale, date, north arrow, and zoning district; and
(4) A performance bond whenever required to insure proper installation of landscape materials, with complete cost of all work certified by a landscape contractor, with the bond amount to include the accurate cost plus no more than 25% and the bond should be released upon satisfactory completion of the work as determined by the public agency that holds the bond.
(B) Building permit. Where landscaping is required, no building permit should be issued until required landscaping plans have been submitted and approved; and no occupancy permit should be issued until the landscaping is completed, as certified by on-site inspection by the representative of the Planning Office, unless a performance bond or irrevocable letter of credit from a banking institution has been posted.
(Prior Code, § 13.5) (Ord. 94-6, passed 8-25-1994)