The landscaping standards contained herein establish a point system to determine the appropriateness and effectiveness of plant installation. The system recognizes that the installation and maintenance of live plants is essential to creating a healthy, safe and aesthetically pleasing environment. The system places priority on the planting of deciduous shade trees, which results in the highest level of environmental impact mitigation. As such all real property proposed for multifamily development shall be landscaped as follows:

(1)

Planting designs. Planting designs shall concentrate on shading building roofs, parking lots, pedestrian facilities and the adjoining public streets. Secondary importance is focused on foundation and screening plantings intended to soften the transition from the ground plane to the vertical plane.

(2)

Landscaping requirements. Landscaping shall be provided based on the following requirements or point schedules. Landscaping is defined as living plants normally selected for use on residential sites. These requirements supersede any other landscaping or screening requirements of the zoning ordinance. The requirements of each of the following categories are additive and must be satisfied independently, including buffer yard requirements.

a.

Street frontages. One large deciduous tree shall be planted for each 50 feet of property line along a public street right-of-way. Said trees shall be planted in the public terrace equidistant from the curb and the normal sidewalk line or on the private site and within ten feet of the property line adjoining the public right-of-way. The preference for tree locations is on private property. The trees should be planted as near as possible at intervals of 50 feet on center although the clustering of trees for valid design purposes may be allowed.

b.

Paved areas. One hundred fifty points of landscaping shall be planted for each 3,000 square feet of paving. At least one-half of the landscape points required shall be satisfied by the planting of large deciduous trees. Paving is defined as all hard-surfaced areas within the ground plane, including, but not limited to, parking stalls, driveways, trash enclosure pads, sidewalks, plazas and patios. Paving areas shall not include pools or playgrounds. Plants required by this section shall be installed in landscape islands within or extending into the paved area or generally within 15 feet of the perimeter of the edges of the paved area. Parking lots containing more than 25 stalls shall incorporate at least one-third of the required landscaping within planting islands that are located within the interior of the parking lot. Such islands shall be a minimum of ten feet wide and 360 square feet in area and shall contain at least one large deciduous. Said islands should be evenly dispersed throughout the parking lot. Emphasis should be placed creating islands that function positively with respect to plant physiology, vehicle maneuvering and overall site maintenance. Linear islands located between rows of parking stalls are preferred rather than small islands located at the ends of parking rows.

c.

Building foundations. Three hundred points of landscaping for each 100 linear feet of exterior building wall. Plants required by this section must generally be installed within 20 feet of the building foundation. Large deciduous trees shall not be used as foundation plantings. Foundation plantings should be concentrated along the front elevation of the building.

d.

Large open spaces. Where large open spaces are created by the layout of a multifamily development that exceeds one acre in area, the large open space shall include large deciduous trees to create shade within the open space. A large open space is an area of at least 3,000 square feet and shall include at least one large deciduous tree, in addition to other planting requirements found in this section.

e.

Buffer yards. There shall be provided and maintained a permanent 25-foot-wide buffer yard screening element along any boundary of a multifamily residential development or building and any single- or two-family residential district. Said buffer yard screening element is intended to visually screen the multifamily structure from the adjoining low-density residential development. The buffer yard screen shall be located along the common property line between the multifamily residential development and the single- or two-family residential district. A buffer yard screen shall consist of any combination of an earthen berm, opaque fence constructed of materials compatible with the materials of buildings within the development and/or landscape plantings and shall be designed to provide a permanent all-season visual screen that will be a minimum of five feet tall. If plantings are used, such elements must be a minimum of three feet high and wide at the time of planting and of a species that will attain a height and width of at least five feet within four years following planting. When such buffer yard planting is located within the required building setback from a public street right-of-way the height of the plants within that setback area must be maintained at 30 inches or less. The location of the buffer yard planting should be offset from the property line a distance equal to any utility easement of any nature that may be located along and encompassing said line.

f.

Development sites. Development sites shall satisfy the street frontage landscaping requirements and shall be graded to a mowable condition and seeded with an acceptable lawn mix. Development sites are defined as any land area that is a separate site, lot, parcel or a vacant portion of a larger site that is included within a development but which is intended to be developed in the future for building, parking or other physical improvement purposes.

(3)

Landscaping point credits. Credit for landscaping will be granted based on the following schedule:

a.

Large deciduous tree: 150 points per tree.

b.

Small deciduous tree: 60 points per tree.

c.

Evergreen or conifer tree: 60 points tree.

d.

Shrub: 20 points per shrub.

e.

Annual/perennial bed: 20 points per 20 square feet of planted bed.

(4)

Landscaping elements are defined as follows:

Evergreen or conifer tree means any upright conifer that will attain a mature height exceeding 12 feet, is classified as having a hardiness zone standard of two to five and is at least four feet tall at the time of planting.

Large deciduous tree means any deciduous tree that will attain a mature height exceeding 25 feet, is classified as having a hardiness zone standard of two to five and is at least 2½ inches in diameter at the time of planting. Large deciduous trees planted within the public street right-of-way shall be a species normally classified as street trees. Trees will be downsized appropriately when overhead utility lines exist within the terrace area.

Shrubs means plants that are both deciduous or evergreen in character, attain mature heights between two to eight or more feet, are classified as having hardiness zone standards of two to five and that are at least 18 inches in height at the time of planting.

Small deciduous tree means any deciduous tree that will attain a mature height less than 25 feet, is classified as having a hardiness zone standard of two to five and is at least one inch in diameter at the time of planting.

(5)

Green areas of the site not used for landscaping shall be seeded or sodded with an acceptable maintainable lawn seed mix. Mulch of plantings or planting beds is acceptable, provided that such mulching consists of organic or natural materials. Mulches shall be installed so that they will not erode, fall, be plowed or otherwise transported into walks, drives, streets or other hard surfaced portions of the site. Functional weed barriers will be installed in all areas to be mulched.

(6)

Installation. All landscaping shall be installed consistent with industry accepted standards. Installation shall occur prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the site unless such occupancy occurs during winter, in which case the landscaping shall be completed by July 1 of the following summer.

(7)

Maintenance. Landscaping required by this chapter is intended to be a permanent site improvement just as any other building, structure or infrastructure that is necessary to facilitate the intended use of the site. As such, all landscaping shall be continually maintained in a live state. Maintenance shall include periodic and timely watering, fertilizing, pruning and any other such normally required horticulture activity necessary to keep all landscaping in a healthy, safe and aesthetically pleasing state. Recognizing that over time plants may mature and die or otherwise expire because of natural or unnatural causes, maintenance shall include the removal and replacement of dead or dying plants. Such replacement shall occur within the same year in which a plant dies or in the spring planting season of the following year.

(8)

Utility easements. Planting in utility easements should be avoided. If such planting does occur, it is at the risk of the property owner. Any plants that must be removed because of utility work within such easements shall be replaced by the property owner at their cost. Replacement landscaping shall satisfy the minimum standards of this chapter.

(Code 1976, § 18.35.040)