Milltown City Zoning Code
§ 34-33.5
Buffers.
[Ord. No. 919 Art. XVIII; Ord. No. 03-1148 § 1]
a.
Function and Materials. Buffering shall provide a year-round visual screen in order to minimize adverse impacts from a site on an adjacent property or from adjacent areas. It shall consist of fencing, evergreens, berms, mounds or combinations to achieve the stated objectives.
b.
When Required. Buffer areas shall be required along all lot lines and street lines which separate a nonresidential use from either an existing residential use or residential zoning district and/or where the Approving Authority has determined that there is a need to shield a site from adjacent properties and to minimize adverse impacts such as incompatible land uses, noise, glaring light, and traffic.
c.
Where Required. Buffer areas shall be measured from property lines. Buffers shall be at least 10 feet in width, except where otherwise stated. Where a fast food use is adjacent to a residential use or zone, the buffer shall be at least 20 feet in width and shall contain a solid fence and/or screen wall six feet high located along the property line separating the fast food use from the residential use or zone.
d.
Parking areas, garbage collection and utility areas, and loading areas shall be screened around their perimeter by a buffer a minimum of five feet wide.
e.
All buffer areas shall be planted and maintained with either grass or ground cover, together with a living wall screen of live shrubs or scattered planting live trees, shrubs or other plant material meeting the following requirements:
1.
The preservation of all natural wooded traits shall be an integral part of all site plans and may be calculated as part of the required buffer area, provided that growth is of a density and the area has sufficient width to serve the purpose of a buffer. Where additional plantings are necessary to establish an appropriate tone for an effective buffer, the plantings may be required.
2.
Planting materials used in screen plantings shall be at least four feet in height when planted and be of such density as will obscure, throughout the full course of the year, the glare of automobile headlights emitted and other adverse impacts such as, but not limited to: noise, windblown debris and other typical and frequent nuisance problems, as well as create an aesthetically pleasing and attractive view to mask or obscure the use, function, or structure located upon the site.
3.
The screen planting shall be so placed that at maturity it will not be closer than three feet to any street or property line.
4.
Trees shall be at least eight feet in height and 2.5 inches caliper when planted and be of species common to the area, be of balled and burlapped nursery stock and be free of insects and disease.
5.
Any plant material which does not live shall be replaced within one year or one growing season.
6.
Screen plantings and landscaping shall be broken at points of vehicular and pedestrian ingress and egress to assure a clean sight triangle at all street and driveway intersections.
7.
No buildings, structures, storage of materials, or parking shall be permitted within the buffer area; buffer areas shall be maintained and kept free of all debris, rubbish, weeds and tall grass.