Rock Island City Zoning Code

31.5a Landscape improvements should serve to integrate and preserve to the greatest extent possible existing vegetation, topography, and watercourses.

31.5b Landscape improvements should serve to enhance the appearance of the site, especially as viewed from adjacent public right-of-ways. Effective year-round screening shall be provided to lessen the visual prominence of: parking lots, services yards, loading docks, public utility structures, and unsightly appurtenances.

31.5c Sustainable and resilient landscape design that reduces irrigation requirements, utilizes on-site storm water management, and mitigates the urban heat island effect is encouraged.

31.5d The scale and nature of landscape materials and planting bed sizes should be appropriate to the site and structures. Larger buildings may accommodate and be enhanced by larger plant materials, plant groupings, and planting beds.

31.5e Proposed trees and other plantings should be selected with consideration to their texture, form, color, repetition, massing, and variety. Wherever appropriate, use of native plant materials should be used that are well adapted to both the site and climate. Sun and shade tolerance should also be considered.

31.5f Trees shall be mulched with shredded bark mulch to a minimum depth of three inches (3") within a three-foot (3") radius. Mulch should not touch the trunk and be arranged in a bowl shape around the tree. Groundcover plantings shall be mulched to a minimum depth of one-inch (1") with a one-foot (1") radius.

31.5g Landscaping shall be required around the perimeter of all retention and detention basins from the normal water line to a minimum of six inches (6") above the high-water line. Such landscaping shall primarily consist of native prairie and emergent plantings, but may also include tree and shrub plantings, in an arrangement that will create an aesthetically pleasing and ecologically functional environment.

31.5h When fencing is used, landscaping should be provided that buffers, softens, or minimizes the visual monotony of long expanses of fencing.

31.5i On multi-unit residential parcels with more than one structure, the open space between dwellings units should be appropriately landscaped to provide screening of adjacent dwelling units, screening and shading to improve energy efficiency, and a visually appealing living environment. Open spaces should also be functional and wherever possible include water management features including but not limited to rain gardens, vegetated swales, or filter strips.

31.5j All landscaped areas shall be protected from vehicular encroachment by curbs. Planting areas shall be maintained with a spaded edge, synthetic edging, curbing, or other means to prevent erosion.

31.6a Permits for Off-Street Parking Lots: No person shall expand an existing parking lot or construct a new parking lot of five (5) spaces or more without having first obtained a written permit therefore, issued by the Planning and Redevelopment Administrator. Prior to obtaining a permit for such expansion or new construction, the applicant shall submit to a landscape/site plan as required in the Zoning Ordinance and the Stormwater Ordinance, and plans showing the construction specifications for all off-street parking lots and he shall provide for proper inspection of construction.

 

 

   (3)   The ten-foot (10') front yard setback may be reduced to five feet (5') if there is a continuous twenty-six inch (26") solid wall/fence or shrubbery hedge provided. Sodding, canopy tree and ground cover landscape coverage requirements will still be applied if a solid wall/fence is provided. Sodding requirements will still be applied if a shrubbery fence is provided.

   (5)   When a side and/or rear yard is adjoining to a residential use, a continuous six-foot (6') solid wall/fence or shrubbery hedge shall also be provided with the five-foot (5') setback yard. If a six-foot (6') shrubbery hedge is provided, canopy tree and ground landscape coverage shall not be required.

   (6)   Wherever landscaping and screening requirements may interfere with traffic vision, the height and placement shall be determined by the City Engineer. Landscaping and screening should maintain a driveway visibility triangle. This triangle is created by measuring ten (10) feet along the back edge of a public sidewalk from the point where the driveway and sidewalk meet. Connecting these two lines with a diagonal line completes the triangle and forms the driveway vision triangle.

   (7)    Trees and other landscapin g shall be of a species which are hardy to the area and have measured diameters of such identified in the Minimum Standards for Plantings section of this appendix. Prohibited trees are identified in Section 9 of this article.

   (8)   Subject to the approval of the Planning and Redevelopment Administrator, alternate landscaping plans may be substituted for consideration. Alternate plans must be determined to be of equal or greater effectiveness in screening and aesthetic character.

   (9)   A landscape/site plan will be required to be submitted for staff review prior to issuing a parking lot development permit for parking lots of five (5) spaces or more. The following basic standards should be set:

      a.   Drawn to scale;

      b.    Identify location of landscaping or other features;

      c.   Specify nature of materials (i.e., species, variety, etc.);

      d.   Specify number of plants, shrubs, trees, etc., by species.

   (10)   Landscaping and screening must be maintained in good condition, free of refuse and debris, and provide a healthy, neat and orderly appearance at least equal to the original installation. It shall be the owner's responsibility to see that the landscaping is maintained.

   (11)   An interior landscape island shall be required at both ends of all rows of parking not abutting perimeter bufferyards. For every ten (10) parking spots, an additional interior landscape island shall be required. Landscape islands shall be evenly distributed throughout the site. Every landscape island shall have a minimum of one (1) canopy tree.

   (12)   Appeal Process. If the Planning and Redevelopment Administrator approves a site plan, a parking lot permit may then be issued. If the Administrator does not approve a site plan, the applicant may appeal the staff decision to the Board of Zoning Appeals. A notice of appeal must be filed with the Administrator no later than fifteen (15) days after receipt by the applicant.

   (1)   The standard buffer within Type A is eight feet (8') wide and contains the following number of required plants per one hundred feet (100'):

      a.   Two (2) canopy trees;

      b.   One (1) understory tree;

      c.   Twelve (12) shrubs;

      d.   One (1) evergreen/conifer.

   (2)   Depending on the space available, the applicant may choose one of several alternative buffer widths to provide a Type A buffer, each with a different number of required plantings reflected as a multiplier of the required plant units per one hundred feet (100'). The alternatives include the following:

      a.   Twenty-foot (20') wide buffer with fifty percent (50%) of the required plant units per one hundred feet (100').

      b.   Sixteen-foot (16') wide buffer with sixty percent (60%) of the required plant units per one hundred feet (100').

      c.   Twelve-foot (12') wide buffer with eighty percent (80%) of the required plan units per one hundred feet (100').

      d.   Four-foot (4') wide buffer with ninety percent (90%) of the required plant units and a continuous hedge set back three feet (3') from the property line or fence.

   (3)   Example Image of A Buffer:

   (1)   The standard buffer with Type B is ten feet (10') wide and contains the following number of required plants per one hundred feet (100'):

      a,   Two (2) canopy trees;

      b.   Two (2) understory trees;

      c.   Twelve (12) shrubs;

      d.   Two (2) evergreens/confers.

   (2)   Depending on the space available, the applicant may choose one of several alternative buffer widths to provide a Type B buffer, each with a different number of required plantings. Type B buffer alternatives range from a twenty-five foot (25') wide buffer with fifty percent (50%) of the required plantings to a five-foot (5') wide buffer with ninety percent (90%) of the required plantings and a continuous hedge or fence.

   (3)   Example Image of B Buffer:

   (1)   The standard buffer within Type C is fifteen feet (15') wide and contains the following number of required plantings per one hundred feet (100'):

      a.   Three (3) canopy trees;

      b.   Two (2) understory trees;

      c.   Eighteen (18) shrubs;

      d.   Four (4) evergreens/conifers.

   (2)   Depending on the space available, the applicant may choose one of several alternative buffer widths to provide a Type C buffer, each with a different number of required plantings. Type C buffer alternatives range from a twenty-five foot (25') wide buffer with sixty percent (60%) of the required plantings to a six-foot (6') wide buffer with ninety percent (90%) of the required plantings and a continuous fence.

   (1)   The standard buffer within Type D is fifteen feet (15') wide and contains the following number of required plants per one hundred feet (100'):

      a.   Three (3) canopy trees;

      b.   Two (2) understory trees;

      c.   Twenty four (24) shrubs;

      d.   Five (5) evergreens/conifers.

   (2)   Depending on the space available, the applicant may choose one of several alternative buffer widths to provide a Type D buffer, each with a different number of required plantings. Type D buffer alternatives range from a twenty-five foot (25') wide buffer with sixty percent of the required plantings to an eight-foot (8') wide buffer with ninety percent (90%) of the required plantings and a continuous fence.

Existing trees and plant materials shall always be preserved during site development or redevelopment to the greatest extent possible. New trees and plant materials shall be selected for their suitability to both the site and climate. Native trees and plant materials are always to be preferred over non-native. No one genus of tree or plant may make up more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the total on site with the exception of sites where fewer than four (4) trees are required. Any species identified by the State of Illinois as noxious, injurious, invasive, or exotic is expressly prohibited in all cases. The following species and genus are also expressly prohibited in all cases.

 

 

 

 

31.11b Position of property adjoining public right-of-way is governed by landscaping for parking lot requirements.