The landscape and screening regulations of this chapter establish minimum requirements for landscaping and screening in nonresidential zoning district. The regulations are intended to advance the general purposes of this zoning ordinance and to help:

   A.   Maintain and enhance the village's appearance;

   B.   Mitigate possible adverse impacts of higher intensity land uses abutting lower intensity land uses;

   C.   Reduce the impacts of noise and glare.

   D.   Maintain and improve air quality;

   E.   Protect surface water quality and reduce the negative impacts of stormwater runoff by providing vegetated areas that filter and absorb stormwater;

   F.   Moderate heat by providing shade; and

   G.   Encourage preservation and replacement of existing trees and vegetation. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   The landscape and screening regulations of this chapter apply to in nonresidential zoning districts.

   B.   The following are expressly exempt from compliance with the landscape and screening regulations of this chapter:

      1.   Household living (residential) uses;

      2.   Agricultural uses;

      3.   Public parks, open spaces, or natural resource areas;

      4.   Reconstruction of any building that is damaged or destroyed by fire, natural disaster or other means beyond the reasonable control of the property owner; and

      5.   Any other uses, site features or activities that are expressly exempted under this zoning ordinance. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   Purpose: A "vehicular use area" is an outdoor area on a lot that is used for storage and operation of motor vehicles, including parking lots, vehicle storage areas, vehicle display areas, loading areas, driveways, and drive-through lanes. The vehicular use area screening regulations of this section are intended to help mitigate the visual and operational impacts of vehicular use areas located near streets or residential zoning districts.

   B.   Applicability: The vehicular use area screening requirements of this section apply when a new building or vehicular use area is established. When the area of any existing vehicular use area is expanded screening must be provided for the expanded area.

   C.   Street Frontage Screening Requirements:

      1.   When Required: The street frontage screening requirements of this section apply to vehicular use areas located within fifty feet (50') of any street right-of-way. The requirements do not apply if there are buildings or other site features that effectively block views of the vehicular use area from the right-of-way.

      2.   Required Screening: Screening must be installed and maintained between the vehicular use area and the street as follows:

         a.   Minimum width of landscaped area: ten feet (10').

         b.   Plants required in landscaped area: four (4) low shrubs or eight (8) ornamental grasses per ten (10) linear feet.

         c.   Minimum number of canopy trees required: one (1) per twenty-five (25) linear feet.

      3.   Existing Vehicular Use Areas: When street frontage screening requirements are triggered by repaving or reconstruction, a change in the use being screened or a substantial improvement to an existing building, the minimum width of the landscaped area required may be reduced by up to fifty percent (50%) if necessary to maintain existing pavement.

      4.   Vehicular Use Area Visibility: In order to promote visibility and surveillance of vehicular use areas and public streets, low shrubs or ornamental grasses may not be allowed to grow taller than four feet (4'). Trees must be maintained so that the lowest branches are at least six feet (6') above the ground beneath the tree.

      5.   Tree Placement: Canopy trees required along street frontage screening areas may be planted at regular or irregular intervals, but in no case may trees be spaced more than seventy-five feet (75') on center. Trees adjacent to the vehicular use area may be counted as part of required screening if they are within twenty feet (20') of the right-of-way line and within twenty feet (20') of the vehicular use area.

      6.   Public Amenities: Public amenities, such as shelters, benches, bicycle racks, sculptures, fountains and similar features, may be integrated as part of the required screening. Screening requirements may be reduced as needed to accommodate such public amenities and streetscape features.

      7.   Materials, Installation and Maintenance: See Sections 10-9-6 and 10-9-7.

   D.   A District Screening Requirements:

      1.   When Required: The A district screening requirements of this section apply to vehicular use areas located within twenty-five feet (25') of any A-zoned lot. The requirements do not apply if there are buildings or other site features that effectively block views of the vehicular use area from the A-zoned lot.

      2.   Vacant Lots: Screening is required regardless of whether a building exists on the A-zoned lot that triggers the requirement for A district screening.

      3.   Required Screening: Screening must be installed and maintained between the vehicular use area and the A-zoned lot as follows:

         a.   Minimum width of landscaped area: ten feet (10').

         b.   Plants required in landscaped area: four (4) low shrubs or eight (8) ornamental grasses per ten (10) linear feet.

         c.   Minimum number of evergreen trees required: one (1) per twenty-five (25) linear feet.

      4.   Materials, Installation and Maintenance: See Sections 10-9-6 and 10-9-7. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   Purpose: The interior parking lot landscaping regulations of this section are intended to help mitigate the visual and stormwater runoff impacts of parking lots and provide shade for parked vehicles and pedestrians.

   B.   Applicability: The interior parking lot landscaping requirements of this section apply when a vehicular use area is established or expanded. In the case of vehicular use area expansions, the requirements apply only to the expanded area.

   C.   When Required: The interior parking lot landscaping regulations of this section apply as stated in Section 10-9-2.

   D.   Trees and Landscape Areas Required: A minimum of one canopy tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscape area is required for every four (4) motor vehicle parking spaces or fraction thereof.

   E.   Location and Distribution: Trees, landscaped areas and green infrastructure used to meet the requirements of this chapter must be located within fifty feet (50') of the parking lot. No portion of a parking lot may be more than one hundred feet (100') from an interior or perimeter landscaped area or more than one hundred and fifty feet (100') from an interior or perimeter canopy tree.

   F.   Landscape Areas: Landscaped areas must be planted with low shrubs or ornamental grasses. A minimum of four (4) low shrubs or eight (8) ornamental grasses, are required per one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area. Equivalent combinations of plants may be used, with two (2) ornamental grasses equivalent to one low shrub.

   G.   Green Infrastructure Incentives: The interior parking lot landscaping requirement of this chapter may be reduced to not less than one tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area per eight (8) parking spaces if the following amounts of green infrastructure features are provided as a substitute for trees and landscaped areas:

      1.   Permeable Paving: One hundred square feet of permeable paving may be substituted for one tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area.

      2.   Rain Gardens: One hundred square feet of rain garden with a rainwater catchment area of at least one thousand (1,000) square feet may be substituted for one tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area.

      3.   Bioswales: Fifty (50) cubic feet (three hundred and seventy-five (375) gallons) of bio-retention capacity with a rainwater catchment area of at least one thousand (1,000) square feet may be substituted for one tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area.

      4.   Existing Parking Lots: When interior parking lot landscaping requirements are triggered by repaving or reconstruction, a change in the use being screened or a substantial improvement to an existing building and compliance with the requirements of this subsection would result in a loss of more than ten percent (10%) of total parking spaces or would result in the number of spaces being reduced to below the minimum number required for the subject use, the amount of landscaping required by Section 10-9-4D may be reduced to a minimum of one tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area per eight (8) parking spaces, and may be further reduced to not less than one tree and one hundred (100) square feet of landscaped area per sixteen (16) parking spaces through the use of green infrastructure features as specified in Section 10-9-4G.

   H.   Elements, Installation and Maintenance: See Sections 10-9-6 and 10-9-7. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   Purpose: The trash, recycling and mechanical equipment screening regulations of this section are intended to help mitigate the visual and operational impacts of mechanical equipment, trash and recycling equipment and dumpster storage areas.

   B.   Applicability: The landscaping requirements of this section apply whenever trash, recycling or mechanical equipment is placed on a lot or the area of such trash, recycling and mechanical equipment is expanded.

   C.   When Required: The trash, recycling and mechanical equipment screening requirements of this section apply to trash, recycling and mechanical equipment areas that are visible from any public street or abutting lot. The requirements do not apply when there are buildings or other site features that effectively block views of the trash, recycling and mechanical equipment areas from streets or abutting lots.

   D.   Options: Screening must be installed and maintained between outdoor storage areas and outdoor work areas and abutting non-industrial-zoned lots by one of the options described in Table 9-1 or by a combination of those options.

 

 

   E.   Elements, Installation and Maintenance: See Sections 10-9-6 and 10-9-7. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   Applicability: The landscape and screening element provisions of this section apply to all trees, plant materials, and other materials and features used to satisfy the landscaping and screening requirements of this zoning ordinance.

   B.   Canopy Trees:

      1.   General: Canopy trees used to satisfy the requirements of this chapter must be of a deciduous street tree variety with a leaf and branch structure that creates a uniform crown and an opaque tree canopy.

         a.   Tree species are limited to those on the Village's preferred species list (see Sec. 4-6-9-9 of the village code).

         b.   The planting of invasive species is expressly prohibited (see Appendix A of Chapter 4-6).

         c.   Ornamental trees may be used to satisfy canopy tree requirements if they meet the minimum size requirements. Ornamental trees must be set back at least five feet (5') from all sidewalks. No more than fifty percent (50%) of total trees provided may be ornamental trees.

      2.   Tree Size: Canopy trees must be at least 2.5-inch-caliper size at the time of planting. Evergreen trees must be at least six feet (6') in height at time of planting.

      3.   Planting Areas: Any area used for planting canopy trees must have a surface area of at least one hundred (100) square feet and at least one hundred and fifty (150) cubic feet of planting soil per tree. Planting areas for canopy trees may include modular suspended pavement systems that contain healthy non-compacted soil, and the permeable surface area of such systems may be counted toward the minimum surface area required.

      4.   Credit for Existing Trees: An existing canopy tree on the subject lot may be counted towards minimum canopy tree requirements if such tree complies with the regulations of this subsection. In addition:

         a.   Any existing canopy tree with a diameter at breast height of more than twelve inches (12") may be counted as two (2) trees; and

         b.   Any existing canopy tree with a diameter at breast height of more than eighteen inches (18") may be counted as three (3) trees.

      5.   Tree Diversity: When a site requires ten (10) or more trees, no more than twenty percent (20%) may be from any one family, genus, or species.

   C.   Landscaped Areas:

      1.   General: Landscaped areas consist of planting beds filled with low-level or eye-level plants. Low-level plants include low shrubs and ornamental grasses. Eye-level plants include tall shrubs. When used for screening, low-level plants are intended to define spaces and allow for natural surveillance, while eye-level plants are intended to obscure the view of the area being screened.

      2.   Shrubs:

         a.   Low shrubs are deciduous shrubs or evergreen shrubs that are expected to grow to a mature height of no more than four feet (4'). Ornamental grasses may be substituted for required low shrubs at the rate of two (2) ornamental grasses per one low shrub.

         b.   Tall shrubs are deciduous shrubs or evergreen shrubs that are expected to grow to a mature height of at least six feet (6').

      3.   Planting Soil: Landscaped areas must have healthy non-compact planting soil at least eighteen inches (18") deep.

      4.   Plant Combinations: When landscaped areas allow for multiple plant types, any equivalent combination of the permitted plant types may be used.

      5.   Plant Size: Minimum and maximum plant sizes for plants are specified in Table 9-2.

 

 

   D.   Fences and Walls: Fences and walls are generally prohibited in the village. In those limited instances where a wall or fence is expressly allowed or required to meet the screening requirements of this chapter, such fence of wall must be confined to the area required to be screened. . Fence and walls designs require village approval.

   E.   Green Infrastructure: Green infrastructure is any combination of landscaping, facilities, or equipment that captures rainwater at or near the site where it falls by infiltration into the soil, evapotranspiration by plants, or storage for reuse. The following green infrastructure features may be used for interior parking landscaping, as described in 90-430.40:

      1.   Permeable Paving: Permeable paving is a surface paved with permeable pavers, porous concrete or porous asphalt that allows water infiltration into the soil.

      2.   Rain Garden: A rain garden is a landscaped area specifically designed to capture and infiltrate storm water and filled with deep-rooted plants.

      3.   Bioswale: A bioswale is a depressed area designed to capture and infiltrate stormwater runoff and remove pollutants. Constructed wetlands and other bio-retention facilities may also be considered bioswales for the purposes of this chapter.

      4.   Rain Water Catchment Area: A rainwater catchment area is an area from which rainfall flows into a rain garden, bioswale or other bio-retention facility.

   F.   Other Landscaping and Screening Elements.

      1.   Berms: A berm may be used to meet the minimum screening requirements of this chapter if expressly approved by the board of trustees or zoning official.

      2.   Boulders: Boulders and other hard, round elements greater than eighteen inches (18") in diameter with irregular surfaces meant to appear eroded by nature are prohibited within street rights-of-way. Masonry objects and structures with flat, finished surfaces are permitted to mark a gateway condition, provide pedestrian seating, or to define a street edge. Retaining walls consisting of boulders or stones are permitted, but may not be used to meet the minimum screening requirements of this chapter. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   Installation:

      1.   Required landscaping must be installed in accordance with an approved landscape plan.

      2.   All trees and plant material must be installed in accordance with sound nursery practices, in a manner designed to encourage vigorous growth.

      3.   All landscaped areas that are adjacent to pavement must be protected with curbs or equivalent barriers. Flush curbs, curb cuts, or other methods must be used to direct stormwater to landscape areas that abut paved areas.

      4.   Landscaping may not obstruct traffic visibility at street intersections or driveways and must comply with all applicable intersection sight distance regulations.

      5.   When landscaping is placed or installed within the public right-of-way, the village has no obligation to replace or repair such landscaping if removed or damaged by village field operations or other governmental functions. The village also has no obligation to maintain above-ground or below-ground improvements or landscaping within the public right-of-way.

   B.   Encroachment into Right-of-Way: Landscaped areas may encroach into the public right-of- way, but fences and walls used for screening may not be constructed in the public right-of-way. No tree or shrub may be planted in the public right-of-way unless such planting is authorized by the zoning official. Plants or other landscaping elements may not obstruct or encroach on public sidewalks.

   C.   Protection: All landscape areas provided to meet the requirements of this zoning ordinance must be protected from potential damage by adjacent uses and development, including parking and storage areas.

   D.   Timing of Installation: All required landscape and screening elements must be installed as soon as practical, preferably prior to occupancy. A delay in the installation of plantings may be authorized by the zoning official for up to six (6) months after permit issuance.

   E.   Maintenance:

      1.   Required landscaping and screening must be continuously maintained, including necessary watering; weeding; pruning; pest control; litter and debris clean-up; and replacement of dead, diseased or damaged plant material.

      2.   Failure to comply with an approved landscaping plan, including failure to maintain required landscaping and screening and failure to replace dead, diseased or damaged landscaping, constitutes a violation of this zoning ordinance.

      3.   The property owner is responsible for maintenance of trees and landscaping in accordance with the approved landscape plan and the regulations of this zoning ordinance. Any dead, diseased or damaged trees, landscaping or screening materials must be removed and replaced by the property owner within ninety (90) days of the date that written notice of the obligation to remove and replace required landscaping is issued by the village. Property owners have no obligation to replace or restore required landscaping that is damaged or destroyed as a direct result of government action or lawful action of a franchise utility provider. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   Required Information: All site plans and building permit applications for sites requiring landscaping must include a landscape plan that complies with the landscape plan submittal requirements specified by zoning official.

   B.   Administrative Review: After receipt of a complete landscape plan, zoning official must:

      1.   Approve the landscape plan as complying with the requirements of this chapter;

      2.   Approve the landscape plan with conditions of approval that will bring it into compliance with the requirements of this chapter; or

      3.   Reject the landscape plan as failing to comply with the requirements of this chapter. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)

   A.   To accommodate creativity in landscape and screening design and to allow for flexibility in addressing site-specific development/redevelopment challenges, zoning official is authorized to approve alternative compliance landscape plans sealed by a landscape architect licensed to practice in the State of Illinois. In order to approve an alternative compliance landscape plan, the zoning official must determine that one or more of the following conditions or opportunities are present:

      1.   The subject site has space limitations, an unusual shape or other factors that make strict compliance with applicable landscaping and screening regulations impossible or impractical;

      2.   Physical conditions on or adjacent to the site such as topography, soils, vegetation or existing structures or utilities are such that strict compliance is impossible, impractical or of no value in terms of advancing the general purposes of this chapter;

      3.   Safety considerations such as intersection visibility, utility locations, etc., make alternative compliance necessary; or

      4.   Creative, alternative landscape plans will provide an equal or better means of meeting the intent of the landscaping and screening regulations of this chapter.

   B.   The zoning official is expressly authorized to approve alternative compliance landscape plans for projects implementing low-impact development practices or seeking sustainable development or green building certification from nationally recognized organizations, such as the International Code Council, the U.S. Green Building Council, the International Living Future Institute, the U.S. Green Building Initiative or SITES. (Ord. 2025-1446, 10-9-2025)