Any required landscaping (landscape strips and interior landscaping) shall include a combination of the following elements: deciduous trees, ground covers, evergreens, shrubs, vines, flowers, rocks, gravel, earth mounds, berms, walls, fences, screens, sculptures, fountains, sidewalk furniture or other approved materials. Artificial plants, trees and shrubs may not be used to satisfy any requirement for landscaping or screening. No less than 80% of the required landscape area shall be vegetative in composition, and no outdoor storage shall be permitted within required landscape areas.

For each 750 square feet of required area for landscape strips, one shade/ornamental tree shall be provided. For every 300 square feet of interior landscaping required (parking lots), one shade tree shall be provided. If deciduous, these trees shall have a clear trunk at least five feet above finished grade; if evergreen, these trees shall have a minimum height of six feet. All required landscape strips shall have landscaping materials uniformly distributed along the entire length of the lot line abutting the yard.

An earthen berm two to four feet in height planted with a combination of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, so as to provide a minimum opacity of 60% in winter and 80% in summer (between ground level and six feet above the finished ground level) within two years of installation shall be provided.

The Board of Supervisors may grant substitution to this requirement when the applicant can prove that the general public interest and adjoining properties would better be served by one of the following substitutions: evergreens (trees, hedges, shrubs) planted at existing grade level, fences or a combination of the above materials.

One substitution that is acceptable, if approved by the Board of Supervisors, is composed of evergreen shrubs and/or trees arranged in two staggered rows within a twenty-foot-wide strip. The height of the plant material shall be a minimum of six feet, and it shall be spaced at intervals of not more than 10 feet on center.

All screens shall be permanently maintained to assure the minimum opacity requirements.

Trees and shrubs shall be typical of their species and variety, be densely foliated and have normal growth habits, well-developed branches and vigorous, fibrous root systems. They shall have been grown under climatic conditions similar to those in the locality of the project or properly acclimated to conditions of the locality of the project.

Any tree or shrub which dies within 18 months of planting shall be replaced.