Chapter 25.90
LANDSCAPING
Sections:
25.90.020 Substantive requirements – Proportion of landscape areas (see definitions).
25.90.030 Substantive requirements – Landscaping.
25.90.040 Substantive requirements – Water conservation.
25.90.050 Substantive requirements – Maintenance and irrigation.
25.90.060 Landscape plan approval process.
25.90.070 Repealed.
25.90.080 Repealed.
25.90.010 Purpose.
(1) The purpose of this chapter is to:
(a) Protect natural habitats, air quality, and ground water recharge;
(b) Improve the appearance of the community;
(c) Provide shade and wind protection;
(d) Reduce stormwater discharge; and
(e) Conserve water supplies.
(2) This chapter is intended to help achieve these purposes by:
(a) Retaining trees, without reducing developmental densities from those indicated in the comprehensive plan;
(b) Requiring landscaping;
(c) Reducing the need to irrigate; and
(d) Requiring that landscapes be adequately maintained and irrigated. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.020 Substantive requirements – Proportion of landscape areas (see definitions).
(1) Whereas some of these requirements preserve certain trees and other requirements, such as parking lot landscaping, soften particular site features, the community as a whole needs a balance between its landscape areas and its pavements and structures. To this end, a portion of the land surface of certain types of development shall be landscape areas.
(2) The minimum portion which must be a landscape area depends on the type or use, as follows:
(a) Single-family: 30 percent;
(b) Multifamily: 30 percent;
(c) Commercial, office, mixed use, school, business and technology, and manufacturing/research: 20 percent;
(d) Industrial: 10 percent for those properties that adjoin DuPont Steilacoom Road or Center Drive. All other industrial properties shall be required to landscape abutting a public right-of-way or residential district.
(3) Sensitive areas, sensitive area buffers, public parks, and land designated as open space shall not count toward this requirement. All other lands, including lands devoted to meeting other requirements of this chapter, shall count toward this requirement.
(4) The city encourages some of the required percentage of landscape areas to be met by leaving land at its natural grade with native vegetation. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.030 Substantive requirements – Landscaping.
(1) Street Trees. At time of street construction, or time of development of the adjoining land, street trees and related landscaping shall be provided in medians and parking strips within the right-of-way in accordance with the city’s public works standards. Street trees shall be:
(a) Provided at least one per 40 to 50 feet of frontage, depending on the tree species and other circumstances;
(b) Located within the street right-of-way;
(c) Of the same species as other street trees in the same streetscape;
(d) Spaced to accommodate sight distance requirements for driveways and intersections; and
(e) At least two inches caliper measured six inches above the ground line with a single-stem and minimum branch height of six feet.
(2) Interior Parking Lot Landscaping. To provide shade and visual relief, the interior of surface parking lots with 10 or more stalls shall be landscaped with at least one tree per six stalls.
(3) Buffers. Though the comprehensive plan is designed to minimize adjacent, incompatible land uses, such incompatibilities sometimes arise in detailed site planning. In these cases, a buffer (see DMC 25.10.020, B definitions) is required, as follows:
(a) A moderate buffer shall be provided between parking lots and any adjacent public right-of-way.
(b) In the process of reviewing development proposals, the city will require full, moderate, or light buffers as necessary to mitigate incompatibility, for example between residential and nonresidential development, or between an outdoor storage or trash receptacle area and surrounding high-use areas. (Ord. 07-854 § 1; Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.040 Substantive requirements – Water conservation.
(1) The city encourages landscape design which requires minimal irrigation. Water-conservative landscaping is generally achieved by:
(a) Mulching or otherwise improving soils to retain moisture and increase fertility;
(b) Minimizing irrigation-intensive plantings, especially lawns, and maximizing drought-tolerant species and retention of pre-existing vegetation;
(c) In lawns, using grass species which require less water and tolerate drought;
(d) Separating drought-tolerant and nondrought tolerant species as necessary to irrigate by zones; and
(e) Installing irrigation systems that:
(i) Irrigate by zones according to water need (pre-existing vegetation, drought-tolerant plantings, and naturally moist areas rarely require irrigation);
(ii) Use devices such as moisture sensors and automatic timers to operate only when necessary, and when evaporation is least; and
(iii) Use pressure-regulating devices.
(2) All required landscape plans except those listed in subsection (4) of this section shall include a water conservation element including:
(a) A statement of the techniques proposed to conserve water; and
(b) A projection, prepared by a state-registered landscape architect, Washington certified nurseryman, or Washington certified landscaper, of the amount of irrigation the proposed landscape will require, in gallons per square foot of landscaping, excluding retained native vegetation, per year.
(3) No landscape plan except those listed in subsection (4) of this section shall be approved whose irrigation projection exceeds the following per year, where the area is that of the proposed landscaping excluding retained native vegetation:
(a) 11.6 inches; or
(b) 7.2 gallons per square foot; or
(c) 313,632 gallons per acre.
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall not apply to:
(a) Projects with a total landscape area of less than 500 square feet;
(b) Projects irrigated with water that is not supplied by the city; or
(c) Turf intended for use as an athletic playing surface. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.050 Substantive requirements – Maintenance and irrigation.
To the extent necessary to remain healthy and attractive, all nonnative landscaping shall be watered, weeded, pruned, freed of pests, and replaced if necessary. Shrubs near parking lots or driving lanes shall be cropped to prevent blockage of vision necessary for safe driving. Shrubs shall not be allowed to grow so as to block sidewalks. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.060 Landscape plan approval process.
(1) Before any land development to which this chapter is applicable, and before any land is cleared or graded, except when the clearing is pursuant to a forest practice permit which does not allow the land to convert to urban use, the proponent shall, along with other permit applications, submit a landscape plan. The landscape plan shall address all substantive requirements (see DMC 25.90.020 through 25.90.050) applicable to the development.
(2) The landscape plan may be conceptual in the early review phase of a development proposal, but by the time of formal permit application it shall contain sufficient information to determine whether the proposed landscape will satisfy this chapter. The administrator may provide proponents with standard form or list of landscape plan submittal requirements.
(3) The landscape plan shall be designed or approved by a registered landscape architect or other professional deemed qualified by the administrator.
(4) Review of landscape plans separate from formal land use applications shall be processed with a Type I procedure per DMC 25.175.010(4) at no additional cost.
(5) The landscaping plan shall be implemented before issuance of a certificate of occupancy, except that, with adequate assurance from the proponent, which may include posting of a performance bond, the administrator may extend the installation deadline to the next appropriate planting season. (Ord. 05-790 § 3; Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.070 Modifications.
Repealed by Ord. 05-790. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)
25.90.080 Appeals.
Repealed by Ord. 05-790. (Ord. 02-707 § 1)