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Article 5: Development Standards
Section 5.12. Landscaping
5.12.4. Vehicle Use Area Landscaping
June 2013
Morrisville, NC
Page 5-124
Unified Development Ordinance - Public Hearing Draft
Planning Director shall consider the type and location of the required landscaping materials as
well as the propensity for natural re-vegetation.
431
8.
All initial and replacement landscaping shall be subject to a two-year performance guarantee
that ensures proper maintenance and replacement, in accordance with Section 8.1.3, Performance
Guarantees.
432
H.
Alteration of Required Landscaping
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Landscaping may be altered through replacement or relocation by a maximum of ten percent over the
life of the development without submittal of a revised landscape plan provided that the overall
landscaping remains in compliance with this section. A revised plan shall not be required for plantings
that exceed the requirements of this section.
5.12.4.
Vehicle Use Area Landscaping
A.
Applicability
Except for driveways serving as off-street vehicle parking areas for single-family detached, duplex,
manufactured home, and single-family attached dwellings, the vehicle use areas of developments shall
include landscaping both within the interior of the vehicle use area (interior landscaping) and around
its perimeter (perimeter landscaping) as a means of mitigating the vehicle use area‘s microclimate and
visual impacts.
B.
General
1.
To the maximum extent practicable, required landscaped planting areas and shade trees shall
be distributed and sited within and around the vehicle use area so as to maximize shading of
pavement and pedestrian routes through the parking area. Part of every parking space shall be
located within 50 feet from the trunk of a shade tree.
434
2.
Perimeter landscaping and interior landscaping shall be sited and designed for stormwater
management purposes to the maximum extent practicable, as long as they comply with these
vehicle use area landscaping standards.
435
3.
Perimeter landscaping and interior landscaping may include non-landscaping features such as
walkways, light or utility poles, utility lines, and fire hydrants, provided the minimum landscaping
width and planting standards for vehicle use areas are met.
436
C.
Perimeter Landscaping
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Where a vehicle use area is within 50 feet of and visible from a street, other development (except
another vehicle use area), or vacant property, perimeter landscaping shall be provided and
maintained within the strip of land between the vehicle use area and the adjacent street right-of-way
or easement or property line in accordance with the following standards, except where such strip is
431
The last sentence is added to this carried forward standard to provide some flexibility.
432
This is a new standard requiring the posting of a maintenance guarantee to ensure the survival of required plantings for at
least two years.
433
This new standard is intended to provide flexibility to accommodate minor alterations in required landscaping.
434
This carries forward the 50-foot requirement in Part C, Art. IX, Sec. 7.3 of the current Zoning Ordinance as a minimum for
maximizing shading (to recognize the significant energy conservation and pedestrian comfort benefits from maximizing the
shading of parking lots).
435
This new standard recognizes that parking lots can and should be designed to buffer, storage, and infiltrate stormwater runoff.
436
This recognizes that landscaping areas within and around vehicle use areas may include non-landscaping features., but not at
the expense of required landscaping.
437
Part C, Art. IX, Sec. 7, Part C, Art. XII, Sec. 6.4, and Part E. Art. II, Sec. 5.1.C of the current Zoning Ordinance each requires
landscaping that screens parking lots adjacent to or visible from streets. This subsection combines the adjacency and visual triggers
to applicability and expands them to also require screening from adjacent developments and vacant properties.