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Article 5: Development Standards
Section 5.12. Landscaping
5.12.4. Vehicle Use Area Landscaping
June 2013
Morrisville, NC
Page 5-126
Unified Development Ordinance - Public Hearing Draft
g.
Ground cover or turf shall be planted in all areas not covered by trees, shrubs, or walls.
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3.
Width
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The perimeter landscaping strip shall be the minimum width necessary to adequately
accommodate the proposed plantings and other screening materials and avoid damage to such
materials by vehicles within the vehicle use area. In no instance shall the strip be less than four
feet wide.
4.
Credit Towards Perimeter and Streetyard Buffer Standards
Perimeter landscaping associated with a vehicle use area may be credited towards compliance
with perimeter and streetyard buffer standards to the extent landscaping within the strips
complies with applicable buffer standards (see Section 5.7, Perimeter and Streetyard Buffers).
D.
Interior Landscaping Standards
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Vehicle use areas except those containing 15 or fewer vehicle parking spaces shall provide and
maintain landscaped islands within the interior of the vehicle use area in accordance with the following
standards. These standards shall not apply to parking structures or vehicle display areas.
1.
General
a.
For each 2,000 square feet of area within a vehicle use area, at least one shade tree and
ten shrubs meeting the standards in Section
5.12.3.A,New Planting Standards,
shall be
provided. Up to 25 percent of the shrubs may be deciduous.
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b.
Understory trees may be substituted for shade trees in areas beneath or immediately
adjacent to overhead utilities or exterior lighting fixtures.
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c.
Those parts of planting islands not containing required shade trees shall be landscaped with
other trees, shrubs, or ground cover.
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2.
Planting Islands within Parking Bays
a.
A planting island shall be provided at each end of every row of parking spaces. Where a
row of parking spaces contains more than 20 parking spaces, additional planting islands
shall be provided at a spacing no greater than one island at the end of every 20 contiguous
parking spaces.
b.
A planting island at the end of single loaded parking bays shall be at least 175 square feet
in area. A planting island at the end of double-loaded bays shall be at least 350 square
feet in area.
c.
Each planting island shall be at least ten feet wide. If the planting islands at the ends of
parking bays include a connecting walkway in accordance with Section 5.10.6.C, Large
Parking Lots, they shall be at least 15 feet wide and designed to maximize shading of the
walkway and minimize disturbance of vegetation by pedestrians.
d.
Each planting island shall contain at least one shade tree.
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This new standard sets a minimum width for perimeter landscaping strips.
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This new standard is intended to ensure the minimum width needed to accommodate the requisite screening.
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Part C, Art. IX, Sec. 7.3 of the current Zoning Ordinance requires 1 shade tree and 10 shrubs per 2,000 sf of VUA, requires all
parking spaces to be located within 50 ft from a shade tree, and requires landscaped island at the ends of parking bays or
spaced no more than 20 parking spaces apart within a parking or between parking bays. This subsection requires carries forward
the standards in that section.
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This carries forward the shade tree and shrub ratios in Part C, Art. IX, Sec. 7.3 of the current Zoning Ordinance, referencing the
general new planting standards that contain the planting size standards in that section.
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This new section recognizes that large trees are not appropriate immediately adjacent to overhead electric lines or light poles.
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This new standard is intended to preclude the paving or graveling over of landscaped islands.
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This new standard is intended to ensure shade trees are distributed throughout the parking lot.