Division 3. LANDSCAPING AND TREE PRESERVATION  

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of these landscaping, street tree, screening, and buffer requirements is to provide standards that will protect the health, safety and general welfare of the public, enhance property values, and improve the appearance of the community through preservation of natural resources, trees, and native plants and maintaining the ecological balance of the area. These minimum requirements will:

•  Safeguard and enhance property values and protect public and private investment.

•  Encourage preservation of existing trees and other significant vegetation.

•  Encourage proper selection, installation, and maintenance of plant materials that result in the conservation of natural resources, including water.

•  Reduce the negative environmental effects of development while protecting and enhancing the value of developed properties and the surrounding area.

•  Reduce soil erosion and increase infiltration in permeable land areas essential to stormwater management and aquifer recharge.

•  Mitigate air, dust, noise, heat and chemical pollution and glare and other adverse environmental effects of development.

•  Reduce the "heat island" effect of impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, by cooling and shading the surface area and breaking up large expanses of pavement.

•  Establish a landscape theme including street trees and streetscape designs to be used throughout the city to promote the overall character and identity of the community.

•  Address the design of entryways into the city to express the community's values.

•  Preserve existing native vegetation as an integral part of the wildlife habitats, and incorporate native plants and ecosystems into landscape design.

•  Promote innovative and cost-conscious approaches to the design, installation, and maintenance of landscaping while encouraging xeriscape planting techniques, water and energy conservation.

•  Screen unsightly equipment or materials from the view of persons on public streets or adjoining properties and buffering from uncomplimentary land uses.

•  Maintain and increase property values by requiring site appropriate landscaping to be incorporated into development that is designed and installed by a qualified landscape professional.

•  Promote walkable, pedestrian-scale streetscapes, traditional neighborhoods, and compact centers by exempting uses which relate to each other functionally and visually from certain requirements of this section.

•  Promote water conservation through efficient landscape and irrigation design.

•  To promote and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public by creating an urban environment that is aesthetically pleasing and that promotes economic development through an enhanced quality of life.

This section implements the following policies of the master plan:

•  Neighborhoods, Policy 3c: Amend the landscape and other applicable ordinances to include buffering provisions between residential and nonresidential uses.

•  Natural Resources, Policy 2a: Create guidelines for demolition and construction which protects trees and other vegetation.

•  Natural Resources, Policy 2c: Continue to implement and update, as necessary, the landscape and tree ordinances for public and private properties to emphasize preservation of established native vegetation and use of locally native or adapted drought tolerant species.

•  Natural Resources, Policy 2d: Continue to implement and update, as necessary, the landscape and tree ordinances for public and private properties to emphasize preservation of established native vegetation and use of locally native or adapted drought tolerant species.