The purpose of this section is to establish standards for landscape
architecture, site design, site buffering, and landscape screening.
With the intent of preserving and promoting the health, safety, and
general welfare of the City, these regulations are based on the following
goals:
A.
Preserve and enhance the aesthetic character of the City;
B.
Protect the quality of the City's natural rivers, streams, and wetlands;
C.
Enhance erosion control;
D.
Improve the relationship between adjacent properties through screening
and buffering;
E.
Promote economic development in the City's neighborhoods, historic
districts, and entrance corridors.
A.
The landscape plan shall include:
(1)
Location, type, size, height, and number of proposed plantings.
(2)
Planting specifications or installation details.
(3)
Location and size of all existing plants and trees to be retained
during construction, as well as protection measures to be implemented
during construction.
(4)
Location, size and other related design details for all hardscape
improvements, signage, recreational improvements and open space areas,
fences, walls, barriers and other related elements.
(5)
Designation of required setbacks, yards and screening areas.
(6)
Location of other man-made site features, parking lots, hardscape
improvements, overhead structures and underground utilities to ensure
that landscape materials will not be in conflict with the placement
and operation of these improvements.
A.
Any required landscaping shall be installed prior to the issuance
of a certificate of occupancy.
B.
Existing healthy trees and shrubs shall be credited toward any minimum
landscaping required by this section, provided they meet minimum size
standards and are protected before and during construction and maintained
thereafter in a healthy growing condition.
C.
The owner of the property upon which the required landscaping or
buffering is installed shall be responsible for maintenance and replacement.
If any required tree, shrub, or other landscaping element shall die
or be removed after issuance of the certificate of occupancy, the
developer, his or her successors or assigns shall replace each by
the end of the next planting season with trees or shrubs of the same
or similar species, type, color, or character.
D.
Landscaping shall not obstruct the view of motorists using any street,
private driveway, parking aisles, or the approach to any street intersection
so as to constitute a traffic hazard or a condition dangerous to the
public safety.
E.
All required landscape materials shall conform to the following minimum
size or height standards at the time of planting:
Landscape buffering is intended to provide a year-round visual
screen between two or more properties in order to minimize visual
and other adverse impacts. Buffering may consist of fencing, evergreens,
boulders, mounds, or a combination of materials.
A.
A landscape buffer area shall be required where a commercially zoned
development abuts a residential zoning district, or where multifamily
residential development abuts any property zoned R-1 or R-2.
B.
In the above conditions, a buffer strip 10 feet in width shall be
required. Where site considerations do not allow a natural buffer
of 10 feet in width, a smaller buffer, or a privacy fence or wall,
may be substituted for all or a portion of that buffer as approved
by the Zoning Administrator during the site plan process.
C.
Plants should be sufficiently large and planted in such a fashion
that a year-round screen at least six feet in height shall be produced
within one growing season.
D.
No buildings, structures, storage of materials, or parking shall
be permitted within a buffer area.
E.
Buffer plantings shall be maintained in perpetuity in such a way
as to ensure that the buffering requirements of this article continue
to be met. Any dead or dying plants shall be removed within 30 days
of notification by the Zoning Administrator and shall be replaced
by the property owner during the next viable planting season.
A.
Screening shall be required to conceal specific areas from both on-site
and off-site views. Such areas shall be screened at all times, regardless
of adjacent uses, adjacent districts, or other proximate landscaping
material. Specific areas to be screened include:
(1)
Large waste receptacles (dumpsters) and refuse collection points
(including cardboard recycling containers).
(2)
Loading and service areas.
(3)
Outdoor storage areas (including storage tanks).
(4)
Ground-based utility equipment with size in excess of 12 cubic
feet.
(5)
Ground-level mechanical units.
B.
Screening shall be required to conceal specific areas from both on-site
and off-site views. Such areas shall be screened at all times, regardless
of adjacent uses, adjacent districts, or other proximate landscaping
material. Specific areas to be screened include:
[Amended 7-1-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]
(1)
Large waste receptacles (dumpsters) and refuse collection points
(including cardboard recycling containers);
(2)
Loading and service areas;
(3)
Outdoor storage areas (including storage tanks);
(4)
Ground-based utility equipment with size in excess of 12 cubic
feet;
(5)
Ground level and wall-mounted mechanical equipment (e.g., air-handling
equipment, compressors, condensers, duct work, transformers, and elevator
equipment) visible from a public street (not including an alley) at
ground level at the property line. Window-mounted mechanical equipment,
solar photovoltaic, and solar thermal systems are exempted from the
requirement to screen mechanical equipment.
C.
Screening plantings shall be maintained in perpetuity in such a way
as to ensure that the buffering requirements of this article continue
to be met. Any dead or dying plants shall be removed within 30 days
of notification by the Zoning Administrator and shall be replaced
by the property owner during the next viable planting season.
All vehicle parking areas shall include landscaping, both within
the interior of the parking area and around its perimeter, to provide
shade, screen views, mitigate runoff, and provide aesthetic appeal.
However, the landscape provisions of this section shall not apply
to off-street parking for individual single or two-family residential
dwellings, or for parking structures or vehicle display areas.
A.
Parking lots adjacent to lot lines. For parking lots immediately
adjacent to lot lines, the following landscape regulations shall apply:
(1)
Where a parking lot (or a private driveway providing access
to a parking lot or building entry) abuts a property line not common
with the right-of-way of a street, a landscaping strip of 2 1/2 feet
in width shall be located between the parking lot and the abutting
property line.
(2)
A minimum of one tree for each 40 feet of contiguous property
line shall be planted in the landscape strip.
B.
Parking lots adjacent to public streets. For parking lots and private
access adjacent to public streets which are subject to site plan approval,
the following landscape regulations shall apply:
(1)
Where a parking lot (or a private driveway providing access
to a parking lot or building entry) abuts a public right-of-way for
a City street, a landscaping strip of five feet in width (not including
the sidewalk) shall be located between the parking lot or private
driveway and the right-of-way line.
(2)
A minimum of one tree for each 40 feet of property line common
with the public right-of-way shall be planted in the landscaping strip.
C.
All parking lots of 30 or more spaces shall contain within the interior
of the parking lot not less than one tree for every 12 continuous
parking spaces or fraction thereof. Such trees shall be dispersed
throughout the interior of the parking lot. In the case of redevelopment
proposals, this parking lot tree requirement is only applicable to
those proposals that necessitate additional parking spaces over those
that are currently provided.
D.
Landscaped planting islands (located such that parking spaces are
on opposing sides of the planting island) shall be developed in parking
lots meeting the following criteria:
(1)
The total size of the parking lot exceeds 150 total parking
spaces.
(2)
Parking lot layout incorporates three or more double-loaded
or single-loaded parking bays which are contiguous and parallel to
each other.
(3)
Planting islands which are designed to be perpendicular to the
parking bay shall be constructed for every other parking bay.
(4)
Planting islands shall have a minimum width of six feet to allow
for bumper overhang and shall otherwise provide adequate width for
the growth and maintenance of the intended landscape materials to
be planted therein.
E.
The primary landscaping materials used in parking lots shall be trees
which provide shade or are capable of providing shade at maturity.
Shrubs and other live planting material may be used to complement
the primary, tree landscaping.
F.
The landscaping shall be dispersed throughout the parking lot, with
interior dimensions of any planting area (i.e., interior parking median)
sufficient to protect and maintain all landscaping materials planted
therein.
Fences and walls may be used within landscaped areas to provide
buffering, privacy, separation, security, or for aesthetic reasons,
but may not create an unsightly or unsafe condition on or off of the
public or private property on which the fence or wall is proposed.
A.
The provisions of this section shall apply to all construction, reconstruction,
or replacement of fences or walls except:
B.
Fences or walls shall not be located within the public right-of-way.
C.
Fences and walls may be located within any required yard or setback.
D.
Fences located within an easement shall receive written authorization
from the easement holder or the City (as appropriate). The City shall
not be responsible for damage to, or the repair or replacement of,
fences that must be removed to access such easements or facilities.
E.
No fence or wall shall be installed in a manner or in a location
so as to block or divert a natural drainage flow on to or off of any
other land, unless the fence or wall has specifically been approved
as part of an approved stormwater management plan.
F.
A fence or wall in any residential zoning district shall not exceed
seven feet in height above the existing grade without approval of
a conditional use permit.
G.
A fence or wall in any commercial zoning district shall not exceed
eight feet in height above the existing grade without approval of
a conditional use permit.
H.
No fence or wall shall be constructed in a manner or in a location
that impairs safety or sight-lines for pedestrians and vehicles traveling
on public rights-of-way.
I.
All fences and walls and associated landscaping shall be maintained
in good repair and in a safe and attractive condition. The owner of
the property on which a fence or wall is located shall be responsible
for maintenance, including, but not limited to, the replacement of
missing, decayed, or broken structural and decorative elements.
Landscaping plans and plantings installed within the City should
generally be sustainable and biologically diverse with emphasis on
trees and plants native to Virginia and the Lexington region, as well
as those landscape patterns established in the City in the past.
A.
Landscape designers shall make every effort to use healthy and locally
sourced trees, shrubs, and other plants, and to create landscapes
that minimize the need for maintenance and irrigation. Invasive species
are not recommended.
B.
For the purposes of meeting the City of Lexington's landscape ordinance
goals, the following plant and tree species are suggested as a guide
to landscape architects and landscape designers. This list is intended
as a suggestion only. Final plant selections should be made by property
owners in consultation with qualified landscape professionals, and
should consider specific site conditions, disease resistance, and
other qualities to ensure healthy and beautiful landscapes.
(1)
Street and shade trees: Japanese Pagoda Tree, Silver Linden,
Zelkova, American or Chinese Elms, Swamp White Oak, Kastura, Ginkgo,
River Birch, Hackberry, London Plane Tree, Yellowwood, Bale Cypress.
(2)
Ornamental or flowering trees: Amur Maple, Dogwood (Kousa),
Serviceberry, Redbud, Cornus Mas Dogwood, Seven Son Flower, Bottle
Brush Buckeye, Yellowwood, Spicebush.
(3)
Evergreen or flowering shrubs. English Yew, Japanese Yew, Rhododendren,
Abelia, Forsythia, Viburnum, Flowering Quince, colored twig Dogwoods,
Hydrangeas, Aucuba, Globe Cryptomeria, Globe Arborvitae, Inkberry,
Chokeberry, Carolina Allspice, Elderberry, Distyllium, Winterberry,
Clethra, Fothergilla, Sweet Spire.
(4)
Buffering/screening. American Holly, Arborvitae, Foster Holly,
Cryptomeria, False Cypress, Sweet Bay Magnolia, Bald Cypress, Dawn
Redwood, Eastern Red Cedar.
