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Staff previews proposed Title IV landscaping amendments, seeks commission feedback
Summary
City planning staff outlined proposed text amendments to the landscaping ordinance (Title IV) to add flexibility for industrial districts, refine parking-lot and buffer-yard requirements, and clarify plant-unit calculations; commissioners asked clarifying questions about definitions and applicability.
City planning staff previewed proposed revisions to Title IV (landscaping) and asked the Planning and Zoning Commission for feedback before bringing a formal text amendment to a future meeting.
Staff said the amendments respond to a request from a property owner in the Sandhills Industrial Park and to issues identified after one year of operating under the recently updated landscaping ordinance. The proposed changes would: separate overlay districts into a fourth landscape "tier" (overlay-specific) that would add one plant unit above base requirements; remove certain fixed location requirements to give designers flexibility; replace a rigid parking-lot perimeter table with a plant-unit-per-linear-foot minimum; allow shrubs or perennials instead of trees within parking-lot islands used for light poles or stormwater detention; and remove buffer-yard requirements between commercial and industrial properties while retaining buffers where nonresidential or high-density residential uses abut low-density residential districts.
Commissioners asked how the ordinance defines "parking lot" and how the rules would apply to industrial staging yards, tractor-trailer parking and outdoor storage. Staff said parking and vehicular circulation areas within 30 feet of public rights-of-way would be subject to parking-lot perimeter plant-unit requirements, and that separate screening provisions apply to outdoor storage yards and service areas with some exemptions for industrial areas. Staff said they will refine definitions and the buffer-yard table and bring a redlined ordinance back to the commission for consideration next month. Staff noted the Sandhills area is seeing development interest, including a steel company and other prospective users.
