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City introduces commercial landscaping requirements for new development
Summary
The council introduced a draft ordinance to require landscaping on new commercial development, proposing metrics based on street frontage or parking area and directing staff to refine the language before the next meeting.
Mayor Absher introduced a proposed commercial landscaping ordinance to address a gap in the city's code that currently lacks landscaping requirements for new commercial development. The draft ordinance was presented as a short, nonburdensome set of standards based on benchmarks used in similarly sized towns.
Staff explained the draft uses two alternative metrics: a frontage-based standard (example cited on the record as 2 square feet of landscaping per linear foot of addressed street frontage) and a parking-area standard (10 percent of parking lot area). The ordinance would require whichever metric produces the larger landscaping area for a given site; staff noted the code director would retain discretion to discuss site plans on-site with developers.
Council members and staff discussed how the rule would interact with existing permits. Staff said projects with already‑approved blueprints or issued permits would be exempt. A council member suggested clarifying the draft wording around the choice between frontage and parking-area metrics; staff encouraged members to send suggested edits to staff (Cody) before the next meeting.
The proposal was introduced for discussion only and was not voted on. Council asked staff to refine the draft language and return it for further consideration.
