18J.15.090 Surface Parking Lot Landscaping

18J.15.090 Surface Parking Lot Landscaping.

The intent of surface parking lot landscaping is to provide visual and noise relief to adjacent uses from parking lots by enhancing public and private open spaces, and to facilitate aquifer recharge. The standards promote physical safety of pedestrians and motorists with proper location and placement of vegetation and provide for internal parking lot landscaping to buffer such uses as drive-through facilities and service areas. Parking lots should not visually dominate any development setting.

1. Perimeter parking lot landscaping is required for any portion of a surface parking lot that is within 20 feet of a public or private road right-of-way or shared access.

2. Interior parking lot landscaping is required for all new surface parking lots with 10 or more spaces.

3. Interior parking lot landscaping is required for the addition of 10 spaces or more to an existing parking lot.

4. Standards for drive-through facilities, storage, and service areas are applicable when such facilities are proposed for the project.

1. Where a portion of a critical area's required buffer area is within the parking lot area, the required interior landscaping for that parking lot shall be credited with up to 50 percent of the areas set aside for critical area buffers. The total of all credits cannot reduce the total interior landscaping required by more than 35 percent.

2. Where a lot line is within a critical area with a required buffer area, perimeter parking lot landscaping shall not be required.

a. Supplemental plant material may be required to be installed within or adjacent to the natural landscape area, critical area, or critical area buffer to fully comply with the intent of the landscape level.

C. Design Objective. Provide visual and noise relief for adjacent uses from adjacent parking lots, unify development, enhance and define public and private open spaces, promote the use and protection of vegetation native and common to Western Washington, facilitate aquifer recharge, and promote physical safety of pedestrians and motorists through proper location and placement of vegetation.

a. Planting areas shall be fully protected by curbs, wheel stops, or other appropriate means to prevent injury to plants from pedestrian or vehicular traffic, except that minor curb cuts are allowed for sheet flow into planting areas used as stormwater facilities.

b. A maximum of 10 parking stalls in a row shall be allowed between landscape planting islands.

c. Landscape areas containing trees shall be a minimum of 64 square feet in size with no dimension less than 6 feet. Trees must be set back at least 24 inches from the curb edge to prevent damage from parking cars.

d. Landscape areas containing only shrubs and groundcover shall have a minimum width of 4 feet. Shrub, hedge, and groundcover plants shall not have mature heights that exceed 36 inches to provide for ease of vehicular sight distance and pedestrian safety.

e. Parking lots shall be located no closer to the interior lot line than the minimum width of required perimeter landscape buffer.

f. If the calculation of the number of trees or shrubs results in a fraction of less than 0.5, the applicant can round down to the previous whole number.

g. Native and Drought Tolerant Western Washington Plants. Refer to PCC 18J.15.100, Plant Lists, for required landscape plant selection standards. For bioretention areas within planting areas, refer to the plant list in the Pierce County Stormwater and Site Development Manual.

a. Any portion of the parking area within 20 feet of a public road right-of-way shall provide a Level 2 Landscape Buffer, per PCC 18J.15.040.H.1, along the right-of-way line.

b. The perimeter street landscaping for the parking lot shall not count toward the total interior landscaping required for the parking lot.

c. For ECOR, NCOR, TCTR, and UCOR zones, any portion of the parking area within 20 feet of a public road right-of-way shall provide a Level 1 Landscape Buffer, per PCC 18J.15.040.H.1, along the right-of-way line. Street trees provided through Title 17B PCC and PCC 18J.15.050 shall be adequate to satisfy this requirement.

a. Areas devoted to truck loading and turn around do not require interior parking lot landscaping.

b. One of the following options shall be met for interior parking lot landscaping:

(1) Landscaped area shall be provided within the parking lot at the rate of 25 square feet of landscaped area per stall or alternatively, 10 percent of the total parking area ("parking area" includes the parking stalls, aisles, entry ways), shall be landscaped, whichever is greater. At least 1 tree must be planted for every 200 square feet of landscaped area; or

(2) One tree shall be installed for every five parking spaces provided.

c. When a parking lot is divided into distinct areas, the applicant may utilize different options in distinct areas of the lot.

a. In the ECOR, NCOR, TCTR, and UCOR zones, all drive-through windows and stacking lanes shall be located at the side or rear of the building.

b. In all zones except for ECOR, NCOR, TCTR, and UCOR, drive-through windows and stacking lanes shall be oriented away from residential zones.

c. Drive-through windows and stacking lanes shall be visually screened from streets with an evergreen screen and/or architectural element, or combination thereof, with a minimum height of 4 feet.

d. Stacking lanes shall be physically separated from parking lots, sidewalks, and pedestrian areas by an evergreen screen and/or architectural element, or combination thereof, with a minimum height of 4 feet.

e. Screening elements shall reflect the design of the primary building and shall provide a physical separation that cannot be traversed in a method other than the circulation route intended for the drive-through traffic.

f. Drive-through speakers shall not be audible off-site.

a. Service and delivery bays shall not be oriented to the street frontage.

b. Outdoor storage facilities, garbage and recycling stations, and, when permissible, utility meters and electrical conduit, shall be screened with the use of one of the following:

(1) A structural enclosure compatible with the primary structure.

(a) Structural enclosures shall be designed to be architecturally-consistent to the primary structure with primary structures that conform to these design standards. Roof forms, building materials, and color shall be comparable to the primary structure; and

(b) Structural enclosures that are not accessory to a primary structure shall be designed in accordance with these design standards.

(2) A 6-foot sight obscuring fence; or

(3) An L3 Vegetative Screen.

c. Service areas shall be setback from property lines 15 feet or the required building setback, whichever is greater, when abutting a conforming residential use. The service areas shall be setback a minimum of 5 feet from property lines of abutting non-residential uses.

1. Tree species should be selected based on their parking lot compatibility, that is, high branching, do not release sticky substances, deep rather than shallow rooting, etc.

2. During the summer, interior parking lot landscaping areas should provide tree shade for 35 percent of the total parking lot area.

3. Parking lot planting areas should be constructed to retain, infiltrate, and cleanse stormwater generated from the parking lot area as either bioretention areas or bioswales, except where soil types will not allow for such designs.

4. Landscape areas should be distributed evenly throughout the parking area; however, clustering of landscaping is permitted to accommodate preservation of existing vegetation or specific design objectives including, but not limited to, solar access, water conservation, passive recreation, transit facilities, or architectural design.

5. Planting of lawn in areas less than 10 feet in width is discouraged due to associated water waste.

6. Vegetative and inert ground cover or lawn should cover all required landscape areas.

7. When replacement or expansion of existing utility systems is required, such expansion or replacement should, when feasible, be underground.