17.78.080 Parking lot and service area landscaping and screening.
The standards of this section shall apply to public and private parking lots, paved service areas, residential parking areas providing spaces for more than 10 cars and all nonresidential uses of land and development.
A. Perimeter Landscaping. In order to soften the visual effects or separate one parking area or paved service area from another or from other uses, the following standards apply:
1. Adjacent to a street or road, the minimum width shall be equal to the required yard for the underlying land use or a strip 10 feet wide, whichever is greater. On all other perimeters the depth shall be a minimum of five feet.
2. Visual screening through one or any of a combination of the following methods:
a. Planting of living ground cover as well as shrubs or small trees which will form a solid vegetative screen at least three feet in height; or
b. Construction of a barrier fence or wall to a height of three feet combined with low-planting or wall-clinging plant materials. Materials should be complementary to building design; or
c. Earth mounding or berms having a minimum height of three feet and covered with shrubs and trees.
3. A continuous canopy of trees shall be planted around the perimeter spaced 20 feet on-center.
4. LID BMPs may be utilized within the perimeter landscape areas. Where LID BMPs are proposed to meet parking lot perimeter landscape requirements, areas containing LID BMPs may deviate from the requirements in this section; provided, that the overall landscape area meets the intent of this section.
B. Interior Parking Lot Landscaping. A continuous canopy of trees shall be planted within the interior of a parking lot as follows:
1. A continuous row of trees, spaced 20 feet on-center, located between each parking row in a minimum five-foot-wide continuous landscape strip; or
2. Two trees at each end of parking rows and between every nine single-loaded parking stalls, or 18 for double-loaded parking stalls, in planted areas of at least 125 square feet each for single-loaded, or 250 square feet each for double-loaded parking stalls.
3. For buildings eligible for an industrial building exemption, as defined in GHMC 17.99.040, a continuous canopy of interior parking lot trees is not required if the number of trees otherwise required under subsection (B)(1) or (B)(2) of this section are provided around the perimeter of the parking lot, along with any other required perimeter landscaping.
4. LID BMPs are encouraged within interior parking lot landscape areas. Where LID BMPs are utilized to manage parking lot stormwater runoff, the required number of trees may be reduced by one-third to allow for narrower bioretention areas consistent with the minimum landscape strip required under subsection (B)(1) of this section.
C. Downtown Parking Lots. In addition to the standards of subsection B of this section, parking lots located within the DB zoning district and the portion of the WC zoning district abutting the DB zoning district shall conform to the following:
1. Provision of a minimum of five-foot-wide landscaping strip intended to screen and soften the visual impacts of parking lots. Screening may be accomplished through any of the methods described under subsection (A)(2) of this section. In addition to screening, street trees a minimum of two-inch caliper shall be provided at 20-foot intervals.
2. In those instances where parking areas are bordered by more than one street, the strip required in subsection (C)(1) of this section shall only apply to the longest side. All other sides must be screened with a wall, fence, vegetative buffer or combination of these elements at a minimum height of three and one-half feet. The street tree requirements will pertain.
3. In order to protect vision clearances, areas around driveways and other access points are not required to comply with the full screening height standards. The specific horizontal distance exempt from this standard shall be as established in the city of Gig Harbor public works standards.
D. Tree Size and Placement. Trees required under the provisions of subsections (A)(3) and (B) of this section shall have a clear trunk to a height of at least six feet above the ground and shall have a minimum of a two-inch caliper at planting. Trees shall be planted no closer than four feet from pavement edges where vehicles overhang planted areas.
E. Shrubs and Ground Cover. Required landscaped areas remaining after tree planting shall be planted in shrubs and/or ground cover. The distribution of plants shall be adequate to ultimately achieve 75 percent ground coverage within three years of plantings.
F. Vehicle Overhang. Parked vehicles may overhang landscaped areas up to two feet by wheel stops or curbing. (Ord. 1347 § 51, 2016; Ord. 1307 § 54, 2014; Ord. 1086 § 8, 2007; Ord. 975 § 70, 2004; Ord. 710 § 78, 1996; Ord. 573 § 2, 1990).