Agenda - Council - 03/23/2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE# INTRODUCE ORDINANCE TO AMEND LANDSCAPE REQUIREMENTS IN THE R-l, R-2 AND R-3 RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS; By: Community Development Director Sylvia Frolik and Community Development Assistant Chris Anderson Background: As part of implementing the 2001 Comprehensive Plan, City Staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council have been involved in implementing the new Plan by reviewing and rewriting City Code Chapter 9, zoning and subdivision regulations. In 2002, the residential districts were amended. Observations: Since the adoption of the amendments to the residential districts, Staff has encountered a great deal of difficulty in applying the new landscaping requirements in the multi-family districts. The planting requirements are based on a certain number of trees and shrubs per unit. After working with the new code, it became apparent that the requirements are excessive and no site plan we received could effectively meet the planting requirements. The plantings schedule is such that as the trees and shrubs matured, they would inevitably choke each other out because of lack of adequate growing space. In some instances, the site was not large enough to contain all the trees and shrubs required by the planting schedule. Staff discussed this matter with the Environmental Policy Task Force and they worked with City Staff to draft a new planting formula that is based on canopy cover at maturity rather than the current stem count requirement. This is an innovative approach to establishing landscape requirements and will provide for a much healthier planting plan and survival rate. For better survival rates, the Task Force is also recommending decreasing the size of the deciduous and ornamental trees from 2.5 and 1.5 inch diameters to 1 inch diameter; and decreasing the size of coniferous trees from a height of 6 feet to 5 feet. In summary, the amount of canopy cover required on a particular project site would be based on the ratio of impervious area to the entire site. A formula has also been devised to calculate the average mature tree canopy cover. However, the Ramsey Tree Book lists the canopy cover for all trees identified as either preferred or acceptable species in Ramsey. The only time a developer would have to resort to using the formula is if they did not use a species that is listed in the Tree Book. The required canopy cover square footage for a project site would be determined as follows: Total Lot Size: 20 acres (871,200 square feet) Impervious Surface Area: 392,040 square feet (45% of Total Lot Size) Pervious Surface Area: 479,160 square feet (55% of Total Lot Size) Required Canopy Cover = (Impervious Surface Area/Total Lot Size) x Pervious Surface Area (392,040sq. ft/871,200sq, ft.) x 479,160 Sq. ft. = 215,622 sq. ft. of required canopy cover.