Broward County, Florida
Broward County Florida is a mature community that has managed to maintain a comfortably natural character despite the extent to which the area has been developed. This accomplishment is the direct result of landscape codes that were implemented and enforced early on in the community’s development. The following is a summary of a crucial part of this landscape code, the landscape requirements for vehicular use areas.
Section 39-81 of Article VIII, Functional Landscaping, in Chapter 39, Zoning, of the Broward County Code of Ordinances is entitled Landscape requirements for vehicular use areas. This section is divided into three main parts which are labeled (a), (b), and (c). The first section simply states that all nonresidential V.U.A.’s shall conform to the guidelines of this ordinance with the exception of those contained within or below buildings.
The second section (b) outlines planting and screening requirements for V.U.A. perimeters. This section is mainly concerned with common standards such as tree counts and groundcover percentages. However, one fairly unique requirement involved following principles set forth by Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). This requirement mandated that the living or nonliving landscape barrier that must separate V.U.A.’s from adjacent properties shall be no higher than three feet if it is to be located next to a pedestrian walkway.
The
third and final section (c) details planting requirements for V.U.A.
interiors. These requirements include
such things as percentage of total interior to contain planting (10%) and
number and spacing of trees. This
section states that grass parking lots do not count toward the required area of
pervious ground and are subject to the same standards as paved lots. Provisions are also made for the substitution of “other suitable solutions or innovative
designs” subject to approval by the Development Management Division and Zoning
Code Services Division.
This code can be found online at: http://livepublish.municode.com/4/lpext.dll/Infobase1/1/88f5/8f96/901e?f=templates&fn=altmain-nf.htm&q=landscape&x=Simple&2.0#LPHit1
Matt Faus
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