9_4_24 Planning Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Approved 12.4.24 Charity Kirk: Can we talk about the foundation plantings then? Like foundation plantings, Page 6-46, one, 1203 we're going to add an “A” stating landscaping should be planted a minimum 2 feet from the 1204 foundation. 1205 1206 Perdita Holtz: Also, I wanted to say that it should say "shall be planted" because our attorney's office is very 1207 diligent about not having discretionary language added to the UDO more than it already is. I know 1208 there are plenty of examples in there, but they don't want to see more, so if it's not a standard, 1209 don't put it in the UDO. That's what they're telling us. 1210 1211 Lamar Proctor: Can I ask one question about that real quick? So, y'all have a lot more experience in dealing with 1212 the best practices in what actually ends up on a site plan. So, in that regard for the 5 feet, what do 1213 you see? Do you see most site plans it's clear that they are taking all that into account and they're 1214 using best practices in putting these plantings in their locations? 1215 1216 Perdita Holtz: Yes. I mean, we don't have a whole lot of non-residential structures going in, in Orange County, 1217 and normally when it's a commercial building going in, those people are working with a 1218 professional landscape architect to do some of their plans and such. 1219 1220 Lamar Proctor: Thank you. 1221 1222 Beth Bronson: I will say that that was my only comment was that I don't see a lot of enforcement with the non-1223 residential. And what I see with the non-residential is, yeah, they may say that they're using a 1224 local company or that they're using a professional landscaper, but the quality of their plants are 1225 not in any way meeting the needs of these standards, and you see a lot of death of those buffer 1226 plants within the first year, 2 years. I'm not saying that they're going to be replaced, or I'm not 1227 saying that they're not going to be replaced, but I will say that watching non-residential, which is 1228 normally larger parcels, try to adhere to these landscaping development standards, it really shows 1229 what the bare minimum is, I think. Like it just doesn't, they don't look good. And it's not that they 1230 don't look good. It's just like they don't look healthy. They don't look well attended. Like they 1231 don't look like good specimens to begin with. And I like the idea of adding native and drought 1232 resistant. I guess too, this section doesn't really address enforcement. That's the only other thing 1233 that I noticed. 1234 1235 Cy Stober: This is the simplest part of our ordinance to enforce. We can enforce this. We enforce it almost 1236 every week. And you can thank your colleague, Ms. Kirk, for all the work she did with our new 1237 planting guide, which is enforced by the staff, and you must use if you're doing plantings in 1238 Orange County. It is targeted to native, drought-resistant plants, or drought tolerant. And we 1239 have shade tolerant. We have sun-loving plants in there. So, depending upon the geometry and 1240 the building orientation, you can plant different plants on the property. Thank you very much. We 1241 are putting it into action, and this is a very simple part of our ordinance. This may be the simplest 1242 part of our ordinance to enforce. 1243 1244 Beth Bronson: It seems so. 1245 1246 Cy Stober: But it does take time for them to grow back. 1247 1248 Charity Kirk: Going back to this foundation planting addition, are we okay with it? Landscaping shall be planted 1249 a minimum of 2 feet from the foundation. 1250 1251 Statler Gilfillen: I think it should be no closer than 2 feet to the foundation. 1252 1253 Charity Kirk: A minimum of 2 feet from the foundation. 1254 1255 Statler Gilfillen: Whatever legally works. 1256 1257