Legal Documents of Sweetwater

In order to provide separation and screening between incompatible land uses and to protect the integrity of less-intensive uses from more intensive uses, a buffer strip shall be required in side and rear yards per the following requirements:

1. Buffer strip width and location requirements. Buffer strips shall be located as follows:
   
   1. 20' wide - High density residential (R-2) adjacent to agriculture (A-1);
   2. 20' wide - High density residential (R-2) adjacent to low-density residential (R-1 );
   3. 20' wide - Professional (P-1) adjacent to agriculture (A-1);
   4. 20' wide - Professional (P-1) adjacent to residential (R-1, R-2, R-3, TND);
   5. 20' wide - Local Commercial (C-4) adjacent to agriculture (A-1);
   6. 20' wide - Local cmmnercial (C-4) adjacent to residential (R-1, R-2, R-3, TND);
   7. 30' wide - Commercial (C-3, C-5) adjacent to agriculture (A-1);
   8. 30' wide - Commercial (C-3, C-5) adjacent to residential (R-1, R-2, R-3, TND);
   9. 40' wide - Industrial (M-1, M-2) adjacent to agriculture (A-1); and
   10. 40' wide - Industrial (M-1, M-2) adjacent to residential (R-1, R-2, R-3, TND).

2. Buffer strip planting requirements. Buffer strips shall be planted as follows:

   1. One (1) canopy tree per seven hundred twenty-five (725) square feet of buffer strip area;
   2. One (1) understmy tree per six hundred (600) square feet of buffer strip area; and
   3. One (1) large shrub per five hundred (500) square feet of buffer area or one (1) small evergreen shrub per two-hundred fifty (250) square feet of buffer area.

   Plant material may be arranged in any reasonable manner, provided the plant material is distributed throughout the entire buffer and is spaced so as to provide a natural look which will promote the long-term survival of the plant material.

   Existing wooded areas may be used to fulfill the buffer strip requirements provided such wooded areas are located within and largely cover the full depth of the required buffer strip. Supplemental plantings may be required in order to equal the minimum buffer strip planting requirements.

   Existing individual trees and shrubs located within a buffer strip may also be substituted for required new buffer strip plantings, provided the existing tree or shrub is healthy, is non-invasive, meets the minimum size requirements for new plant material, and provides a significant screen. (as added by Ord. #832, Jan. 2009, as replaced by Ord. #935, Jan. 2016)