new parking lot landscaping

[flyingember]

city code now requires landscaping over parking spots. it actually reduces the minimum required to let the landscaping go in, not the other way around

the requirements are crazy low too from what I expected at 10 spots. the crossroads has the only major exception at 25 spots. and it covers expansions and > 50% reconstructions too! want to grow a lot? you have to landscape. want to repair it, landscape.

I took a random spot in the river market and found it's roughly 115 square feet. that 115 requires 35 square feet of landscaping. 50 spots is ~5750 square feet. the landscaping would be 1750 square feet. that's a little under 25% of a parking lot dedicated to landscaping! that changes the math entirely for parking lots. now when you see a lot repaired it will suddenly lose 25% of it's value.

that's an incentive to convert to a garage, and more garages drops the price that can be charged, or to install to a building. coupled with the other thread on street fronting parking trees (http://forum.kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19191), this is effectively a non-fine (money fine) method to mandate less parking, more transit and to hide parking behind buildings. it has the ability to change the look of downtown entirely over time as no parking lot goes forever without a subsurface repair, can't overlay forever without redoing the access points

8-425-06 INTERIOR LANDSCAPING OF PARKING LOTSpermanent link to this piece of content

88-425-06-A. APPLICABILITY

Unless otherwise expressly stated, the interior landscaping standards of this section apply to all of the following in all zoning districts:

1. the construction or installation of any new parking lot containing 25 or more parking spaces in the Crossroads area or 10 or more parking spaces outside the Crossroads area;

2. the expansion of existing parking lots, if the expansion would create 25 or more parking spaces in the Crossroads area or 10 or more new parking spaces outside the Crossroads area, in which case the requirements of this section apply only to the expanded area; and

3. the excavation and reconstruction of existing parking lots containing 25 or more parking spaces in the Crossroads area or 10 or more parking spaces outside the Crossroads area if such excavation and reconstruction involves the removal of 50% or more of the asphalt, concrete or other parking lot surface material.

88-425-06-B. MINIMUM INTERIOR LANDSCAPE AREA

1. At least 35 square feet of interior landscape area must be provided for each parking space. If compliance with this standard would result in the loss of existing required parking spaces, the amount of parking required is automatically reduced by the amount needed to accommodate the required interior landscaping.

2. When at least 50% of interior parking lot landscape area consists of depressed bioretention areas used for storm water management the minimum landscaped area requirement is reduced from 35 square feet per parking space to 28 square feet per parking space. In order to receive this bioretention credit, the ponding area must be at least 6 inches and not more than 18 inches in depth and planted with native wildflowers/forbs and grasses.

[longviewmo]

Bring on the mulched islands in between rows with nothing growing on them.

[moderne]

The problem will be as with the current parking lot requirements: OK when new, but deteriorate as time goes by so as to be nullified. For 20 years lots have been required to have some buffering from the street. Look at the lot in front of the small strip mall at Westport and SW Trfwy. When new there was landscaping and a decorative metal fence. The metal fence is long gone and only one tree survives from the landscaping. The poor tree gets scalped every year as they seem it fear it will block the view of the place.

[aknowledgeableperson]

The rules mean absolutely nothing without enforcement.

[kigmee]

Why trees and shrubs? They require a lot of water and maintenance. On the other hand, native grasses and flowers can provide an effective screen, better condition the soil to absorb runoff, and require minimal maintenance once established.

[slimwhitman]

Why trees and shrubs? They require a lot of water and maintenance. On the other hand, native grasses and flowers can provide an effective screen, better condition the soil to absorb runoff, and require minimal maintenance once established.

You need the trees for other things like: defining space, heat island, transpiration (reducing temps), flood reduction, air cleaning, etc. Oh yea....shade for walks and parking is nice too.

The problem will be as with the current parking lot requirements: OK when new, but deteriorate as time goes by so as to be nullified. For 20 years lots have been required to have some buffering from the street. Look at the lot in front of the small strip mall at Westport and SW Trfwy. When new there was landscaping and a decorative metal fence. The metal fence is long gone and only one tree survives from the landscaping. The poor tree gets scalped every year as they seem it fear it will block the view of the place.

Too true. There needs to be a code person comparing approved plans to existing conditions and writing up citations. I don't know any city that actually does this, but it would solve this problem.

[chingon]

Why trees and shrubs? They require a lot of water and maintenance. On the other hand, native grasses and flowers can provide an effective screen, better condition the soil to absorb runoff, and require minimal maintenance once established.

Nobody likes that ugly brown Kansas crap. It'd be one thing if this was Oregon or Colorado or somewhere beautiful and we had beautiful plants that were natural, but not that prairie crap. Missouri is naturally just like a golf course.

[chingon]

You need the trees for other things like: defining space, heat island, transpiration (reducing temps), flood reduction, air cleaning, etc. Oh yea....shade for walks and parking is nice too.

Just for the record native grasses are better at all those things than trees except for providing shade and (very) arguably "defining space".

There are also plenty of trees native to western Missouri.

[slimwhitman]

You need the trees for other things like: defining space, heat island, transpiration (reducing temps), flood reduction, air cleaning, etc. Oh yea....shade for walks and parking is nice too.

Just for the record native grasses are better at all those things than trees except for providing shade and (very) arguably "defining space".

There are also plenty of trees native to western Missouri.

Huh? Show some research. Native grass is nice and all but can only do some of the things I mentioned, sometimes as well, but differently than trees. Grass can't intercept rainfall from above the paving and hold it. Trees cool cities a lot more effectively that grasses. Why not have both trees and non-turf grasses for double duty?

What is better?....a hour long walk in 105 degree heat along a native grass path or a tree lined path?

What do you mean by your last sentence? Do we already have enough trees in native areas, so why bother having them in the built environment?

[kigmee]

Huh? Show some research. Native grass is nice and all but can only do some of the things I mentioned, sometimes as well, but differently than trees. Grass can't intercept rainfall from above the paving and hold it. Trees cool cities a lot more effectively that grasses. Why not have both trees and non-turf grasses for double duty?

What is better?....a hour long walk in 105 degree heat along a native grass path or a tree lined path?

What do you mean by your last sentence? Do we already have enough trees in native areas, so why bother having them in the built environment?

The way I read the ordinance, it only allowed trees and shrubs. I have nothing against them, but I also like native grasses and forbs, and I think they should be allowed as well.

Who takes an hour long walk in 105 degree weather, and how many parking lots are they going to pass in an hour? Enough to keep them from experiencing heat stroke?

[slimwhitman]

What is better?....a hour long walk in 105 degree heat along a native grass path or a tree lined path?

Who takes an hour long walk in 105 degree weather, and how many parking lots are they going to pass in an hour? Enough to keep them from experiencing heat stroke?

If we design cities to be tolerable to walk in at 105 degrees, we will make them exceptionable to walk in at 80 degrees. Parking lots are more common than buildings in this city, so I think there will be many opportunities to walk past them.

[kigmee]

I just don't know, Slim. Not very many trees are hardy enough to survive being surrounded by acres of concrete. I think I've seen more stunted, diseased and damaged trees along urban streets and parking lots than healthy ones. And judging from the condition of parking lots around the city, owners are not very interested in expending more than the bare minimum for maintenance.

[moderne]

The landscaping at the KCPA proves that using native plantings works even in an urban setting. The little bluestem, oaks, and redbuds look so natural against the limestone colored concrete. The conifers are not native, but then the only native evergreen is cedar. Of course this is not a xeriscape but heavily irrigated so cannot be applicable for a parking lot bumper strip. But using natives that can withstand our climate extremes will lead to more success once established.

[slimwhitman]

The landscaping at the KCPA proves that using native plantings works even in an urban setting. The little bluestem, oaks, and redbuds look so natural against the limestone colored concrete. The conifers are not native, but then the only native evergreen is cedar. Of course this is not a xeriscape but heavily irrigated so cannot be applicable for a parking lot bumper strip. But using natives that can withstand our climate extremes will lead to more success once established.

I don't disagree that the KCPA landscaping looks nice or that natives can be used a lot in urban landscape designs, but the KCPA is the worst project to use as an example of natives for KC. It has red maples, a species not native to KC counties and a short lived urban tree. It also has pin oak, a terrible urban tree. Liriope is all over. The spruce you mention. The only thing that screams "native" is the switchgrass, which is very nice. There are other natives on site, but it is more about a "native aesthetic", than truly "native".

All this is planted in crazy-expensive engineered soil with lots of irrigation and drainage. Great stuff, but not applicable to most budgets.

[flyingember]

Who takes an hour long walk in 105 degree weather, and how many parking lots are they going to pass in an hour? Enough to keep them from experiencing heat stroke?

there's A LOT of people that like parking underneath a shade tree. in some lots you'll see clusters of cars at the only trees in the summer