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I have been thinking about the landscaping project at City Hall. We were told that City Hall did not meet the principals and standards the City requires on development. The one item that I heard mentioned that was not up to "City Standards" was the lack of screening on the parking areas. With that in mind, I went looking through Chapter 17 of the City Ordinances. Here is what I found.
The section of the zoning code that relates to the principles and standards is section 17.0210. I found in section 17.0210(f)(2) of interest:
The landscaping of a site and even the fencing and building structures on the site should be arranged as to attractively screen from the general view of the traveling public those areas on the site not enclosed within a building which are not inherently attractive, such as auto parking areas, truck and construction equipment parking areas, large paved areas, trash receptacles, building related mechanical equipment, above-ground utility facilities, and raw material storage.
I think the key here is general view of the traveling public. I think that is, to use a term from Chapter 17, a quantitative measurement. In other words, general view is subjective. If you are traveling on Hwy 164, can you see the parking areas at City Hall? In my opinion, only if you are looking for them. Even the picture on the City website, taken from the driveway, does not show a huge amount of parking lot. I submit that the topography of the area provides ample screening from the traveling public.
I also found this in section 17.0210(c)(7):
Building landscaping, that is landscaping which is or appears to be an integral part of the building facade design, needs to be carefully planned and the appropriate grading and plant materials used so as not to detract from the architecture of the building.
While the proposed landscaping may not be considered part of building facade, it sure does not look as if it has been carefully planned. In fact, the whole City Hall renovation project appears to have been a basic plan and a bunch of change orders. Change this, move that, upgrade this other stuff. Hey, now we need a sign, let's shift money from another account to pay for it. Now we need landscaping. We are out of the lake management business, let's use the $25,000 in that account.
This landscaping project simply appears to be another add-on to the poorly planned City Hall Expansion project. A project that the citizens were told was finished.
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