§ 85-843. Land development standards.

A. 

Minimum natural area/landscaping requirements.

(1) 

Minimum natural area/landscaping percent. Except as otherwise provided herein, a minimum of 20% of a commercial site shall be maintained as landscaped or natural area in accordance with Town standards and guidelines.

(2) 

Minimum natural area/landscaping in front yard. A minimum of 50% of all required landscaped or natural area shall be located within the front yard.

(3) 

Street trees. Street trees with a minimum caliper of four inches shall be planted and/or maintained adjacent to all road frontages in accordance with Town standards in an amount equal to 30 feet on center.

(4) 

Minimum natural area/landscaping along street frontage. A minimum of 15 feet of landscaped or natural area shall be maintained along all street frontages.

(5) 

Main Street Business District standards.

(a) 

Street trees shall be required and located within the right-of-way and between sidewalks and curbs within a four-foot-wide landscape cutout.

(b) 

The required front yard setback area shall be maintained as a planted landscape area or surfaced to provide for outdoor seating or retail display area as authorized.

(c) 

A minimum of one street tree shall be required per lot, with a minimum of two trees required on a corner lot.

(6) 

Supplemental standards. The following supplementary standards shall be required for the uses so indicated:

(a) 

A minimum landscaped or natural area of 30% shall be maintained in connection with a commercial center, regional theater or industrial or office use occupying a site of five acres or more.

(b) 

A minimum landscaped or natural area of 35% shall be maintained in connection with a fast-food restaurant.

(c) 

A minimum of 50 feet of landscaping or natural area shall be maintained along all road frontages in connection with a commercial center, regional theater or industrial or office use occupying a site of five acres or more.

(7) 

Parking area screening. All parking areas shall be screened from view with a hedge, berm and/or decorative wall or fence in accordance with Town standards.

(8) 

Parking area landscaping.

(a) 

Parking areas of 50 spaces or more shall contain 400 square feet of landscaping for each 25 spaces. Large parking areas shall be divided into smaller parking fields of 50 cars with landscape strips, peninsulas or grade separations to reduce the visual impact of large expanses of paving, to direct vehicular traffic through the parking lot and to provide a location for pedestrian walks.

(b) 

Landscape strips between parallel parking rows shall be a minimum of 10 feet in width. When incorporating pedestrian walkways, such strips shall be a minimum of 20 feet in width. Landscape aisles and strips shall include trees with a minimum caliper of four inches at a minimum of one tree for every 30 feet, in addition to other parking lot landscape requirements.

(9) 

Irrigation required. All landscaped, buffer and natural areas shall be irrigated in accordance with Town standards.

(a) 

Parking lot trees located in landscape strips shall be located to avoid conflict with overhanging vehicles by aligning with the lines between spaces.

(10) 

Irrigation required. All landscaped, buffer and natural areas shall be irrigated, irrigation shall utilize water-conserving methods, in accordance with this article.

(11) 

Required landscaping shall utilize drought-tolerant native and adapted species and/or water-conserving plants and methods, to reduce irrigation demands, in accordance with Town standards.

(12) 

The preservation of each existing large tree (greater than nine inches DBH) shall relieve the applicant from the installation of three parking lot or street trees in the vicinity of the existing tree.

B. 

Buffer requirements.

(1) 

Minimum requirement. Except as otherwise provided herein, all commercial uses, places of worship and MF, PRC, and PRCHC uses shall maintain a minimum perimeter buffer area of 25 feet adjacent to any residential use or zone. Natural buffer areas, which do not maintain a density and quality of plantings equal to a single row of evergreen plantings seven feet high and five feet on center, shall be supplemented with additional plantings in order to meet minimum buffer requirements.

(2) 

Supplemental standards. The following supplementary standards shall be required for the uses so indicated:

(a) 

A minimum perimeter buffer area of 25 feet adjacent to any residential use or zone, with a density and quality of plantings equal to a double row of evergreen plantings seven feet high and five feet on center shall be required in connection with an L Industrial 1 District use.

(b) 

A minimum perimeter buffer area of 25 feet adjacent to any residential use or zone, with a density and quality of plantings equal to a triple row of evergreen plantings seven feet high and five feet on center, shall be required in connection with a gasoline station, convenience market, motor vehicle repair shop, car wash, commercial boat storage yard, outdoor storage yard, ship yard, boat repair yard, marina, lumber yard, motor vehicle dealership, ferry terminal/facility or L Industrial 2 District use.

(c) 

A minimum perimeter buffer area of 75 feet adjacent to any residential use or zone, with a density and quality of plantings equal to five rows of evergreen plantings seven feet high and five feet on center, shall be required in connection with a commercial center, regional theater, industrial use occupying a site of five acres or more or outdoor recreational use.

(3) 

Where the frontage on one side of a street is zoned for commercial use and the frontage on the opposite side of the street is residentially zoned or used, a buffer in accordance with Town standards must be maintained along said commercial street frontage.

C. 

Minimum site lighting and streetlighting requirements.

(1) 

In the Main Street Business District, the following lighting provisions shall be required:

(a) 

Decorative off-street parking lot lights of not more than 18 feet in height, and 400 watts or less shall be uniformly applied, installed and maintained.

(b) 

Off-street parking lot light fixtures shall be nonadjustable, horizontally mounted fixtures with less than ninety-degree luminaire cutoff. Fixtures that project light or glare toward the street right-of-way or adjoining properties shall not be permitted.

(c) 

Pedestrian lighting shall be uniformly applied, installed and maintained along pedestrian walkways and alleyways.

(d) 

Building-mounted light fixtures shall be for safety or signage purposes only and must direct light downward. Wall-pack lights or other lighting that shines outward toward adjoining properties or the street right-of-way shall be prohibited. Shielding shall be provided to avoid light trespass and glare.

(e) 

Exterior neon lighting, illuminated banding, or other lighting that creates a glow shall be prohibited, unless approved by the Planning Board as part of an overall theme for the development area.

(f) 

Decorative streetlights of not more than 12 feet in height shall be uniformly applied, installed and maintained situated in sidewalk cutouts every 30 feet on center along the site's frontage. The same lighting fixture shall be applied to each Main Street Business District. Streetlight fixture styles shall be one of the following:

[1] 

Battery Park Fixture.

[2] 

Pennsylvania Globe Nantucket model.

[3] 

Other models as may be approved by the Planning Board and as acceptable to the Town of Brookhaven Division of Streetlighting.

D. 

Minimum sidewalk requirements.

(1) 

In the Main Street Business District, the following sidewalk provisions shall be required:

(a) 

Except as otherwise provided herein, the minimum sidewalk width shall be 10 feet, along all road frontages.

[1] 

Sidewalks shall be concrete, unless otherwise approved by the Planning Board as part of an overall theme for the development area.

[2] 

Decorative paving materials (i.e., pavers, stamped/textured concrete, or color concrete) shall be used to accent other pedestrian spaces at building entrances, courts, plazas and along pedestrian walks.

(b) 

Except as otherwise provided herein, a minimum alleyway width shall be 15 feet.

E. 

Minimum site improvements. Except as otherwise provided herein, all development shall meet or exceed the minimum standards contained within the Town Code of the Town of Brookhaven, including, but not limited to, the Subdivision Regulations.

Editor's Note: See Ch. SR, Subdivision Regulations.