18.40.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to preserve the aesthetic character of communities, to improve the aesthetic quality of the built environment, to promote retention and protection of existing vegetation; to promote water efficiency, to promote native wildlife, to reduce the impacts of development on drainage systems and natural habitats, and to increase privacy for residential zones by:
(1) Providing visual relief from large expanses of parking areas and reduction of perceived building scale;
(2) Providing physical separation between residential and nonresidential areas;
(3) Providing visual screens and barriers as a transition between differing land uses;
(4) Retaining existing vegetation and significant trees by incorporating them into the site design;
(5) Providing increased areas of permeable surfaces to allow for:
(a) Infiltration of surface water into ground water resources;
(b) Reduction in the quantity of stormwater discharge; and
(c) Improvement in the quality of stormwater discharge;
(6) Encouraging the use of native plant species by their retention or use in the landscape design;
(7) Requiring water use efficiency through water budgeting and efficient irrigation design standards;
(8) Encouraging the use of a diversity of plant species, which promote native wildlife habitat. (Ord. 42-02 § 2 (21A.16.010))