18.70.060 Landscaping/screening.
(1) The visual impacts of wireless communication facilities shall be mitigated and softened through landscaping or other screening materials at the base of the tower, equipment compounds, equipment enclosures, and ancillary structures, with the exception of wireless communication facilities located on electrical transmission structures, or if the antenna is mounted flush on an existing building or camouflaged as part of the building and ancillary equipment is housed inside an existing structure. The use of appropriate native plant species is encouraged. The Director or Hearing Examiner, as appropriate, may reduce or waive the standards for those sides of the wireless communication facility that are not in public view and when a combination of existing vegetation, topography, walls, decorative fences or other features achieves the same degree of screening as the required landscaping; or in locations where large wooded lots and natural growth around the property perimeter may be sufficient buffer.
(2) Landscaping shall be installed on the outside of fences associated with wireless communication facility equipment compounds and around equipment enclosures located at ground level. Existing vegetation shall be preserved to the maximum extent practicable and may be used as a substitute for or as a supplement to landscaping or screening requirements. The following requirements apply:
(a) Screening landscaping shall be placed around the perimeter of the equipment compound, except that a maximum 10-foot portion of the fence may remain without landscaping in order to provide access to the enclosure.
(b) The landscaping area shall be Type 1 landscaping as described in CMC 18.40.040(1) and a minimum of eight feet in depth around the perimeter of the enclosure in all zoning districts; except that Type II landscaping as defined in CMC 18.40.040(2) may be used in residential zoning districts and shall be a minimum of 10 feet in depth.
(c) The applicant shall utilize evergreens that shall be a minimum of six feet tall at the time of planting, unless located in a transmission or utility corridor where clearance requirements apply; then landscaping that will be appropriate in size at maturity so as not to grow into the clear zone shall be planted.
(3) The applicant shall replace any unhealthy or dead plant materials in conformance with the approved landscaping development proposal plan and shall maintain all landscaping materials in a healthy growing condition for the life of the facility. Landscape areas shall be kept free of trash. (Ord. 03-19 § 3 (Exh. B); Ord. 09-12 § 1 (Exh. A))