Plant Salvage and Landscape Oro Valley Zoning Code Section 27.6.
This document was created to assist customers with creating a plant salvage and landscape plan for their custom home site.
The entire landscape code can be found online in the zoning code, chapter 27.6.
Plant Salvage, Mitigation and Landscape Plan:
Please include the following items for a new custom home lot submittal or for a residential project that requires a grading plan. This information may be shown on the grading plan but providing a separate landscape sheet may result in a less cluttered easier to read plan.
- Entire lot
- Show all existing and proposed improvements (house, pool, driveway, etc.)
- Show and label the entire area to be graded a.k.a. the grading limit line
Plant Salvage and Mitigation will be required for the entire area to be graded:
The property owner/project manager will need to tag the plants on the site prior to the first inspection. The first inspection will verify the plants have been properly marked and limits of grading identified on the site.
Some plants are required to be preserved in place, salvaged or replaced. Explanation of those plants are included later in this document.
- Identify plants that are to remain in place and define how those plants will be protected during construction
- Identify the plants that are to be salvaged
- Show the proposed new locations of the salvaged plants
- Identify the plants that are designated to be destroyed
- Show the location of the replacement (mitigated) plants. Those plants can be placed anywhere on the lot.
- List the tagging colors of the identified plants. Common colors are White = Remain in place, Red = Destroy, Blue = Salvage
- Provide a table listing the plants to be salvaged, destroyed or kept in place within the grading area.
Plant salvage and mitigation sample table:
Plant name
|
Remain in place (white ribbon)
|
Salvaged/transplanted
(blue ribbon)
|
Destroyed
(red ribbon)
|
Quantity
|
Reason for destruction
|
Mesquite/Prosopis Velutina
|
X
|
|
|
6
|
-
|
Palo Verde/Parkinsonia Florida
|
|
|
X
|
2
|
Damaged
|
Ocotillo
|
|
X
|
|
8
|
|
Plant Salvage and Mitigation Standards:
Any tree, shrub, or cactus that meets the salvage criteria as salvageable but is designated to be destroyed shall be replaced on a one-to-one (1:1) ratio of the same species and size as that destroyed.
Five (5) understory plants from the supplemental Arizona Department of Water Quality native plant list will be planted with every replacement tree.
Any tree, shrub, ocotillo or cactus that meets the salvage criteria shall be salvaged and either relocated on site or utilized on another site within the town.
The following standards shall apply to any protected native plant (OVZC Addendum C Table C-1 and C-2(PDF, 249KB)) salvaged, removed from the site, or destroyed:
- Trees: A minimum caliper of three (3) inches, or protected multiple trunk plants with a three (3) inch combined caliper measurement of the three (3) largest trunks, taken one (1) foot from ground level
- Cactus: All protected cacti and ocotillos. (see below for specific Saguaro standards)
Criteria for preserving a plant in place or salvaging (entire graded area):
Plant health is good to excellent with no major infestations or apparent diseases. “Plant health” is defined as a plant in a sound state, free from disease and expected to survive for five (5) or more years.
The plant is of a size and age to suggest a likely chance of transplant survival.
Plant is undamaged and is conducive to box or spade transplanting (upright branching).
Soils can be excavated, are cohesive, and appear capable of supporting a boxed or spaded root ball.
Surrounding topography permits access with the appropriate equipment needed to box or spade and remove the plant.
Adjacent plants do not pose a likely interference with root systems or interfere with plant removal.
The overall form and character is representative of the species and is a valuable specimen for landscape or habitat purposes.
Whenever feasible, plant salvage shall include immediately transplanting salvaged plants in a permanent location as indicated on the landscape plan. Immediate transplant is preferred to placing salvage plants in a holding nursery for future relocation on site.
Saguaro salvaging standards (entire graded area):
Significant Saguaros as defined in Section 27.6.B.3.b of the Zoning Code are:
- At least 15 feet tall with 2 or more arms, or
- A crested Saguaro, or
- A 1 foot or taller Saguaro occurring at a density of 25 or more over a minimum 1/2-acre area
- Saguaros that will not survive a minimum of 5 years do not qualify as “significant” and may be removed without mitigation etc.
Treatment of significant Saguaros:
- Priority 1- Every effort should be made to preserve all healthy, significant Saguaros in place, especially those 24 feet or taller with 2 or more arms.
- Priority 2- Saguaros that cannot be preserved in place should be transplanted (unless a crested Saguaro) as permitted by code.
- Priority 3- Saguaros that cannot be preserved or transplanted must be mitigated per code (see below).
- Mitigation (replacement) of significant Saguaros:
- Mitigation of significant vegetation shall be provided in accordance with Table 27-1, which requires the same size and species of the plant removed should be provided.
- Priority 1- Every effort to replace a Saguaro with one that is reasonably similar in height shall be made.
- Priority 2- If all efforts to replace Saguaros with similar size have been exhausted, a replacement amount equal to the linear footage of the main trunk plus arms may be utilized.
Factors to determine plant survivability:
- A Saguaro will be judged to be in serious decline if the following conditions exist:
- The Saguaro is leaning 5 degrees or more from perpendicular relative to the ground immediately below.
- Presence of a sizable arm(s) in serious decay (rotting) or evidence one or more has fallen
- Evidence of necrosis in the form of black and wet liquid anywhere on the plant
- Holes or damage by wildlife in areas that are vital to overall structural support of the main trunk.
- Discoloration due to severe sunburn
- Evidence of rotting that will not form into hard callous (usually black in color)
- Minor damage hardened callouses/blemishes, or an unusual shape does not impact overall health or long-term viability.
- Aesthetics is not a factor in judging health.
Landscape Plan:
In addition to showing the locations of the salvaged, destroyed or replacement plants the zoning code requires landscaping on residential properties that need a grading permit.
The landscape code generally only applies only to the front yard of the custom home property. The front yard is defined as:
An open, unoccupied space on the same lot with the main building extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street line and the front line of the main building, projected to the side lines of the lot.
If the house has been rotated so that the back door faces the street, the front yard is still considered the area between the street and the building. Rotating the house does not change the front yard location, relative to the code.
- Delineate the portion of yard subject to the landscape code, otherwise known as the front yard.
- Show the location of the new plants that will be planted in the front yard area.
- List plants by their common name and botanical name. See Addendum C, Table C-3(PDF, 249KB) for a list of approved plants.
- Provide a table of the proposed new plants Landscape plan sample table
Plant name
|
Size
|
Quantity
|
Water Use |
Mesquite/Prosopis Velutina
|
24” box
|
3
|
2 |
Barrel Cactus/Ferocactus
|
10 Gallon
|
8
|
1 |
Fairy Duster/Calliandra Eriophylla
|
5 Gallon
|
8
|
1 |
Landscape Plan Standards (front yard only)
The landscape code is intended to promote the preservation of native plants and require landscape designs that encourage water conservation. The code will require that plants that need more water than others be planted in areas that will receive the highest amount of rainwater. Plants that require less water are allowed to be planted in areas that receive less rainwater.
The approved plant list can be found in the Zoning Code, Addendum C, Table C-3(PDF, 249KB). The zoning code defines the water needs of the approved plants as:
Water Need
|
Water frequency
|
1
|
No supplemental irrigation once established
|
2
|
Once a month during the growing season once established
|
3
|
Twice a month during the growing season once established
|
4
|
Once a week during the growing season once established
|
Water use:
- List the water use type (1, 2, 3 or 4) for the plants selected
- Several water use Type 1 and 2 plants are allowed to be installed in any area as shown in Table C-3.
- Some Type 1 & 2 and many Type 3 & 4 water use plants are limited to courtyards or north and east sides of the buildings only, as shown in Table C-4.
Plant size:
- List size and quantity of new plants.
-
- Trees 15 gallon
- Shrubs and accent plants 5 gallon
- Cactus 3 gallon
- Groundcover 1 gallon
Ground Topping:
- Identify the type of natural topping used which may include, but not limited to:
-
- Groundcover planting
- Hydroseed – see approved seed list in Addendum D(PDF, 41KB)
- Mulch (organic or inorganic)
Irrigation:
- Indicate how the new or transplanted plants will receive water
Prohibited landscape features:
- Water features are prohibited in front yards of single family residential zones per OVZCR 27.6.D.5.
- Natural Turf in the front yard
- Plants listed in Addendum E(PDF, 28KB)
Inspections:
The first inspection will verify the grading limits have been delineated on the site and the plants have been tagged per the approved plans.
Near the end of the project, a final landscape inspection will be conducted to ensure the plants identified as salvaged, saved in place, or newly planted are on the site.