ARTICLE II. GENERAL REGULATIONS

(a) Greenbelts shall be provided contiguous to the street right-of-way along the following roads in accordance with the specified minimum widths:

     (1) Bypass Road (Route 60) - 35 feet

     (2) Denbigh Boulevard (Route 173) - 35 feet

     (3) Fort Eustis Boulevard (Route 105) -35 feet

     (4) Hampton Highway (Route 134) - 35 feet

     (5) Merrimac Trail (Route 143) between I-64 at Exit 230 (Camp Peary/Colonial Williamsburg) and Queen Creek - 45 feet

     (6) Penniman Road (Route 641) between the Colonial Parkway and Route 199 - 45 feet

     (7) Route 132 - 45 feet

     (8) Route 199 - 45 feet

     (9) Victory Boulevard (Route 171) - 35 feet

     (10) East Rochambeau Drive from Oaktree Road (west) intersection to Mooretown Road and from Mooretown Road to dead end - 45 feet

     (11) Mooretown Road from Lightfoot Road to a point 1,400 feet south of its intersection with Clark Lane - 45 feet

     (12) Mooretown Road from Airport Road to Waller Mill Road - 45 feet

     (13) Lightfoot Road from Route 60 to Rochambeau Drive (west) - 45 feet, except where the parcel also has frontage on Route 199, in which case the Lightfoot Road greenbelt shall be 35 feet.

     (14) Rochambeau Drive (west) from Lightfoot Road to James City County line - 45 feet

The 10-foot perimeter landscape strip normally required at the rear of buildings by Section 24-244(b) of this Chapter shall not be required on parcels subject to the 45-foot Greenbelt provision.

(b) Along the Colonial Parkway, a greenbelt of no less than three hundred feet (300') from the nearest edge of the roadway shall be provided. This may include property owned by the National Park Service.

(c) The greenbelt shall be left in an undisturbed natural state, unless the board, after conducting a duly advertised public hearing, authorizes clearing or development. Unvegetated or under-vegetated greenbelts shall be landscaped in accordance with the following planting requirements as if they were front yards:

     35 foot Greenbelt      70 landscape credits per 100 linear feet
     45 foot Greenbelt      90 landscape credits per 100 linear feet

Normally required front yard landscape credits may be counted toward these requirements. Nothing in this section however, shall be interpreted to preclude the following activities within greenbelts: (1) the planting of additional trees, shrubs or groundcovers, or the maintenance thereof; (2) the construction and maintenance of bicycle and pedestrian facilities; (3) the establishment, construc-tion, and maintenance of necessary entrances to the site; (4) limited clearing of underbrush, nuisance plants, dead or diseased plants/trees, or limbs/understory necessary to provide reasonable sight lines to a commercial establishment; or (5) the installation of utilities necessary to serve the development provided that the crossing of the greenbelt minimizes disturbance to the greatest extent possible; or (6) the installation of signs which do not require disturbance of existing trees, ex-cept to the extent necessary to open limited sight lines for the signs All of these may occur under the terms of an approved plan.

(d) If approved, modifications shall preserve the feeling and sense of the natural character of the greenbelt as it currently exists and application for modifications shall contain pre-development and post-development renderings. In the event the board approves disturbance of a greenbelt, it may require the area to be re-landscaped at the ratios specified for unvegetated buffers, or at such other ratios as it may deem appropriate.  The cost of advertising and conducting public hearings to consider modifications shall be borne by the developer making the request.

(e) Greenbelts shall be open space that is owned and maintained by a property owners' association, conservation land trust, or equivalent entity. Alternatively, a landscape preservation easement granted to the county or an appropriate land trust may be utilized.

(f) Commercial properties fronting greenbelt roads shall be permitted to open limited sight lines which allow indirect views of buildings, but generally block views of parking. Such sight line clearing shall be shown on the landscape plan for the site which shall include both plan and perspective views.

(g) For purposes of calculating residential densities, the area encompassed by the greenbelt shall be considered as developable acreage in such computations.

(Ord. No. 03-42(R), 12/2/03; Ord. No 05-13(R), 5/17/05)