(a) Generally. The arrangement, character, width, grade, and location of all streets shall provide for the most advantageous development of the entire neighboring area, and shall be considered in relation to existing and planned streets, to topographical conditions, to public convenience and safety, and in appropriate relation to the proposed uses of the land to be served by such streets. Standards that apply to streets are as follows in subsection (b) through (l).
(b) Relationship of proposed streets to adjoining streets. The proposed street system shall be extended in alignment with existing streets unless otherwise approved by the village council.
(c) Street names. Proposed streets, which are proposed to be in alignment with others already existing and named, shall bear the name of the existing streets. Other street names shall be assigned by the subdivider subject to the approval of the village manager. Names of streets which duplicate or are phonetically similar with the names of existing streets shall not be approved.
(d) Access to public streets. Every lot shall have either direct or indirect access to a public street. A lot has direct access to a public street if the lot abuts such a street for at least 30 feet. A lot has indirect access if it is abutting a public street for less than 30 feet or has access to a public street only by means of a private street. All private streets shall be designed so as to afford, for emergency vehicles as well as public utility and maintenance vehicles, ingress and egress over such street to each lot with indirect access.
(e) Intended use of streets. Street widths shall be as following:
(1) Secondary streets. Streets leading into and within subdivisions, whether public or private, shall be provided with a right-of-way. Every secondary street which connects a subdivision to a public street serves as a means of ingress and egress and shall have a minimum right-of-way width of 30 feet. However, the village council may require wider rights-of-way in circumstances, where, due to design, topography or other factors peculiar to the land to be subdivided, the minimum width set forth herein is deemed to be inadequate to permit such street to function safely as a secondary street.
(2) Primary thorough fares. When a street within a subdivision serves as a collector for 100 lots or more, or is capable of extension onto abutting lands with that capability, it shall be classified as a primary thoroughfare and there shall be a minimum right-of-way of 40 feet for single lane primary thoroughfares and bifurcated primary thoroughfares. If a street connects two primary thoroughfares, it shall be classified as primary thoroughfare, regardless of the number of lots it serves. Other internal secondary streets in a subdivision may be provided with a right-of-way width of 30 feet. If a subdivision connects to an existing primary thoroughfare, and contiguous alignment would warrant the extension of such thoroughfare, the village council may allow easements on both sides of the right-of-way to compose the required width.
(3) Service access thoroughfare. When a paved surface is provided primarily for service vehicles and resident vehicles and not general traffic it shall be classified as a service access thoroughfare.
(f) Minimum design and construction standards. It is the intent of this chapter that all streets, within a subdivision or not, be designed and constructed to minimum standards including drainage, grading, subbase, base and paving. Any new subdivision road shall be paved and constructed according to the minimum standards of design and construction according to this chapter. For every public street, all of the following minimum design and construction standards and criteria for subdivisions shall apply:
(1) Design criteria by road classification.
a. The following list classifies road types into three categories and dictates the minimum design standards for each classification:
Classification | Type |
A | Secondary streets and culs-de-sac |
B | Primary single lane thoroughfares |
C | Primary bifurcated thoroughfares |
D | Service access thoroughfares |
Description | A | B | C | D |
Description | A | B | C | D |
Right-of-way width | 30 feet | 40 feet | 40 feet | 20 feet |
Clearing width | 16 feet | 18 feet | 16 feet/lane | 14 feet |
Clearing height at pavement | 12 feet | 12 feet | 12 feet | 12 feet |
Base course width | 14 feet | 16 feet | 12 feet/lane | 12 feet |
Pavement width | 12 feet | 14 feet | 10 feet/lane | 10 feet |
Minimum Crown | 1/4"/foot | 1/4"/foot | 1/4"/foot | 1/4"/foot |
Super elevation rate | N/A | 1/4"/foot | 1/4"/foot | 1/4"/foot |
Minimum elevation | 6' MSL | 6' MSL | 6' MSL | 6' MSL |
Minimum sight distance on curves and intersections | 50 feet | 75 feet | 50 feet | 50 feet |
Minimum turn-around radius from C/L pavement | 24 feet | N/A | N/A | N/A |
b. Streets shall be laid out so as to intersect as nearly as possible at right angles (90 degrees).
c. New street intersections shall, whenever practical, coincide in centerline alignment with any existing or approved preliminary plat or final plat intersections on the opposite side of the street. Innovations in design are encouraged through such means as curvilinear streets, culs-de-sac, courts, and circles.
d. At all intersections, there shall be either an unobstructed 25-foot radius or a 25-foot diagonal cutoff. Minimum sight distance along intersecting roads shall be 50 feet. Crossovers will be 1 1/2 times as wide as its connecting roads, with a minimum turning radius of 22 feet.
e. Add two feet to pavement width if stand up roll-out curbing is used. If curbing is flush with pavement surface, then curbing shall at least be one foot wide on each side to allow two additional feet of barrier-free driving surface area.
(2) Pavement design. All streets shall meet the following minimum requirements for base and pavement surface:
Base Course | Pavement Surface |
6" ABC stone, compacted | 1.5" SA or I-2 asphalt or BST |
4" asphalt Base | 1.5" SA or I-2 asphalt or BST |
ABC | Aggregated base course, no. 7 stone |
SA | Bituminous concrete surface course, type F-1 (sand asphalt) |
I-2 | Bituminous concrete surface course, type I-2 |
BST | Bituminous surface treatment (3 courses) |
*Geosynthetic material, when used under four inches of compacted ABC stone base, shall be considered the equivalent of six inches compacted ABC stone alone.
Any design or materials that may vary from any street design or materials listed in subsection (f)(2) of this section shall have performance characteristics equal to or greater than design and materials required in subsection (f)(2) of this section and the use of the such design and/or materials shall be approved by the manager only prior to actual installation of the street and then only upon a showing by the subdivider, by clear, cogent and convincing evidence, to the manager that such proposed substitute design or materials meets or exceed performance characteristics of the design or materials required by and similarly meet all requirements set forth in the then current edition of North Carolina Standard Specifications for Roads and Structures published by the state department of transportation.
(3) Drainage criteria. All subdivisions must meet all state, federal, and village stormwater and drainage requirements.
(4) Utility easements.
a. For public streets, the construction and maintenance of all utilities, cable, and telephone lines shall be located in the street rights-of-way between the paved roadway and the street right-of-way line, except gravity collection sewer lines may be located under the pavement within the right-of-way. Where topography or subdivision design considerations make such location impractical and utilities must be located outside the right-of-way, then a perpetual unobstructed easement shall be provided with access to the street right-of-way. The approving board shall determine where these exceptions are necessary.
b. In addition, manholes should be designed and located in such a manner that will cause the least interference with roadway users, other utilities and future highway expansion. Every effort should be made to avoid their location in wheel paths or at street intersections. All plans, specifications, design computations, and installations of manholes shall meet the state department of transportation standards.
c. Easements shall be provided for each drainage path, and shall be a width adequate to accommodate any such installation and maintenance.
d. An easement for utilities which cannot be accommodated within the street easement shall be provided to ensure that there can be service to each lot by electric, telephone, water and sewer utilities. When such easements are required they shall provide ten feet on each side of the lot line, for a total of 20 feet.
(g) Water and sewer systems.
(1) Each lot shall be capable of service with a water system and a sewage disposal system meeting standards and requirements of the state.
(2) When a subdivision is within 1,000 feet of a water or sewer system, and the system has the capacity to provide the necessary water and sewer, the subdivider shall connect to such system and shall design a water distribution system for the subdivision meeting any requirements of state and village ordinances.
(h) Platting to ownership boundaries; reserve strips. All subdivisions must extend to outer property lines of the parcel of property to be subdivided. Survey descriptions must conform to existing survey descriptions of record to ensure there is no land area remaining between the lots and streets and the property boundary.
(i) Observance of federal and state requirements. The subdivider shall exercise care in determining that all federal and state regulatory statutes and administrative code requirements relating to lands and waters are satisfied.
(j) Private streets.
(1) The road classification utilized (A, B, C) for public streets shall be the same as private. The following requirements should apply to all private streets:
Description | A (feet) | B (feet) | C (feet) | D (feet) |
Right-of-way width | 20 | 30 | 40 | 20 |
Clearing width | 16 | 16 | 16 | 14 |
Base course width | 12 | 14 | 12 | 12 |
Clearing height | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
*The Harbor streets are covered under a separate agreement made effective March 21, 2013.
(2) The village council may allow clearing widths in some cases to be less, due to specimen tree preservation. Due to the site specific concerns of the island, every effort should be made to blend roadways with the natural contours of the island.
(3) Streets shall be laid out so as to intersect as nearly as possible at right angles (90 degrees).
(4) New street intersections shall, whenever practical, coincide in centerline alignment with any existing or approved preliminary plat or final plat intersections on the opposite side of the street. Innovations in design are encouraged through such means as curvilinear streets, culs-de-sac, courts, and circles.
(5) The village council in some cases may require wider roads or clearing area to promote public safety and the interest of the public. Private streets must be indicated on plats as private, and maintenance and upkeep shall be the responsibility of the property owner's association. For private streets, the following statement shall be printed in bold on the plat of record:
NOTE: THE STREETS DESIGNATED HEREON AS "PRIVATE" ARE NOT OR WILL NOT BE CONSTRUCTED TO MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR DEDICATION TO AND ACCEPTANCE BY THE VILLAGE OF BALD HEAD ISLAND AND THE VILLAGE SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE, NOW OR AT ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE, FOR MAINTENANCE OF ANY STREET, PAVEMENT, UTILITY OR OTHER IMPROVEMENTS LOCATED WITHIN THE RIGHTS-OF-WAY OF ANY PRIVATE STREET.
(k) Street acceptance standards. In order for a street to be accepted into the village street system, the following criteria shall be met:
(1) The street must be public as defined in this chapter and therefore must meet the minimum design and construction standards set forth in subsection (f)of this section ("construction standards").
(2) The individual(s)or entity dedicating the street ("dedicator") must dedicate the entire street right-of-way to the village free of charge.
(3) The dedicator shall provide a sealed North Carolina engineer's written certificate stating that the street meets the construction standards and has no condition or deterioration which suggests any existing or imminent failure to comply with the construction standards. In addition, the engineer will evaluate the street being proposed, assess for drainage issues, and submit a sealed certificate that the street has adequate drainage for use as a public street. The cost of the engineer's certification and drainage assessment shall be the responsibility of the dedicator.
(4) Dedicator shall submit a letter stating that there has been no flooding or drainage issues within the past 12 months on the street being proposed for dedication.
The village has the right to go onto and inspect the street and to obtain core samples for independent testing and analysis prior to acceptance of the street. The village has the right to refuse acceptance of any street offered for dedication.
(l) Timber bridge construction standards.
(1) The village shall review and approve all plans and specifications for timber bridges proposed to be constructed as a part of any public or private street. Timber bridges, whether constructed as a part of public or private streets, shall adhere to public and private street standards for right-of-way widths, unobstructed driveable area as determined by required base width, clearing height, minimum turnaround radius, and minimum sight distances in accordance with article IV of this chapter.
(2) The proposed construction shall comply with all village ordinances, state building codes, village transportation plans, and all applicable CAMA requirements. Further, timber bridges must be designed and constructed to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standard specifications for bridges and structures.
(3) The village transportation engineer shall review and approve design and construction plans for compliance with this section, and to address other safety concerns as needed, prior to construction. Such improvements shall be completed, or guarantees furnished in accordance in lieu thereof with this chapter.
(Ord. No. 8A, art. VI, § I, 7-17-1998; Ord. of 4-15-2000, § I; Ord. No. 2007-0601, 6-15-2007; Ord. No. 2013-1001, 9-10-2013)
Cross References: sidewalks and other public places, ch. 24.