(A) Intent. Internal connections between neighboring properties and shared driveways allow vehicles to circulate from one business or development to the next without having to reenter a major roadway. Unified access and circulation improve the overall ease of access to development and reduces the need for individual driveways. The purpose of this section is to accomplish unified access and circulation systems for commercial development.
(B) Outparcels, mixed use and shopping center access.
(1) Outparcels are lots on the perimeter of a larger parcel that break its frontage along a roadway. They are often created along arterial street frontage of shopping center sites and leased or sold separately to businesses that desire the visibility of major street locations. Outparcel access policies foster unified access and circulation systems that serve outparcels as well as interior development, thereby reducing the need for driveways on an arterial street.
(2) In the interest of promoting unified access and circulation systems, development sites under the same ownership or consolidated for the purposes of development and comprised of more than one building site shall prepare a unified access and circulation plan. In addition, the following shall apply:
(a) The number of connections shall be the minimum number necessary to provide reasonable access to the overall development site and not the maximum available for that frontage under the connection spacing requirements in this policy.
(b) Access to outparcels shall be internalized using the shared circulation system of the principal development.
(c) All necessary easements and agreements shall be recorded in an instrument that runs with the deed to the property.
(d) Unified access for abutting properties under different ownership and not part of an overall development plan shall be addressed through § 158.035(C).
(C) Joint and cross access. Joint and cross access policies promote connections between major developments, as well as between smaller businesses along a corridor. These policies help to achieve unified access and circulation systems for individual developments under separate ownership that could not otherwise meet access spacing standards or that would benefit from interconnection, i.e., adjacent shopping centers or office parks that abut shopping centers and restaurants.
(1) Adjacent commercial or office properties and major traffic generators (e.g. mixed-use centers or shopping centers), shall provide a cross-access drive and pedestrian access way to allow circulation between adjacent properties. This requirement shall also apply to a building site that abuts an existing developed property unless the City Engineer (or designee) finds that this would be impractical.
(2) To promote efficient circulation between smaller development sites, the City Engineer (or designee) may require dedication of a 30-foot easement that extends to the edges of the property lines of the development site under consideration to provide for the development of a service road system. The service road shall be of sufficient width to accommodate two-way travel aisles and incorporate stub-outs and other design features that make it visually obvious that abutting properties may be tied in to it. Abutting properties shall be required to continue the service road as they develop or redevelop in accordance with the requirements of this policy. The easement may be provided to the front or rear of the site or across the site where it connects to a public roadway.
(3) Property owners shall record all necessary easements and agreements, including an easement allowing cross access to and from the adjacent properties, an agreement to close driveways provided for access in the interim after construction of the joint use driveway(s) or service road system, and a joint maintenance agreement defining maintenance responsibilities of property owners that share the joint-use driveway and cross-access system.
(4) Joint and cross access requirements may be waived by the City Engineer (or designee) for special circumstances such as incompatible uses, e.g. a gas station next to a child care center, or major physical constraints, e.g. change in grade between properties makes connection impractical.
(Ord. 1974, passed 8-6-19)