(A) Type of street required. All subdivision lots shall abut on a public or private street. All public streets shall be dedicated to the town, the state or the public as determined appropriate by the Board of Commissioners. Streets not dedicated to the town which are not eligible to be put on the State Highway System because there are too few lots or residences shall only be approved as private streets.
(B) Half-streets. The dedication of half-streets of less than 60 feet at the perimeter of a new subdivision shall be prohibited. If circumstances render this impracticable, adequate provision for the concurrent dedication of the remaining half of the street shall be furnished by the subdivider. Where there exists a half-street in an adjoining subdivision, the remaining half shall be provided by the proposed subdivision. However, in circumstances where more than 60 feet of right-of-way is required, a partial width right-of- way, not less than 60 feet in width, may be dedicated when adjoining undeveloped property is owned or controlled by the subdivider; provided that the width of the partial dedication is such as to permit the installation of such facilities as may be necessary to serve abutting lots. When the adjoining property is subdivided, the remainder of the full required right-of- way shall be dedicated.
(C) Marginal access streets. Where a tract of land to be subdivided adjoins a principal arterial street, the subdivider may be required to provide a marginal access street parallel to the arterial street or reverse frontage on a minor street for the lots to be developed adjacent to the arterial. Where reverse frontage is established, private driveways shall be prevented from having direct access to the principal arterial.
(D) Street connectivity requirements.
(1) An interconnected street system is necessary in order to protect the public health, safety and welfare in order to ensure that streets will function in an interdependent manner, to provide adequate access for emergency and service vehicles, to enhance nonvehicular travel such as pedestrians and bicycles, and to provide continuous and comprehensible traffic routes. All proposed new streets shall be platted according to the current Town Thoroughfare Plan. In areas where such plans have not been completed, the streets shall be designated and located in relation to existing and proposed streets, the topography, to natural features such as streams and tree cover, to public safety and convenience, and to the proposed use of land to be served by such streets.
(2) All proposed streets shall be continuous and connect to existing or platted streets without offset with the exception of cul-de-sacs as permitted and except as provided below. Whenever practicable, provisions shall be made for the continuation of planned streets into adjoining areas.
(3) (a) The street network for any subdivision shall achieve a connectivity ratio of not less than 1.45 (see example below). The phrase connectivity ratio means the number of streets links divided by the number of nodes or link ends, including cul-de-sac heads. A
LINK means and refers to that portion of a street defined by a node at each end or at one end. Approved stubs to adjacent property shall be considered links. However, alleys shall not be considered links. A NODE refers to the terminus of a street or the intersection of two or more streets, except that intersections that use a roundabout shall not be counted as a node.
(b) For the purposes of this section, an
INTERSECTION shall be defined as:
1. Any curve or bend of a street that fails to meet the minimum curve radius as established by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Division of Highways design and minimum construction standards; or
2. Any location where street names change (as reviewed and approved by the UDO Administrator).
(4) For the purposes of this section, the street links and nodes within the collector or thoroughfare streets providing access to a proposed subdivision shall not be considered in computing the connectivity ratio.
(5) Residential streets shall be designed so as to minimize the length of local streets, to provide safe access to residences, and to maintain connectivity between and through residential neighborhoods for autos and pedestrians.
(6) Where necessary to provide access or to permit the reasonable future subdivision of adjacent land, rights-of-way and improvements shall be extended to the boundary of the development. A temporary turnaround may be required where the dead end exceeds 500 feet in length. The platting of partial width rights-of-way shall be prohibited except where the remainder of the necessary right-of-way has already been platted, dedicated or established by other means.
(7) Exemptions: new subdivisions that intend to provide one new cul-de-sac street shall be exempt from the connectivity requirement when the UDO Administrator determines that the subdivision will provide for connectivity with adjacent future development and there is:
(a) No options for providing stub streets due to topographic conditions, adjacent developed sites or other limiting factors; and
(b) Interconnectivity (use of a looped road) within the development cannot be achieved or is unreasonable based on the constraints of the property to be developed.
(E) Design standards. The design of all streets and roads within the jurisdiction of this Unified Development Ordinance shall be in accordance with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Division of Highways design and minimum construction standards.
(F) Other requirements.
(1) Through traffic discouraged on residential collector and local streets. Residential collector and local streets shall be laid out in such a way that their use by through traffic will be discouraged. Streets shall be designed or walkways dedicated to assure convenient access to parks, playgrounds, schools or other places of public assembly.
(2) Sidewalks. Sidewalks may be required by the Planning Board on one or both sides of the street in areas likely to be subject to heavy pedestrian traffic such as near schools and shopping areas. Such sidewalks shall be constructed to a minimum width of four feet, and shall consist of a minimum thickness of four inches of concrete. All sidewalks shall be placed in the right-of-way, unless the development is platted as a planned unit or group development. Sidewalks shall consist of a minimum of six inches of concrete at driveway crossings.
(3) Street names. Proposed streets which are obviously in alignment with existing streets shall be given the same name. In assigning new names, duplication of existing names shall be avoided and in no case shall the proposed name be phonetically similar to existing names in Brunswick County irrespective of the use of a suffix such as street, road, drive, place or court. Street names shall be subject to the approval of the Planning Board and the Brunswick County Emergency Management Director.
(4) Street signs. The subdivider shall be required to provide and erect all street signs, including street name signs, to State Department of Transportation standards within the subdivision.
(5) Permits for connection to state roads. An approved permit is required for connection to any existing state system road. This permit is required prior to any construction on the street or road. The application is available at the office of district engineer of the State Division of Highways (Wilmington Division, Burgaw District).
(6) Offsets to utility poles. Poles for overhead utilities should be located clear of roadway shoulders, preferably at edge of rights-of-way on major thoroughfares. On streets with curb and gutter, utility should be set back a minimum distance of six feet from the face of the curb.
(7) Wheelchair ramps. In accordance with G.S. Chapter 136, Article 2A, § 136-44.14, all street curbs in this state being constructed or reconstructed for maintenance procedures, traffic operations, repairs, correction of utilities or altered for any reason after September 1, 1973, shall provide wheelchair ramps for the physically handicapped at all intersections where both curb and gutter and sidewalks are provided and at other major points of pedestrian flow.
(8) Private streets.
(a) Streets designated as private may be allowed in subdivisions when, in the opinion of the Planning Board, they provide adequate ingress and egress onto collector streets, and they provide sufficient assurance through legally established homeowners’ or similar owners’ associations, deed restrictions and/or covenants, or other maintenance agreements, that said street shall be properly maintained and said agreements perpetually carried with the land. The Planning Board shall reserve the authority, when the public welfare and safety warrant, requiring the public dedication of street rights-of-way within developments. All private streets shall be designed and constructed to meet or exceed the public street standards as specified in this section.
(b) The UDO Administrator shall be assured, prior to preliminary approval, that adequate provisions have been made through legal covenants and restrictions which shall govern a homeowners’ association, or through other legal agreements, that the responsibility as to the maintenance of the streets, utilities or other areas designated as private areas or as a common area will be accomplished by a source other than by public maintenance.
(9) Curb and gutter. Curb and gutter improvements are not required due to the adverse impact urban stormwater could have on the valuable estuarine waters in and around the town. However, this does not relieve the subdivision developer from providing adequate grassed swales, culverts and retention ponds for managing stormwater and runoff.
(Ord. eff. 9-6-2012, § 9.62; Am. Ord. 21-1, passed 9-17-2020)