The following standards of design shall be applicable to all plats. These provisions shall constitute a subdivision control ordinance for the purposes of Section 186 of Public Act 288 of the Acts of 1967, the Subdivision Control Act.
(a) Conformity to City Plan. The subdivision shall be in harmony with the Master Plan and the Official Map of the City.
(b) Relation to Adjoining Street System.
(1) In the new subdivision, provision shall be made for the continuation of the principal existing streets in adjoining subdivisions, or their proper projection when adjoining property is not subdivided. The Commission may, in addition, require the continuation of such minor streets as are necessary for the extension of public improvements and for access to adjoining properties.
(2) Insofar as is practicable, acute angles between streets at their intersections shall be avoided.
(3) Where in the opinion of the Commission, topographical conditions make such continuance or conformity impracticable or undesirable, or in cases where the Commission itself adopts a plan or plat of a neighborhood or area of which the subdivision is a part and this plan or plat provides coordination with the street system of the City different from that of said continuations or projections of existing streets and the subdivider’s plat conforms to such neighborhood or area plat or plan of the Commission, the Commission may approve the subdivider’s plat.
(4) Where the plat submitted covers only a part of the subdivider’s tract, a sketch of the prospective future street system of the unsubmitted part shall be furnished and the street system of the part submitted shall be considered in the light of adjustments and connections with the street system of the part not submitted.
(5) Where a tract is subdivided into lots of an acre or more, the Commission may require an arrangement of lots and streets such as to permit a later resubdivision in conformity with the street requirements specified in the regulations.
(c) Access. There shall be no reserve strips controlling access to streets, except where the control of the strips is definitely placed in the City under conditions approved by the Commission. The subdividing of the land shall be such as to provide each lot, by means of either a public street or recorded way of permanent easement, with satisfactory access to an existing public highway or to a thoroughfare as shown on the Official Map or Master Plan.
(d) Street Widths.
(1) The width for streets shall conform to widths designated on the Traffic Plan or Official Map. The minimum width for minor streets shall be sixty (60) feet. The minimum width for alleys shall be twenty (20) feet. In cases where the topography or other physical conditions make a street of the required minimum width impracticable, the Commission may modify the requirements.
(2) Streets designed to have one end permanently closed (cul-de-sac) shall have a minimum width of forty (40) feet and shall be of such width at the closed end as will permit a turning radius of not less than forty (40) feet. Such streets shall not extend beyond the nearest intersection with another street for more than nine hundred (900) feet unless otherwise approved by the Commission for particular and appropriate reasons.
(3) Whenever necessary to permit the construction of curbs having a minimum radius of twenty-five (25) feet at street corners without restricting the sidewalk to less than normal width, the street line of such street corners shall be rounded or otherwise set back sufficiently to permit such construction. Normally the radius on the street line shall be not less than ten (10) feet. Larger radii may be required by the Commission when, in its opinion, the design is advisable.
(e) Easements.
(1) Except where alleys of not less than twenty (20) feet are provided for the purpose, the Commission may require easements, not less than four (4) feet in width, on each side of all rear lot lines, and on side lot lines where necessary or, in the opinion of the Commission, advisable, for poles, wires, conduits, storm and sanitary sewers, gas, water and heat mains or other utility lines. Easements of the same or greater width may be required along the lines of or across lots where necessary for the extension of the existing or planned utilities.
(2) If in the opinion of the Commission the most suitable and reasonable locations for any of the utilities, such as sewers, storm drains, water and gas pipes and electric pole lines and conduits, which are likely to be required within the subdivision, either for the service thereof or for service of areas in the surrounding territory, do not lie wholly within the streets, including alleys if any, shown upon the plat, the Commission may require, insofar as reasonable, provision to be made for the location of such utilities on routes elsewhere than within said streets, either by the dedication of public easements for the same as part of the plat or by the filing of supplementary instruments which will adequately protect the public interest in the proper location of the utilities.
(f) Blocks.
(1) Intersecting streets shall be so laid out that blocks between street lines shall be not more than thirteen hundred twenty (1,320) feet in length; except, that where, in the opinion of the Commission, extraordinary conditions unquestionably justify a departure from this maximum. In blocks over six hundred (600) feet in length, the Commission may require, at or near the middle of the block a public walk connecting adjacent streets. Such walk shall be six (6) feet in width and shall be intended for the use of pedestrians only.
(2) The width of blocks shall preferably be such as to allow one tier of lots abutting upon each adjacent street.
(g) Lots.
(1) In all quadrangular lots, and so far as practicable all other lots, the side lines shall be at right angles to straight street lines and radial to curved street lines.
(2) Unless otherwise approved by the Commission for particular and appropriate reasons, no interior lot designated for residence purposes shall be less than fifty (50) feet in width nor less than five thousand (5,000) square feet in an area, and no corner lot designated for residence purposes shall be less than sixty (60) feet in width nor less than six thousand (6,000) square feet in area.
(3) Lots with frontage on two parallel streets when less than two hundred (200) feet in depth will not be permitted unless, in the opinion of the Commission, conditions are deemed such as to render this requirement undesirable.
(h) Building Lines. Lots, in subdivisions outside the City, located within the area in which the Commission has jurisdiction and not in any area in which zoning laws with setback provisions are in full force and effect, shall show building lines in conformity to the zoning requirements for adjacent land within the City or in keeping with proper zoning principles.
(i) Neighborhood Unit. These regulations concerning minor and local streets, dead-end streets, block lengths and widths, and the size of lots, may be modified by the Commission in the case of a plat for a large tract of land which provides a community plan with a building development plan and recreational or other community spaces adequate, in the opinion of the Commission, for the circulation, recreational, light and air needs of the tract when fully developed and populated and which provides for such legal restrictions or other legal status as will assure the carrying out of the plan in its entirety.
(j) Public Open Spaces. Where a small park or other neighborhood recreational open space shown on an official map or on a plan made and adopted by the Commission is located in whole or in part in the applicant’s subdivision, or in the vicinity of the applicant’s subdivision, the Commission may require the dedication or reservation for park, playground or other recreational purposes, in those cases in which the Commission deems the requirements to be reasonable.
(Ord. 277, passed 2-14-1939; Ord. 2064, passed 7-1-1968; Ord. 3638, passed 4-11-2005)
Statutory reference:
Land Division Act, see MCLA § 560.186