(A) General requirements.
(1) No subdivision shall be approved unless the area to be subdivided shall have frontage on and access from an existing street on the official map, or if there is not an official map, unless a street is:
(a) An existing state, county or township highway; or
(b) A street shown upon a plat approved by the Commission and recorded in the office of the County Recorder of Deeds. The street or highway must be suitably improved as required by the highway rules, regulation specifications, or orders, or be secured by a performance bond required under this chapter, with the width and right-of-way required by this chapter or as indicated on the official map or thoroughfare plan.
(2) Whenever the area to be subdivided is to use an existing street frontage, the street shall be suitably improved as provided herein below.
(B) Grading and improvement plan. Streets shall be graded and improved and conform to the town construction standards and specifications and shall be approved as to design and specifications by the town engineer, in accordance with the construction plans required to be submitted prior to secondary approval.
(C) Topography and arrangement.
(1) Streets shall be related appropriately to the topography. All streets shall be arranged so as to maintain as many as possible of the building sites at, or above, the grades of the streets. Grades of streets shall conform as closely as possible to the original topography. A combination of steep grades and sharp curves shall be avoided. Specific standards are contained in the design standards of this chapter.
(2) All streets shall be properly integrated with the existing and proposed system of thoroughfares and dedicated rights-of-way as established on the official map or thoroughfare plan and/or comprehensive plan.
(3) All arterials and collector streets shall be properly related to special traffic generators such as industries, business districts, schools, churches and shopping centers, to population densities; and to the pattern of existing and proposed land uses.
(4) Minor or local streets shall be laid out to conform as much as possible to the topography, to discourage use by through traffic, to permit efficient drainage and utility systems and to require the minimum number of streets necessary to provide convenient and safe access to the property.
(5) Rigid, rectangular “gridiron” street patterns are generally to be avoided, and the use of casually curvilinear streets, cul-de-sacs or loop streets shall be encouraged where the use will result in a more desirable lay-out and relate better to the existing topography. On flat land, innovative, varying geometrical street patterns shall be encouraged where they are likely to enhance visual interest and a sense of order for those using them (e.g. non-grid rectilinear, trapezoidal, polygonal or other geometric patterns).
(6) Proposed streets shall, where appropriate, be extended to the boundary lines of the tract to be subdivided unless this is prevented by topography or other physical conditions, or unless in the opinion of the Plan Commission the extension(s) is/are not necessary or desirable for the coordination of the layout of the subdivision under consideration with the existing street layout or for the most advantageous future development of adjacent tracts (see division (K)(1) below).
(7) In business and industrial developments, the streets and other access ways shall be planned in connection with the grouping of buildings, location of rail facilities and the provision of alleys, truck loading and maneuvering areas, walkways, bikeways and parking areas so as to minimize conflict of movement between the various types of vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
(D) Blocks.
(1) Blocks shall have sufficient width to provide for 2 tiers of lots of appropriate depths. Exceptions to this prescribed block width shall be permitted in blocks adjacent to arterial streets, railroads and waterways.
(2) The lengths, widths and shapes of blocks shall be as are appropriate for the locality and the type of development contemplated, but block lengths in residential areas shall not exceed 2,600 feet not be less than 400 feet in length. Blocks along arterials and collector streets shall not be less than 1,000 feet in length.
(3) In long blocks the Commission may require the reservation of easements through the block to accommodate utilities, drainage facilities or pedestrian traffic. Pedestrian ways or crosswalks not less than 10 feet wide, may be required by the Commission through the center of blocks more than 800 feet long or at other appropriate locations and at the ends of the cul-de-sacs where deemed essential to provide for circulation or access to schools, playgrounds, shopping centers, transportation or other community facilities. Block designed for industrial uses shall be of a length and width as may be suitable by the Commission for the intended use.
(E) Access to collector streets. Where possible, lots in single family residential subdivisions fronting on collector streets shall be avoided and lots at the corners of intersections between local and collector streets shall front on the local street and have driveway access to it only and not to the collector street. In multiple family residential areas entrances to group parking lots shall have access onto collector streets (where possible) and entrances shall be widely spaced.
(F) Access to primary arterials. Where a subdivision borders on or contains an existing or proposed primary arterial, the Commission may require that access to it be limited by 1 of the following means:
(1) The subdivision of the lots so as to back onto the primary arterial and front into a parallel local street; no access shall be provided from the primary arterial and screening shall be provided within a strip of land along the rear property line of the lots;
(2) A series of cul-de-sacs, or loop streets entered from, and designed generally to be at right angles to an access street that at some distance from and parallel to the arterial street, with the real lines of their terminal lots backing onto the arterial; or
(3) A marginal access or service road (separated from the primary arterial by a landscaped and/or decoratively fenced grass strip and having access thereto at widely spaced suitable points).
(G) Street names.
(1) The sketch plan, as submitted, shall indicate names of proposed streets.
(2) As part of his or her review the Administrator shall refer proposed street names to the local postmaster for his or her comments regarding duplication of names and possible confusion.
(3) After reviewing them the Administrator shall inform the subdivider of his or her recommendations for their possible revision during the sketch plan review.
(4) Names shall be sufficiently different in sound and in spelling from other street names in the town or other nearby areas so as to avoid confusion. A street which is, or is planned as, a continuation of an existing street shall bear the same name.
(H) Street regulatory signs. The applicant shall provide and install a street sign at every street intersection within his or her subdivision as required by the town engineer. The town shall inspect and approve all street signs before issuance of certificates of occupancy for any building on the approved streets.
(I) Street lights. Installation of street lights shall be required in accordance with design and specification standards approved by the town engineer. Street light standards and fixtures shall also be in accordance with the visual design standards of the town Design Review Committee.
(J) Reserve strips. The creation of reserve strips shall not be permitted adjacent to a proposed street in a manner so as to deny access to it from adjacent property if the street is a local service street rather than a collector or arterial street. (See divisions (E) and (F) above).
(K) Construction of streets.
(1) Construction of streets other than cul-de-sacs.
(a) The arrangement of streets shall provide for the continuation of streets between adjacent subdivisions or other properties when continuation is necessary for the convenient movement of traffic, for effective fire protection, for efficient provision of utilities and where continuation is in accordance with the comprehensive plan.
(b) If the adjacent property is undeveloped and the street must be a dead-end street temporarily, the right-of-way shall be provided for all temporary dead-end streets, with the notation on the subdivision plat that land outside the normal street right-of-way shall revert to abutters whenever the street is continued.
(c) Temporary turnarounds must be provided at the ends of stub streets. The Commission may limit the length of temporary dead-end streets in accordance with the design standards in this chapter.
(2) Cul-de-sacs (permanent dead-end streets). Where a street does not extend beyond the boundary of the subdivision and its continuation is not required by the Commission for access to adjoining property, its terminus shall normally not be nearer to the boundary than 50 feet. However, the Commission may require the reservation of an appropriate easement to accommodate drainage facilities, pedestrian traffic, or utilities. A cul-de-sac turnaround shall be provided at the end of a permanent dead-end street in accordance with town construction standards and specifications available from the town engineer's office. For greater convenience to traffic an more effective police and fire protection, permanent dead-end streets shall be limited in length in accordance with the design standards in this chapter.
(L) Design standards.
(1) General. In order to provide for streets of suitable location, width and improvement to accommodate prospective traffic and afford satisfactory access for police, fire-fighting, snow removal, sanitation and street maintenance equipment, and to coordinate street location in order to achieve a convenient system and avoid undue hardships to adjoining properties, the following design standards for streets are hereby required.
(2) Street surfacing and improvements.
(a) After sewer and water utilities have been installed by the developer, the applicant shall construct curb and gutters and shall surface or cause the roadways to be surfaced to the widths prescribed in this chapter.
(b) Surfacing shall be of a character that is suitable for the expected traffic and in harmony with similar improvements in the surrounding areas.
(c) Types of pavement shall be as determined by the town engineer. Adequate provision shall be made for culverts, drains and bridges.
(d) All street pavement, shoulders, drainage improvements and structures, curbs, turnarounds and sidewalks shall conform to all construction standards and specifications adopted by the Commission, town engineer or the town and shall be incorporated into the construction plans required to be submitted by the developer for plat approval.
(3) Excess right-of-way. Right-of-way widths in excess of the standards designed in these regulations shall be required whenever, due to topography, additional width is necessary to provide for adequate and stable earth slopes. Slopes shall not be in excess of 3 to 1.
(4) Railroads and limited access highways. Railroad rights-of-way and limited access highways where so located as to affect the subdivision of adjoining lands shall be treated as follows.
(a) In residential districts a buffer strip at least 25 feet in depth in addition to the normal depth of the lot required in the district shall be provided adjacent to the railroad right-of-way or limited access highway.
(b) This strip shall be part of the platted lots and shall be designated on the plat: “This strip is reserved for screening. The placement of structures thereon other than earth berms, walls, fences and other landscape screening devices approved by the Commission is prohibited.”
(c) In districts zoned for business, commercial or industrial uses, the nearest street extending parallel or approximately parallel to a railroad shall, whenever practical, be at a sufficient distance therefrom to ensure a suitable depth for commercial or industrial sites.
(d) Streets parallel to a railroad when intersecting a street which crosses the railroad at grade shall, to the extent practicable, be at a distance of at least 150 feet from the railroad right-of-way.
(e) The distance shall be determined with due consideration of the minimum distance required for future separator of grades by means of appropriate approach gradients.
(5) Intersections.
(a) Streets shall be laid out so as to intersect as nearly as possible at right angles. A proposed intersection of 2 new streets at an angle of less than 75 degrees shall not be acceptable. An oblique street should be approximately at right angles for at least 100 feet therefrom. Not more than 2 streets shall intersect at any 1 point unless specifically approved by the Commission.
(b) Proposed new intersections along 1 side of an existing street shall, wherever practicable, coincide with any existing intersection on the opposite side of the street. Street jogs with center-line offsets of less than 150 feet shall not be permitted except where the intersected street has separated, dual drives, without median breaks at either intersection. Where local streets intersect with arterials, their alignment shall be continuous. Intersections of arterials shall be at least 800 feet apart.
(c) Minimum curb radius at the intersection of 2 local streets shall be at least 20 feet; and minimum curb radius at an intersection involving a collector street shall be at least 25 feet. Alley intersections and abrupt changes in alignment within a block shall have the corners cut off in accordance with standard engineering practice to permit safe vehicular movement.
(d) Intersections shall be designed with a flat grade wherever practical. In hilly or rolling areas, at the approach to an intersection a leveling area shall be provided having not greater than a 2% grade at a distance of 60 feet, measured from the nearest right-of-way line of the intersecting street.
(e) Where any street intersection will involve earth banks or existing vegetation inside any lot corner that would create a traffic hazard by limiting visibility, the developer shall cut the ground and/or vegetation (including trimming trees) in connection with the grading of the public right-of-way to the extent deemed necessary by the town engineer to provide an adequate sight distance.
(f) The cross-slopes on all streets, including intersections shall be 3% or less.
(6) Bridges.
(a) Bridges of primary benefit to the applicant, as determined by the Commission, shall be constructed at the full expense of the applicant without reimbursement from the town.
(b) The sharing of expense for the construction of bridges not of primary benefit to the applicant as determined by the Commission, will be fixed by special agreement between the town and the applicant.
(c) Costs shall be charged to the applicant pro-rata as the percentage of his or her land developed and so served.
(M) Street dedications and reservations.
(1) New perimeter streets.
(a) Street systems in new subdivisions shall be laid out so as to eliminate or avoid new perimeter half-streets.
(b) Where an existing half-street is adjacent to a new subdivision, the other half of the street shall be improved an dedicated by the subdivider.
(c) The Commission may authorize a new perimeter street where the subdivider improves and dedicates the entire required right-of-way width within his or her own subdivision's boundaries.
(2) Widening and realignment of existing streets. Where a subdivision borders an existing narrow street or when the comprehensive plan, official map, thoroughfare plan, or zoning setback requirements indicate plans for realignment or widening of a street that would require use of some of the land in the subdivision, the applicant shall be required to improve and dedicate streets at his or her own expense. Frontage streets and other streets on which subdivision lots front shall be improved and dedicated by the applicant at his or her own expense to the full width required by this subdivision control ordinance. Land reserved for any street purposes may not be counted in satisfying the yard or area requirements of the Zoning Chapter.
(1996 Code, Chap. 11, § 4.3)