A. General Requirements:
1. Frontage On Improved Streets: No subdivision or major partition shall be approved unless the area to be subdivided shall have frontage on and access from an existing street. This street or highway must be suitably improved as required by the highway rules, regulations, specifications or orders, or be secured by a performance bond required under these regulations, with the width and right-of-way required by these regulations.
2. Grading And Improvement Plan: Streets shall be graded and improved and conform to the City construction standards and specifications and shall be approved as to design and specifications by the City Engineer, in accordance with the construction plans required to be submitted prior to final plat approval.
3. Topography And Arrangement:
a. Roads shall be related appropriately to the topography. Local roads shall be curved wherever possible to avoid conformity of lot appearance. All streets shall be arranged so as to obtain as many as possible of the building sites at or above the grades of the streets. Grades of streets shall conform as close as possible to the original topography. A combination of steep grades and curves shall be avoided. Specific standards are contained in the design standards of these regulations.
b. All streets shall be properly integrated with the existing and proposed system of thoroughfares and dedicated rights-of- way as established by the Comprehensive Plan.
4. Road Names: The sketch plan as submitted shall not indicate any names upon proposed streets. The Planning Commission shall name all streets at the time of tentative plan approval in the case of a subdivision, or preliminary map approval in the case of a major partition. Names shall be sufficiently different in sound and spelling from other street names in the City so as not to cause confusion. A street which is or is planned as a continuation of an existing road shall bear the same name.
5. Road Regulatory Signs; Fee: The applicant shall deposit with the City at the time of final subdivision or major partition approval a deposit to be set by City Council resolution for each road sign required by the City Engineer at all road intersections. The City shall install all street signs, to be placed at all intersections within or abutting the subdivision or major partition, the type and location of which to be approved by the City Engineer.
6. Street Lights: Street lights shall be installed by the developer in accordance with design and specification standards approved by the City Engineer. (Ord. 512-96, 1-8-1996)
B. Design Standards:
1. General: In order to provide for streets of suitable location, width and improvement to accommodate prospective traffic and afford satisfactory access to police, fire fighting, snow removal, sanitation and road maintenance equipment and to coordinate roads so as to compose a convenient system and avoid undue hardships to adjoining properties, the design standards for roads are hereby required as given in the Transportation System Plan, table 12, and as follows. (Ord. 582-18, 10-8-2018)
2. Road Surfacing And Improvements:
a. After sewer, water and other required utilities have been installed by the developer, the applicant shall construct curbs and gutters and shall surface roadways to the widths prescribed in these regulations. The surfacing shall be of such character as is suitable for the expected traffic and in harmony with similar improvements in the surrounding areas. Types of pavements shall be as determined by the City Engineer. Adequate provisions shall be made for culverts, drains and bridges. Each street shall have a minimum of three inches (3") depth of asphalt.
b. All road pavement, shoulders, drainage improvements and structures, curbs, turnarounds and sidewalks shall conform to all construction standards and specifications adopted by the City Council upon recommendation of the City Engineer 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 designated in these regulations shall be required whenever, due to topography, additional width is necessary to provide adequate earth slopes. Such slope shall not be in excess of three to one (3:1).
4. Intersections:
a. Streets shall be laid out so as to intersect as nearly as possible at right angles. A proposed intersection of two (2) new streets at an angle of less than seventy five degrees (75o) shall not be acceptable. An oblique street should be curved approaching an intersection and should be approximately at right angles for at least one hundred feet (100') therefrom. Not more than two (2) streets shall intersect at any one point.
b. Proposed new intersections along one side of an existing street shall, wherever practicable, coincide with any existing intersections on the opposite side of such street. Street jogs with center line offsets of less than one hundred fifty feet (150') shall not be permitted, except where the intersected street has separated dual drives without median breaks at either intersection. Where streets intersect major streets, their alignment shall be at least eight hundred feet (800') apart.
c. Minimum curb radius at the intersection of two (2) local streets shall be at least twenty feet (20'); and minimum curb radius at an intersection involving a collector street shall be at least twenty five feet (25'). 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 two percent (2%) rate at a distance of sixty feet (60'), 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 such ground and/or vegetation (including trees) in connection with the grading of the public right-of-way to the extent necessary to provide a sight distance as provided in subsection 11-9-8A of this Code. (Ord. 512-96, 1-8-1996)
5. Exceptions: The City may allow for variations in the design of streets if requested by a developer or land use applicant and approved by the Heppner Planning Commission. The applicant must demonstrate that the revised street standard will provide the same amount of right-of-way and will meet the City's transportation planning objectives to the same or a greater extent in comparison to the typical street cross-sections found in the Transportation System Plan. (Ord. 582-18, 10-8-2018)