Sec. 654.115. - Design standards: access to the public right-of-way.

The following requirements shall be met when providing access to residential and nonresidential parcels. (a) Spacing of accesses. For all new arterials and freeways or other limited access facilities constructed after 1991, and from all major arterials for which access and egress are to be reevaluated, the following guidelines are to be used in determining the spacing of accesses, streets or interchanges: Limited access facilities-rural 1 per 2 miles Limited access facilities-urban with frontage roads 1 per mile without frontage roads 1 per 2 miles Major arterials 4 per mile Minor arterials 8 per mile   (b) Access for corner lots. Access for corner lots or parcels shall be located the greatest distance from the corner commensurate with property dimensions. For roadways having a functional classification of collector or higher, access shall not be less than 150 feet from the geometric centerline of intersecting roadways, 100 feet from the outside through lane, or commensurate with property dimensions, where the lot frontage is insufficient to meet these requirements, subject to the approval of the Traffic Engineering Division and the Department. (c) Driveway entrance. Three or more driveways from an arterial or collector shall not be permitted for a single site unless otherwise authorized by the Traffic Engineering Division. Existing sites having three or more approaches from a particular street shall be required to eliminate the excess drives or convert the excess drives to right-turn-only accesses or egresses at such time as application is made to the City for any change in land use, zoning or increase in gross leasable square footage. Final acceptance of revised driveway approaches shall be subject to the approval of the Traffic Engineering Division, or the appropriate authority. (d) Shared access. New development sites shall be required, whenever possible, to share access points. (e) Access to residential parcels with frontage on two or more roadways. Access to new residential parcels with frontage along two or more roadways shall be limited to access from the roadway with the lower functional class, or the lower average daily traffic inclusive of development traffic for roadways of the same functional class, unless it can be demonstrated in a traffic study submitted to the Director, or his or her designee that such access restriction would: (1) Present a safety hazard, (2) Cause undue congestion or delay on adjacent road facilities, (3) Cause environmental degradation, or (4) Hinder adequate traffic circulation. The City shall require that access to new single-family residential parcels with frontage along two or more roadways be located in accordance with the following parameters: 1. If the roadways are of differing functional classes, then access to the parcel shall be provided from the roadway with the lower functional class only, 2. If the roadways are of the same functional class, then access shall be provided as follows: a. If one of the roadways is unimproved, access to the parcel may be provided from the improved roadway; b. In the case of redevelopment of existing parcels, from the roadway where the prevailing pattern of existing driveways are located; or c. In the case of new subdivisions where no pattern currently exists, on the roadway with the lower average daily traffic (ADT) inclusive of development traffic. 3. Driveways should be on the same road on which the parcel is addressed and the front door of the home is located, except in the case of an entirely new planned unit development or traditional neighborhood development where rear entry drives are expressly contemplated. The above parameters shall be followed unless it can be demonstrated in a professional traffic study submitted for review and approval to the Traffic Engineering Division, and with which the City staff agrees, that such access restrictions would either: 1. Present a safety hazard; 2. Would cause undue congestion or delay on adjacent road facilities; 3. Would cause environmental degradation; or 4. Would hinder adequate traffic circulation. (f) Access to commercial and office use parcels. The Council finds that improvement of traffic circulation within and between office and commercial parcels of similar intensity along collector or higher functionally classified roadways is in the public interest for both the convenience and safety of the public on the roads and within the parcels. The Council further finds that rights of private property owners are of interest and should be balanced against the public interest in improvement of traffic circulation. To that end, the following provisions shall be observed when providing access to commercial and office use parcels, other than those within the Commercial Central Business District ("CCBD"), or as excepted herein: (1) Where a commercial or office use development abuts or contains a designated collector or higher functionally classified roadway, a cross-access drive, lane or way ("cross-access") shall be constructed to connect the properties adjacent to the collector or higher functionally classified roadway in order to provide for interconnectivity of traffic flow through and along parking lots and access roads leading to and from adjacent commercial or office use developments without the need to access the collector or higher classified roadway. (A) If the adjacent site is developed and, in the opinion of the Department, cross-access is feasible, the owner or developer shall design and build the appropriate cross-access to the property line of the adjacent parcel. (B) If the adjacent site is developed, but in the opinion of the Department, cross-access is not feasible at this time, the owner or developer shall design and designate on the site plan the location of future cross-access, but will not be required to construct the cross-access at the time of initial site development. The owner shall commit, in writing, to construct and allow cross-access at such time as the City determines that cross-access is feasible and desirable. (C) If the adjacent site is undeveloped, the owner or developer shall design and build the cross-access to the property line of the adjacent parcel in anticipation of future connection when that site is developed. (D) The minimum width of a vehicular cross-access shall be 24 feet. (E) Existing commercial or office use developments in place on the date of adoption of this interconnectivity requirement that do not contain the interconnectivity as required by this Section, shall be brought into compliance with this requirement under the following conditions provided that a determination is made by the Director that such interconnectivity requirements do not impose an undue burden, as described below, on the affected property owners: (i) When a new driveway connection permit is required for the existing development; or (ii) When substantial enlargements or improvements to the existing development are undertaken. "Substantial" means within any three-year period, when the total cumulative renovation of existing development is equal to at least 50 percent of the assessed value of the lot improvements (including structures and parking and exterior areas but not the value of the land) on the start of the three-year period, according to the Property Appraiser, or the total square footage of a structure is expanded to 50 percent or greater, as well as any cumulative square footage expansions totaling 50 percent; or (iii) When a 25% or greater increase in vehicle trip generation is attributable to the new development, as compared to the existing development, is documented. (F) Parcels zoned CCG-2 shall not be required to connect to parcels within a zoning district other than CCG-2, but they shall be required to interconnect with each other. Similarly, parcels within a zoning district other than CCG-2 are not required to connect to a parcel zoned as CCG-2. (2) The construction or erection of any barrier or obstacle which would prohibit access to the cross-access drive from a site's major parking area or prohibit sharing access drives for interconnectivity with adjacent properties shall be prohibited. This provision is not to conflict with or exempt a developer from complying with landscape and tree protection regulations. (3) Specific exemptions to, or abatement of, this provision may be granted by the Director, or his or her designee when one or more of the following conditions occur: (A) physical or regulatory constraints on a currently developed property prohibit, as determined in consultation with the City Engineer, the construction of a cross-access drive which meets the City's design and clear zone standards; or (B) The parcel required to provide interconnectivity requests an abatement based upon the use of their property as particularly requiring security or privacy as a mandatory element of their business. When that use ceases, the requirement to provide the cross-access resumes, and the abatement ends; or (C) The owner or developer can prove to the satisfaction of the Director that there was a lease, mortgage, or other agreement, related to the real estate parcel in question, in existence prior to April 4, 2018, that prohibits the developer or owner from providing the cross-access. For purposes of this abatement, the abatement ends at the conclusion of such an agreement's full term. (D) The Director determines that an affected property owner otherwise subject to the provisions of this Section would currently be subject to an undue burden if required to provide the interconnectivity. An "undue burden" shall be determined as follows: (i) In the opinion of the City's Traffic Engineer, the connection will create undue traffic conflicts; (ii) In the opinion of the Director, the connection will create undue harm to protected trees; (iii) In the opinion of the City's Engineer, the elevation change between sites creates an undue engineering burden, or creates undue utility conflicts; (iv) Any other burden expressed in writing by the Director stating the undue burden and the rationale for declaring the burden undue. (g) Access to newly developed and redeveloped parcels, other than parcels zoned for or used for single-family dwellings, with frontage on two or more roadways. Access to newly developed and redeveloped parcels with frontage along two or more roadways, other than parcels zoned for or used for single-family dwellings, shall be limited in order to protect performance of the City's transportation network. Access shall be limited to one per roadway with access from the higher functional class roadway or roadway with the higher average daily traffic (ADT) being limited to right turn-in/right turn-out only. However, exemptions from these requirements may be granted by the Director where factors justify the exemptions. Factors to be taken into consideration for exemptions may include, but are not limited to: parcel size and road frontage; projected trip generation of a development; safety and congestion hazards; potential for delay on adjacent road facilities; environmental degradation; adequate traffic circulation; and/or elimination of existing access points. The Director shall require a written statement of justification, along with any supporting documentation deemed necessary, from the applicant to determine if an exemption is warranted. The applicant's justification must demonstrate a need for the exemption and how granting of the exemption will not hinder the overall goal of protecting the performance of the City's transportation network. (Ord. 91-58-147, § 1; Ord. 2002-714-E, § 5; Ord. 2013-185-E, § 6; Ord. 2018-146-E , § 1; Ord. 2025-30-E , § 20) Editor's note— Ordinance 2007-839-E, § 18, authorized updated department/division names pursuant to reorganization.