HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-003-01/15/1985-ADOPTING AN OFFSITE STREET IMPROVEMENT POLICY RESOLUTION 85-3
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
ADOPTING AN OFFSITE STREET IMPROVEMENT POLICY
WHEREAS, on November 3, 1981 , the Council of the City of Fort Collins
passed the offsite street ordinance [City Code Provision 99-6 (B) (6) 1;
and
WHEREAS, in the fall of 1984 City staff adopted the attached policy
regarding offsite street improvements in order to clarify developer respon-
sibilities under the ordinance; and
WHEREAS, on October 22, 1984 the Planning & Zoning Board considered
said policy and supports and recommends its adoption by the Council of the
City of Fort Collins.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT
COLLINS that the attached offsite street improvement policy is hereby
adopted.
Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of
Fort Collins held this 15th day of January, A.D. 1985.
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Mayor
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ATTEST:
City Clerk
OFFSITE STREET IMPROVEMENTS
The Philosophy
The City of Fort Collins requires all Subdivisions to have
reasonable access to an improved arterial street or an arterial street
funded in the Budget for improvement.
This ordinance was established based on three principles:
1) . The acceptable capacity of the existing street network
and the safety of the public. The street network must be able to
handle the existing traffic as well as the proposed traffic, safely
and at an acceptable level of service.
2) . Maintenance cost. The City does not want to add to its
responsibilities the maintenance of any streets that will require an
enormous outlay of funds for upgrading to safely handle existing or
increased traffic. The City has design criteria and standards for
streets that describe the street that will handle expected traffic and
keep maintenance costs to a minimum. A street must meet these
standards before the City can accept its maintenance.
3) . Growth management and the desire of our City Council to
make new Development "pay its way". Due to the high cost of providing
services to development in areas that are not adjacent to existing
development (this is known as "leap frog" development), the City
discourages leap frog development. The City does realize, however,
that development does not always occur in an orderly, contiguous
fashion. With this philosophy, the City feels that if leap frog
development does occur, then that development needs to pay to provide
these services. The offsite street improvement ordinance is one
mechanism to accomplish this, at least, for the streets needed to
serve such a development.
The Ordinance
This section is a breakdown of the ordinance with an
explanation of each area.
99-6.b. (6) . Streets and Alleys. All subdivisions
must have access to an improved arterial street or
to a street funded for improvement as an arterial
street.
The City Planning Office maintains a map of all City arterial
streets that are considered improved. These are, in most cases,
streets that are of adequate width and have curb, gutter and a
pavement thickness adequate to handle the projected traffic for a
length of 20 years, with minor maintenance. Any development that does
not have adequate access to such a street would be required to design
and construct the street network necessary to have this access.
This access must be provided in the most reasonable direction
of travel to major activity centers.
Any subdivision which does not have adequate access
to an improved arterial street or an arterial
street funded is required to improve the impacted
offsite streets, as determined by the City, to
include, as a minimum, a thirty-six (36) foot wide
paved section on an adequate base for the ultimate
design of the street as designated on the Master
Street Plan or as determined by the City Engineer.
A waiver to the requirements may be granted by the
City Engineer when, in his determination, the
existing arterial is in substantial compliance with
the criteria for arterial streets.
Thirty-six feet is the width of a local street. On an interim
basis this width should be adequate to handle most situations until
properties adjacent to such streets develop and construct the
remainder of the arterial . Individual sites may indicate that the 36'
width will not be adequate and more of the offsite streets may be
required to be constructed. This is determined by the City Traffic
Engineer.
The City Traffic Engineer can require any developer to submit
a traffic impact study. The information gathered by the study, plus
knowledge of the area and its problems will be used by the City
Traffic Engineer to determine the extent of the offsite street
improvements when they exceed the minimum requirements.
Depending on the situation, local streets can be included in
the offsite street improvement requirement. In such cases local
streets offsite will require a minimum of curb and gutter as well as
pavement. Collectors and arterials will have adequate shoulders to
maintain the edge of asphalt. ( Six foot wide 4 inch thick base
course. ) Existing pavement must be nondestructively tested for
structural adequacey, if that pavement is to be retained.
When a person constructs a street, alley or path
through undeveloped areas to serve his property or
constructs such improvements along the perimeter of
his property, the entire cost of such construction
shall be the responsibility of such person.
All developers are responsible for 1/2 the width of a local
street, if such a street is located on the perimeter of their
property, but they would be responsible for the entire width if they
develop before the the property across the street. Half local streets
are not adequate to carry traffic so a full street is required.
The City may, in certain cases, use its power of eminent
domain to obtain right-of-way for offsite street improvement, but the
Developer will be responsible for any and all costs involved.
If this developer has furnished the City Engineer
with an approved itemized list of the construction
costs and has entered into an agreement for
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repayment with the City within ninety (90) days of
the completion, and acceptance by the City, of such
improvements, then at the time the property
abutting such improvements is developed and access
to such improvements is accomplished, the City may
collect a charge per front foot from the abutting
property developer and, if so collected, shall
reimburse the original installer to the extent of
such collection after making any necessary
adjustments. The amount of reimbursement paid to
the City may be the original cost of the
improvements plus any mutually agreed upon amount
to reflect the effects of inflation, if any, but in
no case shall the reimbursement be less than the
original cost. These adjustments may be based on
the "Construction Cost Index " for Denver,
Colorado, as published monthly by Engineering News
Record. Streets and alleys shall be completed as
required by the City Engineer and all payments
fully made for existing beneficial streets before
the reimbursement to the original installer is made
pursuant to provisions as contained herein. Any
right to reimbursement pursuant to this provision
shall not exceed a period of ten (10) years from
the execution of the agreement. The City Council
may approve extensions of the agreement for
additional ten year periods.
To obtain reimbursement for street improvements, an agreement
must be made with the City through the City Engineer's Office. To
enter into this agreement, the Developer must submit to the City the
the following:
1. All invoices from the contractors for costs must be submitted for
approval .
2. All affected properties must be listed with their affected front
footages, County parcel number and the anticipated charge (not
including the inflation factor) .
3. A map showing the location of the street improvements and the
affected properties.
Variances
Variances from this ordinance can be requested. A Developer
must make a request in writing at the time he submits his final plans
for review by the City. This request is to be accompanied by a traffic
impact study and the reasons substantiating the request. Variance
requests are thoroughly reviewed by the City staff who then make a
recommendation on the request to the Planning and Zoning Board. The
Board then makes the final decision.
A committee of 4 staff members from three different
departments (Transportation Services, Engineering and Community
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Development) reviews the request, first to see if it can meet the
requirements based on the two of the three principles discussed
earlier;
1. CAPACITY AND SAFETY. Can the street handle the existing
and proposed traffic safely and at an acceptable level of
service?
2. MAINTENANCE. Are the streets maintainable at an
acceptible level ?
If these requirements are satisfied by a concensus of staff,
the staff then questions the variance from a slightly different view
point.
1 . Will the City be the recipient of a facility that is equal
to or better than the existing facility?
2. Will the City be harmed by the variance even if the
facility is equal to or better than what is existing?
3. Will the benefits out weigh the detriments or vice versa?
The staff then determines what their recommendation will be
and addresses it in letter form to the Planning and Zoning Board for
their consideration at the Board meeting at which they are considering
the project .
DEFINITIONS
ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF SERVICE -- Acceptable level of service for the
City's street system will be level of service C in all off
peak situations and level of service D during peak traffic
conditions. These levels of service qualifiers will pertain
to all major traffic movements. The following is a
description of the level of service as they relate to urban
street conditions.
LEVEL OF SERVICE CHARACTERISTIC
A Average over-all travel speed
of more than 30 m.p.h. Free
flowing with volume/capacity
ratio of 0.60.
B Average over-all speeds drop
due to intersection delay and
inter-vehicular conflicts, but
remain near 30 m.p.h. Delay is
minor. Volume/capacity ratio is
0.70.
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C Volume/capacity ratios of 0.80.
Average over-all speeds of 25
m.p.h. Traffic flow still
stable with acceptable delays.
D Beginning to tax capabilities
of streeet section . Approaching
unstable flow. Volume/capacity
ratio approaching 0.90. Average
over-all speeds down to 20
m.p.h. Delays at intersections
may increase to a point of
waiting for one or more signal
cycles.
E Volume/capacity ratio at
capacity 1.0. Average over-all
traffic variable, but near 15
m.p.h., unstable flow.
Continuous back-up on
approaches to major
intersections.
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