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January
22, 2004 Town Council Meeting:
The
applicant requested that the case be delayed until the February 12, 2004
regular Town Council meeting.
Staff
has provided the following information created since the
January 8, 2004
Town Council meeting:
Connection
to Spring Bud Drive:
Staff has field verified that
existing Spring Bud Drive is 27’ back-to-back, which is consistent with
the Town’s current required residential street width and which
also matches the minimum required width for the continuation of Spring Bud
Drive.
Sidewalk along
Spring
Bud Drive
: The applicants' condition reads, "A 5' minimum
sidewalk shall be constructed on one side of the street within the
existing right-of-way of Spring Bud from the northern street stub of the
subject property to the intersection of
Castalia Drive
. This sidewalk shall be
provided when the street stub is completed."
Spring
Bud Drive
is a 27' back-to-back street within a 40' right-of-way.
The 40' right-of-way allows for 6.5' of right-of-way behind curb on
each side of the street. Typically,
construction easements outside of right-of-way are necessary to install
sidewalk, so additional land may be necessary to install sidewalk even if
placed at back-of-curb. In
addition, the sidewalk would need to be installed approximately 42"
from back-of-curb at all driveways in order to work with the existing
standard driveway aprons (curb exists from the street to approximately
42" up the residential drive). Additional
right-of-way would be necessary at each location where sidewalk would
intersect a driveway.
Traffic calming device at
Spring Bud connection: It
is staffs’ understanding that this condition was added at the request of
the Weatherstone homeowners. The
applicants' condition # 6 reads, "At least one traffic-calming device
(to meet Town of
Cary
’s guidelines) shall be provided within the proposed development. The
device will generally follow similar devices being provided within the
Weatherstone subdivision." Staff
feels the wording "to meet Town of
Cary
guidelines" is sufficient in ensuring that a device will only be
installed if warranted. Per
Town of Cary Standard Procedure No. 111, speed studies, traffic counts,
and traffic analyses may be done; the Fire Department will need to approve
the location; 70% of homeowners in the "area of influence" will
need to approve installation of a traffic calming device; and finally,
Town Council must grant approval.
Connection to
Maynard Crossing Court
:
If staff were directed to pursue
making the connection, the following would all play a part in determining
when the connection could be made:
(1)
Design could not be started by staff until the Pulte/High
House subdivision construction drawings are complete or are very near
completion;
(2)
Acquisition of land to make the street connection is time
consuming. An appraisal
would be needed, an offer would need to be made, then negotiations with
the property owner would take place.
The Town has experience with the property owner, Shell Oil
(original developer), and feels it is unlikely they would dedicate the
right-of-way at this time, therefore the Town would have to acquire this
land. Ultimately, the Town may need to go to condemnation to acquire the
land. In addition, the
proposed
Pulte/High House street
stub location would sever a strip of land approximately 50’ in width
between the new street right-of-way and the Autobody America northern
property line. Since this is commercial property the value of the
right-of-way plus severed land would be considerable;
(3) Capital project
monies are limited – this street connection would more than
likely be categorized as a low priority. Council may prefer to determine
the priority as a part of the budget process where competing projects
could be compared;
(4) Permitting
the project may also be an issue (stormwater, river buffers, power line,
gas line, etc.) that can’t be precisely determined until design;
(5) Timing
of the project needs to be considered. Since it may be many years before
the project builds the roads, it may not be necessary for the Town to
act on the offsite road improvements. The commercial property may
develop first and would be required to build this road segment to meet
our connectivity ordinance.
Due
to the reasons mentioned above, and the Pulte/High House project
necessitating the need for the connection, staff feels the Pulte/High
House developer should be responsible for obtaining the land necessary for
the street connection to
Maynard
Crossing Court
,
as well as constructing the connection in conjunction with their
development. The second option
staff recommends is simply to wait for the adjacent property to the east
to develop, at which time construction of the residential street
connection would be a development requirement. |
