CITY OF COLLEGE STATION
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
1101 Texas Avenue South, PO Box 9960
College Station, Texas 77842
Phone 979.764.3570 / Fax 979.764.3496
MEMORANDUM
TO:Planning and Zoning Commission
FROM:Brett McCully, P.E., Development Engineer
SUBJECT:UDO Amendment, Corner Residential Driveway Access
Honorable Chair and Commissioners,
At your July 3, 2003 workshop meeting, you were provided with information regarding driveway access for corner residential lots. Current regulations require access to the "lesser" street, however at the meeting interest was expressed in revising the ordinance upon developing a safe means of allowing access to either street at the discretion of the builder/owner.
In evaluating potential changes, Staff looked at several possible development scenarios, and then considered the implications of each. We quickly realized that the most crucial component of this issue was sight distance.
When a driveway connects to the same street as the adjacent lots, a visible corridor is created by the lack of conflicting fencing or private improvements. Thus the driveway from a corner lot connects to the same street as the adjacent lots, the sight distance criteria is preserved. There are no specific setback requirements between lot lines and driveways because a common sight area is provided by the front building setback line.
In order to allow driveway connections contrary to the street connection standard, but in a safe manner, Staff proposes a revision to allow side connections to the "greater" street, with the provision that a 20-foot setback be provided from the rear property line. In this manner, builders and owners have more options available to them, while the safety of the passing traffic on both the street and sidewalk is preserved.
Because this 20-foot dimension is the same as the rear building setback in this lot configuration, Staff proposes to simply apply the existing building setback dimensions to driveways for corner lots. Since the garages and the driveways line up, there should not be any negative impacts on corner proposals that will be providing a safe driveway connection.
The current ordinance section 7.3.C.2.d reads as follows:
"For corner tracts, access to residential tracts shall be taken from the lesser street. Access notes on plats shall supercede this requirement. The determination as to the lesser (or greater) street shall be based on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) criteria for functional street classification."
Staff proposes this section to be replaced with the following:
"For corner residential lots, side access driveways shall be subject to building setback requirements."
Staff desires input from the Commission on this proposal, and stands ready to move forward to City Council with any recommendations and/or modifications deemed appropriate by the Commission.