B. Public service
requirements. In the event the governing body requests the addition of a street
or network addition before it meets these public service provisions, the
district administrator will review each request on an individual case basis and
determine if the acceptance of a street prior to normal service requirements is
justified, provided the street or network addition meets all other applicable
requirements including the connectivity requirements of this chapter. At the
request of the local governing body, subject to approval by the district
administrator, the public service requirements may be reduced for individual
streets serving state or local economic development projects.
1. Individual streets. For the purpose of
these requirements, public service may include, but is not necessarily limited
to, streets meeting one or more of the following situations:
a. Serves three or more occupied units with a
unit being a single-family residence, owner-occupied apartment, owner-occupied
residence in a qualifying manufactured home park, a stand-alone business, or
single business entity occupying an individual building, or other similar
facility. Also, streets serving manufactured home parks may only be considered
when the land occupied by the manufactured home is in fee simple ownership by
the residents of such manufactured home.
b. Constitutes a connecting segment between
other streets that qualify from the point of public service.
c. Such street is a stub out.
d. Serves as access to schools, churches,
public sanitary landfills, transfer stations, public recreational facilities,
or similar facilities open to public use.
e. Serves at least 100 vehicles per day
generated by an office building, industrial site, or other similar
nonresidential land use in advance of the occupancy of three or more such units
of varied proprietorship. Any addition under this provision shall be limited to
the segment of a street that serves this minimum projected traffic and has been
developed in compliance with these requirements.
f. Constitutes a part of the network of
streets envisioned in the transportation plan or element of a locality's
comprehensive plan that, at the time of acceptance, serves an active traffic
volume of at least 100 vehicles per day.
2. Multifamily, townhouse, and retail
shopping complexes. A through street that serves a multifamily building may be
considered for maintenance as part of the secondary system of state highways if
it is deemed by the department to provide a public service and provided it is
well defined and the district administrator's designee determines that it is
not a travel way through a parking lot.
Entrance streets and the internal traffic circulation
systems of retail shopping complexes qualify only if more than three property
owners are served and the district administrator's designee determines that it
is not a travel way through a parking lot.
3. Network additions. A network addition
shall be considered to provide service if each street within the addition meets
at least one of the criteria in subdivision 1 of this subsection.
4. Special exceptions. There may be other
sets of circumstances that could constitute public service. Consequently, any
request for clarification regarding unclear situations should be made in
writing to the district administrator's designee.
C. Connectivity requirements. All streets in
a development as shown in a plan of development shall be considered for
acceptance into the secondary system of state highways as one or multiple
network additions. However, streets with a functional classification of
collector and above may be eligible for acceptance as individual streets.
For the purposes of this subsection, connection shall mean a
street connection to an adjacent property or a stub out that will allow for
future street connection to an adjacent property.
The connectivity requirements of this chapter shall not
apply to the following: a frontage road or reverse frontage road as defined in
the Access Management Regulations (24VAC-30-73 ), streets petitioned for
acceptance into the secondary system of state highways through the Rural
Addition Program pursuant to §§ 33.2-335 and 33.2-336 of the Code of
Virginia, or streets petitioned for acceptance into the secondary system of
state highways through the Commonwealth Transportation Board's Rural Addition
Policy provided such streets were constructed prior to January 1, 2012.
1. Stub out connection standard. If a stub
out or stub outs maintained by the department adjoin the property of a
development with a network addition or individual street proposed for
acceptance into the secondary system of state highways, such network addition
or individual street must connect to such stub out or stub outs to be eligible
for acceptance into the secondary system of state highways. The district
administrator may waive this requirement if the existing stub out is of such
design as to make such a connection unsafe.
2. Multiple connections in multiple
directions standard. The streets within a network addition may be accepted into
the secondary system of state highways if the network addition
provides at least two external connections, one of which
must be to a publicly maintained highway and the other providing a connection
to a different highway or a stub out to an adjoining property. Local street
stub outs generally should not exceed 500 feet in length. If a stub out is
constructed, the applicant shall post a sign in accordance with the
department's standards that indicates that such stub out is a site for a future
roadway connection. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as to prohibit a
stub out from providing service to lots within a development. The district
administrator's designee shall waive or modify the second required connection
of this standard if one or more of the following situations renders the
provision of such connection impracticable:
a. The adjoining property is completely built
out, its state is such that redevelopment within 20 years is unlikely, and
there is no stub out (either constructed or platted) to the property served by
the network addition;
b. The
adjoining property is zoned for a use whose traffic is incompatible with the
development being served by the network addition, providing, however, that in
no case shall retail, residential, or office uses be considered incompatible
with other retail, residential, or office uses; or
c. There is no reasonable connection possible
to adjoining property or adjacent highways due to a factor outside the control
of the developer of the network addition, such as the presence of conservation
easements not put in place by the developer of the network addition, water
features such as rivers or lakes, jurisdictional wetlands, grades in excess of
15% whose total elevation change is greater than five feet, limited access
highways, railroads, or government property to which access is
restricted.
3.
Additional connections standard. Network additions providing direct access to
(i) more than 200 dwelling units or (ii) lots whose trip generation is expected
to be over 2,000 VPD may be accepted into the secondary system of state
highways if the network addition provides an additional external connection
beyond that required under subdivision 2 of this subsection for each additional
200 dwelling units or 2,000 VPD or portion of each over and above the initial
200 dwelling units or 2,000 VPD. For the purposes of this requirement, each
external connection of collector facilities that are elements of the county's
transportation plan and to which there is no direct lot access provided counts
as two external connections. The district administrator's designee shall waive
or modify this additional connections standard if one or more of the following
situations renders the provision of such connection impracticable:
a. The adjoining property is completely built
out, its state is such that redevelopment within 20 years is unlikely, and
there is no stub out (either constructed or platted) to the property served by
the network addition;
b. The
adjoining property is zoned for a use whose traffic is incompatible with the
development being served by the network addition, providing, however, that in
no case shall retail, residential, or office uses be considered incompatible
with retail, residential, or office uses;
c. In developments with a median density of
more than eight lots per acre or with a FAR of 0.4 or higher, where the number
of connections provided would be contrary to the public interest; or
d. There is no reasonable connection possible
to adjoining property or adjacent highways due to a factor outside the control
of the developer of the network addition, such as the presence of conservation
easements not put in place by the developer of the network addition, water
features such as rivers or lakes, jurisdictional wetlands, grades in excess of
15% whose total elevation change is greater than five feet, limited access
highways, railroads, or government property to which access is
restricted.
4.
Individual street standard. Streets that are not part of a network addition
shall be accepted into the secondary system of state highways upon petition by
the local governing body as long as they meet the requirements of the
applicable design standard and one terminus of the street is an intersection
with a roadway that is part of the existing publicly maintained highway network
and the other terminus is either an intersection with a roadway that is part of
the existing publicly maintained highway network or a stub out to an adjoining
property. Streets considered for individual acceptance should be (i) streets
that provide a connection between two existing publicly maintained streets or
(ii) streets with a functional classification as collector or higher.
5. Connectivity exceptions.
Where the above standards for waiver or modification have
been met, the connectivity requirements for a network addition shall be waived
or modified by the district administrator's designee. The developer shall
submit any request for connectivity waiver or modification to the district
administrator's designee with a copy to the local official. The district
administrator's designee shall respond to requests for connectivity exceptions
within 30 calendar days of receipt of a request. For projects where a scoping
meeting pursuant to the Traffic Impact Analysis Regulations (24VAC30-155) will
be held, requests for exceptions and supporting data should be presented and
discussed.
6. In instances
where there is potential for conflict between this chapter and the Access
Management Regulations: Minor Arterials, Collectors, and Local Streets
(24VAC
30-73), the following shall apply:
a.
For streets with a functional classification of collector where additional
connections necessary to meet the connectivity requirements of this chapter
cannot be accommodated within the applicable spacing standards and cannot
otherwise be met through connections to lower order roadways or stub outs, such
spacing standards shall be modified by the district administrator's designee to
allow for such connection. Such connection or connections shall be required to
meet intersection sight distance standards specified in the Road Design Manual,
2011 (VDOT).
b. For streets with a
functional classification of minor arterial where additional connections
necessary to meet the connectivity requirements of this chapter cannot be
accommodated within the applicable spacing standards and cannot otherwise be
met through connections to lower order roadways or stub outs, the district
administrator's designee shall, in consultation with the developer and the
local official, either modify the applicable spacing standards to allow for
such connection or connections, or modify the connectivity requirements of this
chapter to account for the inability to make such connection. Such connection
shall be required to meet intersection sight distance as specified in the Road
Design Manual, 2011 (VDOT).
c. For
streets with a functional classification of principal arterial where additional
connections necessary to meet the external connectivity requirements of this
chapter cannot be accommodated within the applicable spacing standards and
cannot otherwise be met through connections to lower order roadways or stub
outs, the connectivity requirements shall be modified by the district
administrator's designee to account for the inability to make such
connection.
7. Failure
to connect. If a local government approves a subdivision plat for a new
development that does not connect to a stub out or stub outs in an adjacent
development and such development's network addition or individual street would
meet the applicable requirements of this chapter if it connected to a stub out
or stub outs in the adjacent development, the network addition or individual
street may or may not be accepted into the secondary system of state highways
for maintenance pursuant to the authority granted to the district
administrators in accordance with
24VAC30-92-100.