1. Street Access and Circulation. Land use activity such as excessive curb cuts, or road approaches, intersections with “local” streets, and traffic lights creates congestion, stop-and-go traffic, and less convenience for users of major streets. These impacts create increased air pollution, energy consumption and traffic hazards and accidents. It is important to minimize access, stop signals and unsafe conditions and to maximize convenience along arterial streets. The intent of this chapter is to manage vehicle access to development through a connected street system, while preserving the flow of traffic in terms of safety, roadway capacity, and efficiency. Access shall be managed to maintain an adequate “level of service” and to maintain the “functional classification” of roadways as required by the city’s transportation system plan.

2. Pedestrian Access and Circulation. The intent of this chapter is to ensure that developments provide safe and efficient access and circulation for pedestrians.

3. Street Improvements. Many streets exist in the city which are substandard in right-of-way width, paved width, pedestrian amenities, or other improvements. Improvements will be necessary in the interests of the public health, safety and convenience. Street improvements on arterial and collector streets benefit all city residents and are generally paid for from public funds. Improvements on local streets primarily benefit properties which have frontage or direct access onto said streets, and street improvement costs are generally assessed to the owners of benefited properties. To ensure that neither the city nor land subdividers or partitioners shall have to assume the entire burden of upgrading the city’s streets, owners of property shall be required to contribute to the improvement of city streets as set forth in TMC 18.115.050.

4. Street Dedication and Setbacks. The transportation system plan assigns a classification to each roadway in Talent based upon existing or planned use, to allow for the safe accommodation of present and anticipated traffic volume on these streets. In order to effectuate the policies of the TSP, a program of street dedication and building setbacks is necessary to permit the widening of certain streets to their appropriate width.

1. Permits for access to city streets shall be subject to review and approval by the public works director based on the standards contained in this section and the provisions of TMC 18.115.050, Transportation facility standards. An access permit may be in the form of a letter to the applicant, or it may be attached to a land use decision notice as a condition of approval.

2. Permits for access to state highways shall be subject to review and approval by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), except when ODOT has delegated this responsibility to the city or Jackson County. In that case, the city or county shall determine whether access is granted based on its adopted standards.

3. Permits for access to county highways shall be subject to review and approval by Jackson County, except where the county has delegated this responsibility to the city, in which case the city shall determine whether access is granted based on adopted county standards.

1. Option 1. Access is from an existing or proposed alley or mid-block lane. If a property has access to an alley or lane, direct access to a public street is not permitted.

2. Option 2. Access is from a private street or driveway connected to an adjoining property that has direct access to a public street (i.e., shared driveway). An access easement covering the driveway shall be recorded in this case to assure access to the closest public street for all users of the private access.

3. Option 3. Access is from a public street adjacent to the development parcel. If practicable, the owner/developer may be required to close or consolidate an existing access point as a condition of approving a new access. Street accesses shall comply with the access point and spacing standards in subsections (G) and (H) of this section.

4. Subdivisions Fronting Onto an Arterial Street. New residential land divisions fronting onto an arterial street shall be required to provide alleys or secondary (local or collector) streets for access to individual lots.

5. Double-Frontage Lots. When a lot has frontage onto two or more streets, access shall be provided first from the street with the lowest classification. For example, access shall be provided from a local street before a collector or arterial street. Except for corner lots, the creation of new double-frontage lots shall be prohibited in the residential district, unless topographic or physical constraints require the formation of such lots. When double-frontage lots are permitted in the residential district, a landscape buffer with trees and/or shrubs and ground cover not less than 10 feet wide shall be provided between the back yard fence/wall and the sidewalk or street; and maintenance shall be assured by the owner (e.g., through homeowners’ association, etc.).

1. Local Streets. A minimum of 10 feet of separation (as measured from the sides of the driveway/street) shall be required on local streets (i.e., streets not designated as collectors or arterials), except as provided in subsection (G)(3) of this section.

2. Arterial and Collector Streets. Access spacing on collector and arterial streets shall be determined by the public works director. Access to State Highway 99 shall be subject to review and approved by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), based on the applicable standards contained in the city’s transportation system plan and policies contained in the 1999 Oregon Highway Plan.

3. Special Provisions for All Streets. Direct street access may be restricted for some land uses. For example, access consolidation, shared access, and/or access separation greater than that specified by subsections (G)(1) and (G)(2) of this section may be required by the city, county or ODOT for the purpose of protecting the function, safety, and operation of the street for all users. (See subsection (I) of this section.)

1. Arterial Streets.

2. Collector and Local Streets. All uses: road access permit required as set forth in subsection (B) of this section, subject to general considerations for safety and transportation mobility; curb cuts and driveways. A minimum of 10 feet for local streets and 30 feet separation for collectors (as measured from the sides of the driveway/street) from street intersections.

3. Special Provisions for All Streets. Access consolidation, shared access, and/or access separation greater than that specified by this section may be required by the city, county or ODOT for the purpose of protecting the function, safety, and operation of the street for all users. Where no other alternatives exist, the permitting agency may allow construction of an access connection along the property line farthest from an intersection. In such cases, directional restrictions (i.e., right in/out, right in only, or right out only) may be required.

1. Shared driveways and frontage streets may be required to consolidate access onto a collector or arterial street. When shared driveways or frontage streets are required, they may be stubbed to adjacent developable parcels to indicate future extension. “Stub” means that a driveway or street temporarily ends at the property line but may be extended in the future as the adjacent parcel develops. “Developable” means that a parcel is either vacant or it is likely to receive additional development (i.e., due to infill or redevelopment potential).

2. Access and maintenance easements (i.e., for the benefit of affected properties) shall be recorded for all shared driveways, including pathways, at the time of final plat approval or as a condition of site development approval to ensure continual emergency accessibility at all times.

3. “Private Access” signage and driveway approach shall be placed at the intersection with the public street to clearly identify the private access.

1. Access that serves up to four dwelling units shall have a minimum driveway opening/curb cut and driveway width of 10 feet and a maximum width of 24 feet.

2. Access that serves between five and eight dwelling units shall have a minimum driveway opening/curb cut and driveway width of 20 feet and a maximum width of 24 feet.

3. Access that serves more than eight dwelling units shall have a minimum driveway opening/curb cut and driveway width of 24 feet and a maximum width of 30 feet. These dimensions may be increased if the public works director determines that more than two lanes are required based on the number of trips generated or the need for turning lanes.

4. Commercial and industrial uses: maximum curb cuts and driveway approaches are the following according to property frontage:

5. In no case shall a driveway or curb cut exceed 60 percent of property frontage.

6. The length of driveways shall be designed in accordance with the anticipated storage length for entering and exiting vehicles to prevent vehicles from backing into the flow of traffic on the public street or causing unsafe conflicts with on-site circulation.

7. Driveway Aprons. Driveway aprons (when required) shall be constructed of concrete and shall be installed between the street right-of-way and the private drive, as shown in Figure 18.115.060-1. Driveway aprons shall conform to ADA standards for sidewalks and pathways, which require a continuous accessible route of travel, with a cross slope not exceeding two percent.

1. Surface Options. Driveways, parking areas, aisles, and turnarounds shall be paved with asphalt, concrete or comparable surfacing, or a durable nonpaving material that will support emergency vehicles may be used to reduce surface water runoff and protect water quality.

2. Surface Water Management. When a paved surface is used, all driveways, parking areas, aisles and turnarounds shall have on-site collection or infiltration of surface waters to eliminate sheet flow of such waters onto public rights-of-way and abutting property. Surface water facilities shall be constructed in conformance with city standards.

3. Driveway Aprons. When driveway approaches or “aprons” are required to connect driveways to the public right-of-way, they shall be paved with concrete surfacing. (See also subsection (J)(7) of this section.)

1. New curb cuts, driveways and access along and to all streets in or adjacent to the city shall not be permitted unless a road access permit has been granted by the city. The road access permit is not to be construed as a mechanism to deny properties reasonable access to public roads and streets.

2. When new curb cuts, driveways, and access are established as part of normal review processes (e.g., land divisions, site development plan reviews) a road access permit shall not be required, unless it applies to an arterial street.

3. The applicant for a road access permit shall file on forms prescribed by the city. The amount of the fee shall be established, and may be changed, by ordinance or general resolution of the city council. In addition to a nonrefundable fee, the applicant shall be liable for the expense of engineering and legal services provided by the city engineer and attorney in prescribing improvement standards, legal instruments, conducting reviews and site inspections.

4. The community development director, after consultation with the public works director, city engineer, and city attorney as necessary, shall be responsible for determining the curb cut or driveway improvement standards, which shall be constructed on local and collector streets; the planning commission shall be responsible for the same along arterial streets. In general, along local and collector streets, curb cut or improvement standards shall be similar to those prevailing along the street.

5. Permits requested along collector or local streets will be granted in accordance with the standards set forth in subsections (F)(2) through (F)(5) of this section.

6. Permits requested along arterial streets shall be granted in accordance with the provisions of this section and Chapter 18.150 TMC. [Ord. 966 § 2 (Exh. B), 2021.]