Article 1355
DESIGN STANDARDS
Sections:
1355.13 Parks, playgrounds and other community facilities.
1355.01 Land suitability.
Land subject to flooding and land deemed as subject to hazards to life, health or property, such as quarry land, open ditches, etc., shall not be subdivided for residential uses until all such hazards have been eliminated or unless adequate safeguards against such hazards are provided by the subdivision plan, or such land is set aside for such other uses as are appropriate to the existing conditions. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.02 Street system.
(A) Conformity with Official Maps and Plans. The arrangement, type, extent, width, grade and location of all streets shall conform with the official map of the city, the comprehensive general plan, any neighborhood plan and any other official city, regional, county or state plan which has been prepared, adopted and/or filed, as prescribed by law.
(B) Continuance of Streets. Provisions shall be made for continuing or extending any existing streets or adjoining subdivisions or land where such extension may be necessary for public service or convenience and opportunities shall be provided for extending streets beyond the boundaries of any subdivision where such extension may be required for public service or convenience.
(C) Relation to Topography and Proposed Use. Streets shall be logically related to the topography so as to produce usable lots and reasonable grades and shall be in appropriate relation to the proposed uses of the land to be served by such streets.
(D) Minor Street Location. Minor streets shall be so laid out that their use by through traffic shall be discouraged, but provisions for street connections into and from adjacent areas will generally be required.
(E) Subdivision Abuts an Arterial Street. Where a subdivision abuts or contains an existing or proposed arterial street, there may be required marginal access streets, deep lots with rear service alleys, reversed frontage lots with screen planting contained in a non-accessible reservation along the rear lot line, or such other treatment as shall provide protection for abutting lots, reduction in the number of intersections with the arterial street and separation of local and through traffic.
(F) Half or Partial Streets. New half or partial streets shall not be permitted, except where essential to the reasonable subdivision of a tract and where satisfactory assurance for dedication of the remaining part of the street can be secured. Wherever a tract to be subdivided borders an existing half or partial street, the other part of the street shall be platted with such tract.
(G) Dead-End Streets. A dead-end street shall be prohibited, except as a stub to permit future street extension into adjoining tracts or when designed as a cul-de-sac. Dead-end streets, designed to be so permanently, shall not be longer than 400 feet and shall be provided at the closed end with a turn-around or cul-de-sac having an outside roadway diameter of at least 100 feet and a street lot line diameter of at least 120 feet. Dead-end streets, designed to be so temporarily, shall not be longer than one lot depth.
(H) Subdivision Borders on a Railroad or Limited Access Highway. Where a subdivision borders on or contains a railroad right-of-way or limited access highway right-of-way, there may be required a street approximately parallel to and on each side of such right-of-way at a distance suitable for the appropriate use of the intervening land, as for park purposes in residential districts, or for business or industrial purposes in appropriate districts. Such distances shall also be determined with due regard for the requirements of approach grades and future grade separations. All railroad crossings shall be subject to approval by the public utility commission. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.03 Street widths.
(A) Minimum Right-of-Way and Cartway Widths. Minimum street right-of-way and cartway (roadway) widths shall be as shown on any official plans or maps and where not shown shall not be less than as follows:
(1) Arterial street: 80-foot right-of-way and two 23-foot cartways and four-foot median or 90-foot right-of-way and two 24-foot cartways and 16-foot dividing strip (if a state or federal highway, as determined by the State Department of Highways).
(2) Collector street: 60-foot right-of-way and 36-foot cartway.
(3) Minor street: 50-foot right-of-way and 26-foot cartway.
(4) Marginal access street, one-way: 40-foot right-of-way and 18-foot cartway.
(5) Marginal access street, two-way: 40-foot right-of-way and 26-foot cartway.
(6) Alley: 20-foot right-of-way and 19-foot cartway.
(B) Insufficient Right-of-Way Widths. Where a subdivision abuts or contains an existing street of insufficient right-of-way width as required above, additional right-of-way width in conformance with the above standards shall be required. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.04 Street alignment.
(A) Deflection. For purposes of sight distance and proper design, whenever street lines are deflected in excess of 10 degrees, connection shall be made by horizontal curves. However, a long radius curve shall be used rather than a series of curves connected by short tangents, and minimum radius curves at the end of long tangents shall not be approved.
(B) Adequate Sight Distances. To ensure adequate sight distance, minimum center line radii for horizontal curves shall be as follows:
(1) Arterial streets: 500 feet.
(2) Collector streets: 300 feet.
(3) Minor streets: 150 feet.
(C) Tangents on Reversed Curves. A tangent shall be required between reversed curves on arterial and collector streets of at least 100 feet. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.05 Street grades.
(A) Minimum Grade. Center line grade shall be not less than one percent.
(B) Maximum Grade. Center line grades shall not exceed the following:
(1) Arterial or collector street: seven percent.
(2) Minor street: 10 percent.
(C) Vertical Curves. Vertical curves shall be used at changes of grade exceeding an algebraic difference of one percent, and shall be designed in relation to the extent of the grade change and to provide the following minimum sight distances:
(1) Arterial street: 400 feet.
(2) Collector street: 200 feet.
(3) Minor street: 100 feet. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.06 Street intersections.
(A) Range of Intersection Angle. Streets shall be laid out to intersect as nearly as possible at right angles. No street shall intersect another at an angle of less than 60 degrees.
(B) Multiple Intersections. Multiple intersections involving junction of more than two streets shall be prohibited. Where this proves impossible, such intersections shall be designed with extreme care for both pedestrian and vehicular safety.
(C) Street Jogs. Streets entering opposite sides of another street shall be laid out either directly opposite one another or with a minimum offset of 125 feet between their center lines.
(D) T-Intersections. Where practicable, for purposes of traffic safety, T-intersections should be used in residential areas.
(E) Curb Radii. Minimum curb radii at street intersections shall be 15 feet for intersections involving only minor streets, 25 feet for intersections including other type streets, or such greater radius as is deemed necessary by the planning commission. The planning commission may permit comparable cut-offs or chords in place of rounded corners. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.07 Storm drainage.
(A) Grading. Lots shall be laid out and graded to provide that runoff from roofs, driveways and other impervious surfaces shall be towards the street, unless a watercourse abutting the rear of the lot shall be collected either in storm sewers or in the ditches and/or gutters along the street in short runs (400 feet) and shall then be diverted from the street surface into storm sewers or natural watercourses. Streets should be located away from watercourses unless storm sewers are to be installed. Subdivision and development of an area increases and concentrates the runoff of storm water from the area. Subdividers are warned that such increase may cause flood or erosion damage to undeveloped properties lying downstream. Storm drainage channels opening on unimproved land shall empty into natural watercourses, unless suitable agreement is reached with the owner of the downstream property for other methods of handling. In any instance, the disposal of storm drainage downstream shall be satisfactory to the city engineer.
(B) Bridges or Culverts. Bridges or culverts serving a drainage area of more than one-half a square mile shall be approved by the Pennsylvania State Water and Power Resources Board.
(C) Design of Ditches and Gutters. Subdivisions should be so designed that length of flow of water in a gutter or roadside ditch shall not exceed 400 feet. Runs exceeding this maximum shall be put in storm sewers or diverted to natural drainageways. All enclosed drainage courses shall be designed with sufficient grade to create a cleansing velocity of five feet per second, except that a minimum cleansing velocity of three feet per second may be permitted where a greater grade cannot be achieved. Water in gutters and ditches shall not be allowed to flow over intersecting streets, but shall be placed in adequate culverts. Where roadside ditches are permitted for runs of more than 300 feet or where subgrade drainage is necessary, the bottom of such ditch shall be below the subgrade and approximately 18 inches below the crown of the finished street grade. Ditches shall be V-shaped or parabolic, with sides sloping at approximately one inch vertical to three inches horizontal, except where other cross section plan is authorized. Suitable headwalls, endwalls, ditch seeding or sodding and other procedures or devices to prevent erosion shall be designed where necessary.
(D) Design of Storm Sewers. Storm sewers shall have a minimum diameter of 12 inches and a minimum grade of 0.5 percent. Manholes shall not be more than 300 feet apart where pipe sizes of 24 inches or less are used, and not more than 450 feet apart where larger sizes are installed. When approved by the city engineer, inlets may be substituted for manholes. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.08 Blocks.
(A) Maximum and Minimum Length. As far as practicable, blocks should have a maximum length of 1,600 feet and a minimum length of 500 feet.
(B) Required Depth. Residential blocks shall be of sufficient depth to accommodate two tiers of lots, except where reversed frontage lots bordering an arterial street are used. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.09 Lots.
(A) Conformity with Zoning Ordinance and Health Regulations. Lot dimensions and sizes shall not be less than specified by provisions of the municipal zoning ordinance, where in effect.
(B) Setback Building Lines. The minimum setback building lines (restrictive lines) shall be controlled by the provisions of the zoning ordinance, where in effect. Where no municipal zoning ordinance exists, there shall be a minimum setback of 25 feet on minor streets and 35 feet on collector or arterial streets. For lots to be used for business or industrial purposes, the minimum setback shall be 15 feet.
(C) Side Lot Lines. Side lot lines shall be approximately at right angles or radial to the street line of which the lot faces.
(D) Access to Public Street. Every lot shall abut on a public street, other than an alley, or an officially approved publicly owned cul-de-sac.
(E) Corner Lots. Corner lots for residential use shall be increased in size whenever necessary, so as to provide that any building placed thereon shall conform to the setback building line as required for each street. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.10 Sidewalks.
All sidewalks, where provided in any residential development, shall be in the right-of-way, at least six feet wide, and in any other development eight feet wide and at least one and one-half feet from the lot line. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.11 Alleys.
(A) Location. Alleys shall be prohibited in residential developments. They may be provided in business or industrial districts to provide access to off-street parking, loading and unloading facilities. An alley terminating in a permanent barrier shall not be approved unless a turning area having a minimum radius of 35 feet at the right-of-way line at the dead-end shall be provided. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.12 Easements.
(A) Utility Easements. Easements with a minimum width of 10 feet shall be provided as necessary for utilities.
(B) Drainage. Where a subdivision is traversed by a watercourse, there shall be provided a drainage easement or right-of-way conforming substantially with the line of such watercourse and of such width (generally 20 feet) as shall be adequate to preserve natural drainage and provide sufficient width for maintenance. (Ord. 2624, 1965)
1355.13 Parks, playgrounds and other community facilities.
Due consideration should be given to the allocation of suitable areas for schools, churches, parks, playgrounds and other community facilities to be dedicated for public use or reserved for the common use of all property owners within the proposed subdivision by covenants in the deeds. In the interest of the public welfare, at least five percent of the area of every subdivision, exclusive of streets, should be set aside for recreational purposes. Where the tract contains less than 40 acres, such reservation for open space shall be combined, wherever possible, with similar reservations in adjoining tracts. Such recreation areas and facilities shall be located in a manner to best serve the public, likely to use the same, and to utilize to the greatest degree any topographical features. (Ord. 2624, 1965)