[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of West Bradford 9-9-1997 by Ord. No. 1997-06. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
This chapter shall be know as the "West Bradford Township Driveway
Ordinance of 1997."
The intent of this chapter is to regulate driveway construction
so as to provide safe access to Township roads, state roads and private
roads, to eliminate problems of stormwater runoff, and to assure sufficient
area for and access to off-street parking.
This chapter shall apply to all new driveways constructed after
the effective date of this chapter. The provisions of this chapter
shall also apply to existing driveways which include alterations after
the effective date of this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any change in grade or profile, width or location of a driveway
within the ultimate street right-of-way and 25 feet beyond that point.
This definition is not intended to include overlay or reconstruction
of existing driveways unless changes, as noted, are made.
A street whose primary function is to serve comparatively
high volumes of through traffic at speeds higher than would be desirable
on collector and local streets.
The surface of a street or alley available for vehicular
use.
A street which, in addition to providing access to abutting
properties, collects traffic from the local road system.
A street used primarily to provide access to abutting properties.
As defined herein, shall mean a private vehicular access
from a private or public street. The beginning of the driveway shall
be measured from the edge of the cartway.
Those streets not offered for dedication.
A street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway, parkway,
lane, alley, viaduct and any other strip of land including the entire
right-of-way used or intended to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians,
whether public or private.
A strip of land granted for public or private use as specified by Chapter 385, Subdivision and Land Development, of the Code of the Township of West Bradford.
A.
Any person, partnership or corporation who shall construct or alter
a driveway shall first make application to the Code Enforcement Officer
or other designated official of the Township, present plans and obtain
a permit for said construction.
B.
Building permits for any new building or structure will not be issued
without first obtaining a permit to construct a driveway, unless an
approved driveway already exists.
C.
Fees for driveway permits shall be set by the Board of Supervisors
by resolution and may be changed by subsequent resolution.
A plan drawn to scale shall be submitted with each permit application,
which shall include at least the following:
A.
Site plan of the driveway and 25 feet to each side of the center
line.
B.
Adjacent driveways or streets within 100 feet of the driveway entrance.
C.
A profile of the driveway with existing and proposed grading within the area of the site plan and the fifty-foot stretch of existing or proposed public road as defined in Subsection A above.
D.
Clear sight triangle.
E.
Any other information that may be required by the Code Enforcement
Officer.
A.
All driveways shall contain a straight length of at least 25 feet,
measured from the edge of the street and extending inside the lot.
The full length of the above-referenced twenty-five-foot segment shall
be paved with (as a minimum requirement) a base of Pennsylvania 3A
stone compacted to four inches and a surface of a minimum of 1 1/2
inches ID-2A bituminous concrete, or have an alternate approved surface
as indicated below.
B.
Alternate driveway surfaces: The following guidelines are provided
for alternate driveway surfaces. However, since these alternates are
for rigid and semirigid paving, the design for which is a function
of the type of existing subgrade soil, it is required that an engineer
and/or architect be engaged to design the thickness of paving required
for the specific driveway application.
(1)
Concrete driveway surface.
(a)
Minimum thickness: four inches for normal residential driveway
use. Concrete shall have a twenty-eight-day minimum compressive strength
of 3,500 pounds per square inch (psi) and contain 6% air entrainment
by volume. All control joints shall be placed a minimum of 10 feet
0 inches on center. Premolded isolation joint materials shall be placed
where concrete driveway abuts house, poles or other rigid structures.
Control joints shall be 1/4 of the slab thickness in depth.
(b)
In order to minimize shrinkage cracking, it is recommended to
place welded wire fabric in the concrete driveway slab. The wire mesh
should be placed in the center of the thickness of the concrete slab.
To minimize shrinkage of the concrete and to develop the full strength
of the concrete, the concrete driveway slab surface should be wet-cured
for a minimum of four days or sprayed with a PennDOT-approved curing
compound. Due to existing soil subgrade conditions, stone base may
be required to be placed under the concrete driveway slab. The thickness
of the stone base will vary from four to six inches, depending upon
the soil subgrade conditions.
(2)
Brick and precast concrete paver surface:
(a)
There are several brick and precast concrete pavers that are
available for driveway surfaces. All pavers to be used for driveways
shall have a nonslip finish. Pavers shall be installed in accordance
with the manufacturer's recommendations. Pavers can be installed on
a rigid concrete base having a minimum thickness of four inches or
on a flexible base consisting of a minimum thickness of six inches
of crushed aggregate base and two inches of sand or stone screenings
for the paver setting bed. In order to increase the strength of the
flexible base geotextile fabric subgrade reinforcement shall be placed
between the crushed aggregate base course and the existing soil subgrade.
(b)
The joints in the pavers can be either sand or mortar. All subgrade
areas to be covered with pavers shall be first treated with a preemergence
herbicide (Surflan, Dactac, or other approved equal) and applied in
accordance with the manufacturers' recommendations to inhibit
weed and grass growth or germination.
(c)
Support should be placed at the edges and terminus of the pavers
consisting of either a brick soldier course or rigid curb constructed
of concrete, wood or other suitable material.
C.
The first 25 feet of any driveway shall have a grade of 5% or less.
D.
The maximum grade of any driveway shall not exceed 16% at any point.
E.
Where a driveway slopes down from the street surface, a stormwater
runoff paving diverter surface shall be provided for the driveway
by sloping up from the edge of street or curb 1/4 inch per foot for
a distance of 10 feet before starting the downslope of the driveway.
When there is a depressed curb at the driveway and if the contributing
watershed for the street flowing to the depressed curb at its junction
with the street is less than 1/2 acre, then the length of the above-referenced
one-fourth-inch-per-foot upward grade can be reduced to six feet.
F.
When the grade of a driveway at any point exceeds 8%, a minimum of
one off-street parking space shall be provided. The off-street parking
space shall be located outside the driveway access aisle and adjacent
to the first 25 feet of the driveway length, as measured from the
edge of street paving. Parking space construction standards shall
be in accordance with this section.
G.
Driveways to single-family residences shall intersect streets at
angles of not less than 60°. All other driveways shall intersect
street at right angles, where practicable, and in no case less than
75°.
H.
The width of a single-dwelling driveway, within the legal right-of-way
of the public road or when carried by a bridge, shall be a minimum
of 12 feet; it shall be a minimum of 10 feet at all other points within
the property line.
(1)
Where
the Township declares it feasible, a shared driveway is permitted.
A shared driveway must continue as a shared driveway for 25 feet from
the edge of the cartway. Additional length of shared driveway may
be required if approved by the Township; however, it is not permitted
without approval of the Township Board of Supervisors. Each residential
property shall be limited to a single access, unless the lot frontage
exceeds 300 feet; the side without 300 feet of frontage may have only
a single access.
(2)
A declaration of easement and/or maintenance agreement shall be prepared
for any shared driveway. That agreement shall be satisfactory to the
Township Solicitor.
I.
Driveways shall not be permitted to enter onto collector or arterial
streets.
J.
Driveway entrances into all nonresidential single-use properties
shall be no less than 20 feet in width and shall not exceed 36 feet
in width at the street line.
K.
The curbs of nonresidential driveway entrances at the street shall
be rounded with a minimum radius of 20 feet where they intersect a
street.
L.
Residential private driveways shall be rounded with a minimum radius
of five feet where they intersect a street. When the street edge is
defined by the existence of a curb, the driveway shall be 14 feet
in width at the curbline and shall be provided with a transition from
that width to the required width of 10 feet at a minimum distance
of four feet from the curb.
[Amended 1-4-1999 by Ord. No. 98-12]
M.
The edge of any driveway shall be at least 40 feet from the nearest
end of the paving radius at the street intersection or 65 feet from
the edge of the cartway of the intersecting street, whichever is greater.
N.
Clear sight distances.
(1)
Clear sight triangles shall be provided at all driveway entrances
and shall be shown on the plans. The legs of such triangles shall
be at least 100 feet in either direction, measured from a point 12
feet back from the edge of the cartway of the intersecting street.
Within such triangles, no object greater than 2 1/2 feet in height
and no other object that would obscure the vision of the motorist
shall be permitted. Whenever a portion of the line of such triangle
occurs within any proposed building setback line, such a portion shall
be shown on the final plan of the subdivision or land development
and shall be considered a building setback line.
(2)
The minimum required sight distance for a single-family residential
driveway is 150 feet in either direction. Greater distances may be
required if warranted by specific circumstances.
(3)
The clear sight distances shall be measured from a point in the driveway
located 10 feet back from the edge of street and at a height of 42
inches to a point in the center of each oncoming traffic lane where
an object six inches to 42 inches in height can be seen.
(4)
All sight distance obstructions, including, but not limited to, embankments
and vegetation, shall be removed by the applicant (permittee) to provide
a minimum of 150 feet of sight distance in either direction.
O.
Sight distances for nonresidential driveways shall adhere to the
PennDOT standards for nonresidential driveways.
P.
The gutter line, wherever possible, shall be maintained as a paved swale. It shall have a minimum depth of four inches and a minimum width of 24 inches. A pipe may only be placed under the drive entrances when approved by the Township Engineer. The condition where a pipe will be accepted will be governed by the gutter depth on each side of the drive. The minimum pipe size under the driveway will be subject to approval by the Township Engineer. In addition to the plan requirements in § 166-6, the applicant shall provide stormwater runoff calculations based on a one-hundred-year storm event.
Q.
No driveway shall be located closer than five feet to any property
line except when using a common driveway by approval of the Board
of Supervisors.
R.
Driveways shall be graded so that, wherever possible, surface drainage
will discharged to the owner's property; otherwise, adequately
sized pipes, inlets, and/or headwalls shall be installed and gutter
improvements shall be made to direct surface drainage into the road
drainage system and not onto the paving of the intersecting road.
S.
Any person, property owner, or corporation who repaves an existing
driveway and fails to maintain a proper gutter swale, as defined in
this chapter, or otherwise creates a blockage to the flow of stormwater
within a road drainage system thereby causing the stormwater to be
directed onto the traveled portion of the road shall be in violation
of this chapter.
A.
It shall be the responsibility of the property owner to properly maintain any new or existing driveway in a condition such that it provides safe access to a Township, state or private road. Maintenance shall include but not be limited to clear sight distances, gutter swales, wearing surfaces and washouts created by stormwater runoff. All washouts shall be removed from the cartway immediately following such storms. Any person, property owner or corporation failing to properly maintain a driveway shall be subject to a fine in accordance with § 166-12 of this chapter.
B.
Any person who, by construction or maintenance of any driveway, obstructs
any public road or commits any nuisance thereon by felling trees,
making fences, turning the road, diverting water onto or in any other
way and who does not, on notice given by the Board of Supervisors,
remove the obstruction or nuisance and repair the damages done to
the road commits a summary offense.
A.
Where due to the unusual topography, grade, size, width or other
dimensions of a lot or the placement of structures thereon, literal
compliance with this chapter would be rendered physically impossible
or where such compliance would, by reason of excess cuts or fills,
otherwise render the lot unusable, the Building Appeals Board shall
be and hereby is authorized to grant reasonable variances from the
literal requirements of this chapter.
B.
Such variances, when granted, shall not be contrary to the public
health, safety, morals or welfare nor at variance with the spirit
and purposes of this chapter nor shall the variance be greater than
the minimum variance necessary to remove or mitigate the hardship
imposed. No variance shall be granted where the hardship for which
a variance is sought was created by the developer or owner by reason
of the layout of any subdivision, installation and design of any road
or other cause within the control of the developer or owner.
C.
Applications for a variance shall be submitted to the municipality
and shall be on forms provided by the municipality. When applying
for a variance, a fee in the amount established by resolution of the
Board of Supervisors from time to time shall be paid to the municipality.
Upon receiving an application for a variance, the municipality shall
schedule a hearing to be held within 30 days from the date of receiving
such application.[1]
All persons, firms and corporations shall have the right to
appeal the Code Official's decision through the West Bradford
Township Building Appeals Board appointed by the West Bradford Township
Board of Supervisors. An application for appeal shall be based on
a claim that the true intent of this chapter or the rules legally
adopted thereunder have been incorrectly interpreted; the provisions
of this code do not fully apply; or an equivalent form of construction
can be used. A fee established by resolution of the Board of Supervisors
from time to time shall be paid at the time of application for such
appeal. Public hearings for such hearings shall be scheduled within
30 days from the date in which application for appeal is received.
Any structure erected in violation of the provisions of this
chapter or in violation of any plan or permit shall be and hereby
is declared to be a public nuisance.
Any person violating the provisions of this chapter or constructing
any driveway at variance with the terms of this chapter or at variance
with the terms of any plan finally approved by the Township or at
variance with the terms of any permit issued hereunder shall, upon
conviction before a Magisterial District Judge in a summary proceeding,
be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 together with costs
of prosecution. In default of payment thereof, the defendant may be
sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days. After
notification by the Township Code Official of the violation, each
day in which the violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense
subject to a fine of not more than $1,000.
In addition to the remedies provided in the immediately preceding
section and not in substitution thereof, the Township, through the
Board of Supervisors, may institute and prosecute any other action
at law in equity for the abatement or removal of a violating structure,
or the Township may, in its discretion and in addition to the other
remedies herein provided, enter upon the lands where the violation
exists and cause the same to be removed and recover the cost of such
removal from the owner, occupier and/or contractor, all of whom are
declared to be jointly and severally liable to the Township for such
costs and expenses incurred.
