[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Potsdam 6-8-2004 by L.L. No. 2-2004 (Ch. 86 of the 1986 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The purpose of this chapter is to amend the Town Code by establishing
minimum requirements for abandoned and existing roads in the Town
of Potsdam.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I)]
A.
Upon recommendation of the Town of Potsdam Highway Superintendent,
the Town Board may classify any road no longer required by the Town
of Potsdam as "abandoned," following a public hearing and vote.
B.
The land upon which the abandoned road is located will revert to
the host lot(s).
C.
A road once classified as "abandoned" may only be reinstated through
petition to the Town Board by the property owner(s) or the Highway
Superintendent. Prior to approval as a Town road, it must meet the
criteria as outlined in this section and be certified by the Highway
Superintendent.
D.
All costs necessary to restore an abandoned road to a condition required
for Town ownership will be the responsibility of the landowner/developer.
E.
References:
(1)
New York Highway Law § 205, Highways abandoned.
(2)
New York Highway Law § 205-b, Qualified abandonment of
certain town highways.
(3)
New York Highway Law § 211-a, Abandonment of certain town
highways.
(4)
New York Highway Law § 212-a, Abandoning of parts of town
highways.
(5)
New York Highway Law § 207, Discontinuance of highway.
(6)
New York Highway Law § 171, Highways by dedication.
A.
All roadways and related construction, whether to be offered for
dedication or not, shall be the responsibility of the developer unless
otherwise indicated. This requirement shall include all developments,
malls, subdivisions, and previously abandoned roads.
B.
The road requirements are as follows:
(1)
The arrangement, character, extent, width, grade, and locations of
all roadways shall conform to the Town Plan as such exists at the
time, and shall be considered in their relation to existing and planned
roads, topographical conditions, public convenience and safety, and
the proposed uses of the land to be served by such roadways. Road
grades shall conform as closely as possible to the natural topography,
and all roads shall be arranged so as to allow for a maximum number
of the proposed number of building sites to be situated at or above
the finished grade level of the roadway.
(2)
The arrangement of roadways in a development shall provide for the
continuation, if appropriate, of residential roadways in the surrounding
areas and for the composition of a convenient system for both the
development and connection to the existing highway system.
(3)
Roadway layout shall consider the installation of utility distribution
and service lines and shall be situated so as to best accommodate
these installations in an acceptable manner.
(4)
Road layout shall minimize stream crossings, avoid traversing slopes
in excess of 25%, and avoid soils with a susceptibility to erosion
or slope failure.
(5)
Local roadways shall be laid out so that their use by through traffic
is discouraged.
(6)
The arrangement of roadways in any development shall consider provision
for continuation of collector or key local roads to adjoining property
which have the potential to be similarly subdivided and to existing
road systems.
(7)
Clearing and grading for road and utility installation shall be limited
to that which is necessary to construct safe roads, provide needed
roadside and embankment drainage, construct stable cuts and fills,
and provide for utility installation.
(8)
The construction of roads and the installation of utilities shall
be planned sequentially, so that construction operations do not interfere
with or destroy completed work.
(9)
Every roadway shown on a plat that is hereafter filed or recorded
in the office of the County Clerk shall be deemed to be a private
road until such time as it has been formally offered for cession to
the Town and formally accepted as a public road by resolution of the
Town Board, or alternatively, until it has been condemned by the Town
for use as a public roadway.
(10)
Roadway jogs with center line offsets of less than 150 feet
shall not be permitted. Any subdivision, mall, or business road intersecting
an existing arterial or collector road shall be no closer to another
intersecting roadway than the stopping site distance as determined
by the configuration of the roadway at that point and the legal speed
limit.
(11)
All roadway intersections shall be rounded by curves with a
minimum radius of 25 feet as measured from the edge of the improved
travel surface. Within the triangular area formed by connecting two
points 50 feet from the intersecting road rights-of-way, visibility
shall not be restricted by the natural landform nor by the location
of any structure or planting.
(12)
The length of a tangent between reverse curves on arterial and
collector roadways shall be a minimum of 150 feet, and on local roadways
a minimum of 100 feet.
(13)
Roadways shall be laid out so as to intersect as nearly as possible
at right angles. No roadway shall intersect any other roadway at less
than 75°, and all roadways shall join each other so that for a
distance of at least 100 feet, the roadway is approximately at right
angles to the roadway it joins.
(14)
Roadway vertical gradients should not be more that 12% over
any one-hundred-foot distance and shall not exceed 3% within 50 feet
of any intersection.
(15)
Dead-end roadways shall not be permitted, except as provided
herein:
(a)
A closed turnaround or cul-de-sac may be permitted where no
through-connection is possible or desirable, providing it is designed
with a turn-right-way diameter of at least 150 feet.
(b)
No such dead-end roadway or segment thereof shall provide the
sole means of access to more than 25 dwelling units.
(c)
Reservation of an easement of appropriate width shall be provided
for pedestrian or utility connection to adjoining property or the
existing roadway system, where desirable.
(16)
Proper roadway drainage facilities shall be installed where
required. Double-wall corrugated polyethylene or corrugated metal
pipe shall be used throughout for all culverts or subsurface drainage
systems. Drainage shall be accommodated by one or a combination of
the following:
(17)
Road ditches shall be designed to have a minimum hydraulic capacity
equal to the peak runoff rate from a five-year, twenty-four-hour rainfall.
Drainage culverts shall be of adequate size and located so as to maintain
preconstruction surface drainage patterns, provided such patterns
were acceptable prior to construction.
(18)
Catch basins, manholes, seepage drains, reinforced concrete
pipe, or other drainage appurtenances and all under drains shall be
installed or constructed in accordance with the direction and requirements
of the Planning Board, shall vary in size as conditions may require,
and shall be connected from basins or manholes to the proper lines
and grades in such a manner as directed by the Board, and all such
under drains shall connect with piping or ditches leading to a live
stream or natural drainageway as required by the Board.
(19)
Stream crossings shall be roughly at right angles, and bridge
structures or culverts shall be designed to carry the peak runoff
rate from:
(a)
A ten-year, twenty-four-hour rainfall if the contributing drainage
area is one square mile or less.
(b)
A twenty-five-year, twenty-four-hour rainfall if the contributing
drainage area is between one square mile and four square miles.
(c)
A one-hundred-year, twenty-four-hour rainfall if the contributing
drainage area is more that four square miles.
(20)
Fill slopes shall not be steeper than three horizontal on one
vertical and cut slopes shall not be steeper than three horizontal
one vertical or as approved by the Highway Superintendent.
(21)
Rights-of-way and pavement or improved surface area shall have
the following widths:
(a)
Minimum right-of-way is 50 feet.
(b)
Minimum pavement or improved surface area is 20 feet, plus curbing
or two four-foot shoulders.
(e)
Shoulder material: minimum two feet each side of blacktop with
no curb shall be oil and stone mix compacted.
(f)
Curbing: curbing shall be 18 inches deep and six inches thick
and when emplaced shall be six inches above finish grade.
(22)
Where curbs exist on abutting properties, their extension by
the developer may be required, at the discretion of the Planning Board,
throughout all or a portion of the proposed plan. All curbs shall
be approved by the Planning Board. Where curbs are not required, adequate
ditches or gutters shall be constructed and protected by seeding or
appropriate surfacing by the developer.
(23)
The Planning Board may require such sidewalks, as it deems necessary
to provide for the safety of pedestrians. Concrete sidewalks at least
four feet wide and four inches thick shall be installed where required,
as specified by the Planning Board.
(24)
All topsoil, humus, tree stumps, and like organic material shall
be removed from the roadbed, and the subgrade shall be approved by
the Highway Superintendent before any gravel is placed upon it.
(25)
Each new or existing road, which is intended for cession to
the Town, shall be constructed in a manner specified by this chapter.
(26)
All cleared areas associated with the construction of roads
and installation of utilities, excluding those areas comprising road
surfaces or shoulders, all exposed borrow areas, and all cut and fill
slopes, including ditch banks, shall be successfully vegetated to
grasses or legumes that are suited to site conditions and as approved
by the Planning Board. Ditch bottoms shall be constructed and maintained
to minimize soil erosion during periods of design flow by means of
revegetation, sodding, mulching netting, stone paving, riprap, and
other materials or combinations of these, depending on hydraulics
and soil properties.
Nothing herein shall be deemed to be a waiver or restriction
upon any rights and powers available to the Town of Potsdam to further
regulate the subject matter of this chapter.
