A. Streets.
1. Streets developed within subdivisions serving four or more separate properties shall be designed for acceptance by the town of Sahuarita.
2. All subdivision streets shall be designed in conformance with the town of Sahuarita subdivision street standards, or as approved by the town engineer and consistent with good engineering practice.
3. The arrangements, character, extent, width, grade, and location of all streets shall conform to the master plan, and with due consideration to their relation to existing and other planned streets, to topographical conditions, to surface drainage in and through the subdivision, to public convenience and safety, and appropriate relation to the proposed uses of the land to be served by such streets.
4. Arrangements and other features of streets shall:
a. Provide for appropriate continuation of existing principal streets in surrounding areas where essential for circulation and access to community facilities;
b. Conform to a plan for a neighborhood approved or adopted by the town council to meet a particular situation where topographical or other conditions make continuance or conformance to such principal streets impracticable;
c. Be so arranged as to discourage through traffic in residential districts, insofar as practicable;
d. Provide sufficient right-of-way for local service or access streets along major streets and routes, or other treatment to protect residential properties by separation of through and local traffic;
e. Along a railroad right-of-way or limited access highway right-of-way, provide a parallel street at a distance suitable for the appropriate use of the intervening land, such as for park purposes in residential districts or for commercial or industrial purposes in appropriate locations; such distances also to be determined with due regard for the requirements of approach grades and future grade separations;
f. Avoid street jogs with centerline offsets of less than 135 feet;
g. When the centerline of connecting neighborhood streets deflect from each other at any one point by more than 10 degrees, connect the same by a curve with a radius which meets or exceeds the adopted subdivision street standards;
h. Have intersections as nearly as possible at right angles and in no case at less than 75 degrees, in accordance with the adopted subdivision street standards;
i. Have property lines at street intersections rounded with a radius of 25 feet, or of a greater radius where necessary, to allow maintenance of sight distance; provided, however, comparable cutoffs or chords may be used instead of rounded corners;
j. Provide street right-of-way widths in compliance with adopted town of Sahuarita standard street cross-sections or as approved by the town engineer. The town engineer:
(1) Shall not require street right-of-way widths greater than those shown on adopted town of Sahuarita standard street cross-sections for the appropriate administrative or functional classification of the highway or street,
(2) May reduce street right-of-way width requirements for streets or highways when it is demonstrated that adequate provisions have been made for:
(f) The highway or street is not included in or identified on any major transportation corridor plan and would not be included in any such plan in the future;
k. Avoid half streets, except where essential to the reasonable development of the subdivision in conformity with these standards and where dedication of the other half will be practicable when the adjoining property is subdivided. Wherever a half street is found adjacent to a tract to be subdivided, the other half shall be platted within such tract;
l. Include no dead-end street that is longer than 600 feet and designed to permanently remain a dead-end street. All dead-end streets must be provided at the closed end with a turnaround area which has a street property line radius of at least 40 feet and returns of the same radius; however, where the terrain is such that it is not practical to serve an area by a loop street or a street from another direction, or where the shape of the parcel of land and adjacent conditions would not permit the reasonable continuation of a street, and where the cul-de-sac will serve no more than 22 lots, and the planning and building department and the town engineer agree that this is the most practical design, a cul-de-sac may be a maximum of:
(1) Eight hundred feet in R-3;
(2) Nine hundred feet in R-2;
(3) One thousand feet in R-1;
(4) One thousand three hundred twenty feet in SR and SR-2;
m. Names of streets to be consistent with natural alignment and extensions of existing streets; new street names to be used which will not duplicate in whole or in part, or be confused with, existing names.
B. Access to Major Arterial and Collector Highways.
1. Access Streets.
a. Prior to approval of a final plat or development plan, the town engineer shall approve the number and location of intersections of major arterial or collector highways with internal access streets in residential subdivisions and commercial and industrial developments.
b. Individual direct access for residential units fronting on the highway shall not be permitted in single-family detached residential subdivisions. Paved all-weather access to the units shall be provided by internal subdivision streets having a minimum number of intersections with the highway.
c. Multifamily residential subdivisions and commercial and industrial developments shall have no more than two access streets intersecting with a highway.
2. Access Features. Prior to approval of final plats or development plans for residential subdivisions and commercial and industrial developments adjacent to major arterial and collector highways, the town engineer shall determine the need for and approve the number and location of:
a. Access of an uncurbed highway;
b. Curb depressions on a curbed highway;
c. Median openings on a divided highway;
d. Center two-way left turn lanes on a highway; and
e. Other associated access features.
3. Signalized Intersections.
a. Signalized intersections must have a minimum spacing of one-half mile on any major arterial or collector highway;
b. Approval must be obtained from the town engineer for the:
(1) Functional and operational design of a signalized intersection on a major arterial or collector highway,
(2) Completion of the necessary geometric improvements for the signalized intersection in accordance with design principles, practices and methodologies acceptable to the engineer,
(3) Final design and installation details of the intersection.
4. Grade-Separated Facilities.
a. The town engineer shall have the authority to designate major high-traffic-volume intersections which have a potential for grade-separated facilities.
b. All residential subdivisions and commercial and industrial developments proposed to be located on any corner of a designated intersection shall be required to dedicate additional right-of-way for the facility, by subdivision plat or development plan, when requested by the town engineer.
c. The town engineer shall approve the location of the street and highway intersections forming the grade-separated intersection.
5. Frontage Roads. When a frontage road is determined necessary by the town engineer, a major commercial or industrial development fronting on a major arterial or collector highway shall be required to construct a frontage road contiguous to and generally paralleling the highway, to intercept, collect and distribute the traffic desiring to cross, enter or leave the highway.
6. Traffic Control.
a. All residential subdivisions and commercial or industrial development shall provide separate, legal, all-weather, paved access directly to the nearest arterial or collector highway.
b. Access for such developments shall not be allowed through the existing local streets of adjacent properties where the zoning differs or if the town engineer finds the access would impose detrimental impacts on adjacent properties.
c. Commercial and industrial developments shall not be allowed access through any residentially zoned area.
d. Residentially zoned areas of R-3 or higher density shall not be allowed access through residential areas zoned R-2 or lower density.
e. This subsection shall not apply where:
(1) Legal access has been previously established;
(2) Implementation of this subdivision would prohibit access to the public highway system; or
(3) Implementation would cause a traffic hazard by overloading local streets or their connections to the arterial or collector highway system.
C. Easements.
1. Utility easements at least 10 feet wide and aerial easements five feet wide shall be provided where necessary, as determined and justified by:
b. The planning and building department;
c. The public works department; and
d. Other affected public agencies.
2. Drainage easements or rights-of-way shall be provided conforming substantially with the lines of any watercourse, drainageway, channel, or stream and such further width or construction or both as will be adequate for the purpose, and parallel streets or parkways may be required in connection therewith, as determined by the department of transportation and flood control district.
3. Hiking and equestrian trails easements or rights-of-way shall be provided:
a. When such trails are designated by the town of Sahuarita.
4. No portion of a subdivision lot shall be designated as an easement to be used as a street.
D. Blocks. Block lengths, widths, and spaces shall be determined with due regard to:
1. Provision of sites suitable to the type of use contemplated;
2. Zoning requirements as to lot size and dimensions;
3. Need for convenient access, circulation, control and safety of street traffic;
4. Limitations and opportunities of topography;
5. Circulation within the tract, and access to community facilities; and
6. Lengths as long as practicable, but not to exceed 2,000 feet.
E. Utilities.
1. All new or relocated utility lines shall be placed underground, unless the relocated line is a 115 kilovolt (or greater) transmission line. All utility lines relocated due to improvement projects shall be placed underground unless such relocated line is a 46 kilovolt (or greater) distribution line.
2. Location of underground utility lines (including sanitary sewers) shall be planned, joint-trenched where possible, and located beneath the paved portions of roadways or within 25 feet of the edge of the paved portions whenever possible so as to minimize vegetative disruption.
3. When making upgrades and reinforcements to existing utilities, existing poles shall be used wherever possible to provide the required transition to underground service to new developments. However, a new pole, set in line with the existing overhead system, shall not be deemed to be a new utility when necessary to serve approved new developments. Upgrades and reinforcements of existing overhead utilities are allowed to the extent that the total number of cables is not increased.
(Ord. 1995-06 § 2; Ord. 1999-05 §§ 1, 2; Ord. 2011-048 § 1; Ord. 2015-098 § 1; Ord. 2015-105 § 1; Ord. 2025-193 § 1 (Exh. A))