The design standards listed in this Article
shall be incorporated in all proposed plans.
Land shall be suited to the purposes for which
it is to be subdivided. In general, the Planning Board shall take
the following factors into consideration prior to the approval of
any subdivision plan.
A.
Circulation. Streets shall be of sufficient width
and suitably located to accommodate the prospective traffic, to provide
access for fire-fighting equipment to buildings and to be coordinated
so as to compose a convenient system conforming to the town plan and
relating properly to the existing street system.
B.
Safety. The tract shall be adequately drained, and
all lots shown on the plans shall be adaptable for the intended purposes
without danger to health or peril from flood, fire, erosion or other
menace. Required improvements shall be designed and constructed to
conform to specifications established by the Town Board.
A.
General. Streets shall be suitably located and of
sufficient width and adequately improved to accommodate prospective
traffic and to afford satisfactory access to police, fire-fighting,
snow removal or other road maintenance equipment and shall be coordinated
so as to compose a convenient system.
B.
Relation to topography. Streets shall be logically related and conform insofar as possible to the original topography. They shall be arranged so as to obtain as many building sites as possible at or above the grade of the street. Grades and curves shall be in conformity with Table 1 in Subsection I below.
C.
Continuation of streets into adjacent property. Streets
shall be arranged to provide for the continuation of principal streets
between adjacent properties where such continuation is necessary for
convenient movement of traffic, effective fire protection and efficient
provision of utilities and particularly where such continuation is
in accordance with the town plan, as it may be adopted. Reserve strips,
controlling access to streets, shall be prohibited except where their
control is placed with the town under conditions approved by the Planning
Board. If adjacent property is undeveloped and the street must temporarily
be a dead-end street, the right-of-way and improvements shall be extended
to the property line. A temporary circular turnaround, with a traveled
way radius of at least 50 feet, shall be provided on any temporary
dead-end streets, with the notation on the plat that land outside
the normal street right-of-way shall revert to abutting properties.
D.
Treatment of major streets.
(1)
Residential areas. Where a subdivision abuts or contains
an existing or proposed major street, the Planning Board may require
marginal access streets, reverse frontage with screen planting contained
in a nonaccess reservation along the realty property line or such
other treatment as may be necessary for adequate protection of residential
properties and afford separation of through and local traffic.
(2)
Business areas. In areas zoned or designed for commercial
use or where a change of zoning is contemplated for commercial use,
the Planning Board may require that the street width be increased
or that a service road be constructed to assure the free flow of through
traffic without interference by parked or parking vehicles and to
provide adequate and safe parking space for such commercial area.
E.
Dead-end streets. Permanent dead-end streets shall
not exceed 2,000 feet in length, measured from the intersection with
the center line of the connecting public road, in order to provide
for convenience of traffic movement and facilitate more effective
police and fire protection. A depth suitable for an adequate building
lot shall be retained between the terminus of the road and adjoining
property. A circular turnaround with a minimum right-of-way radius
of 66 feet and a pavement radius of 50 feet shall be provided at the
end of permanent dead-end street.
[Amended 3-8-1999 by L.L. No. 2-1999]
F.
Street names. All streets shall be named and such
names shall be sufficiently different in sound and spelling from other
street names in the town to avoid confusion. A street which is a continuation
of an existing street shall bear the same name.
H.
Provision for future resubdivision. Where a tract
is subdivided into larger parcels than ordinary building lots, such
parcels shall be arranged, where possible, to allow the provision
of future streets and logical further subdivision.
I.
Streets shall be designed and constructed in accordance
with the Code of the Town of Marlborough as established in Chapter
of 130 of said Code.
[Amended 2-9-2004 by L.L. No. 6-2003]
Block dimensions shall be at least twice the
minimum lot depth and/or at least 400 feet in length. In long blocks,
the Planning Board may require the establishment of easements or public
ways through the block to accommodate utilities or pedestrian access.
A.
General. The lot size, width, depth, shape and arrangement
shall be appropriate for the type of development and use contemplated
and shall be such that there will be no foreseeable difficulties for
reasons of topography or other conditions in securing building permits
to build on all lots in compliance with the Zoning Ordinance[1] or in providing access to buildings on such lots from
an approved street. In cases where the Planning Board determines that
due to topography, soil type, drainage patterns, easements or any
other physical limiting condition is evident, the Planning Board may
require lot sizes greater than the minimum called for in the Zoning
Ordinance for that district. Dimensions of corner lots shall be large
enough to allow for erection of buildings, observing the minimum front
yard setback from both streets.
B.
Side lot lines. Side lot lines shall be at right angles
to street lines unless a variation from this rule will, in the opinion
of the Planning Board, give a better street or lot plan. Lot lines
shall coincide with municipal boundaries rather than cross them. Where
extra width has been dedicated for widening an existing street, lot
lines shall begin at such extra width line.
C.
Driveways. Lots shall generally not have their vehicular
access from a major street. Where driveway access from a major street
may be necessary for several adjoining lots, the Planning Board may
require that such lots be served by a combined driveway in order to
limit possible traffic hazards on such street. Driveways serving individual
lots shall have a minimum right-of-way of 25 feet in width and a travel
way of at least 15 feet in width.
D.
Access across a watercourse. Where a watercourse separates
the buildable area of a lot from the access street, provision shall
be made for the installation of a culvert or other structure of a
design approved by the Town Highway Superintendent.
E.
Water bodies. If a tract being subdivided contains
a water body or portion thereof, lot lines shall be so drawn as to
distribute the ownership of the water body among the fees of the adjacent
lots. The Planning Board may approve an alternate plan whereby the
ownership of and responsibility for safe maintenance of the water
body is so placed that it will not become a town responsibility. No
more than 25% of the minimum lot area required under zoning regulations
may be satisfied by land under water.
A.
Parks and open space.
(1)
General. In accordance with § 277 of the
Town Law, the Planning Board may require either the reservation of
land for park or recreational purposes or payment of a fee to a trust
fund to be used for purchase and development of recreational sites
within the town.
(2)
Reservation of land. The Planning Board may require
the reservation of land for a park or recreational purposes to be
reserved on the plat, but in no case to be more than 10% of the gross
area of the subdivision. The location of such reservation shall be
in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan or otherwise where the Planning
Board shall deem such reservations to be appropriate. In general,
such reservations should have an area of not less than two acres.
(3)
Payment of fee. Where the Planning Board deems that
the reservation of land would be inappropriate, it may waive the requirement
of land reservation on the condition that the subdivider deposit a
cash payment in lieu of land reservation with the Town Clerk. Such
payment shall be placed in a trust fund to be used exclusively for
the purchase and development of neighborhood site for parks, playgrounds
or other recreational purposes. Final approval is contingent on payment
of this fee.
(4)
Subdivisions
of a clustered design in which 75% of the development site will be
perpetuated as open space by a homeowners’ association shall
be exempt from the requirements of this section.
[Added 9-14-2009 by L.L. No. 6-2009]
B.
Widening or realignment of existing streets. Where
the subdivision borders an existing street and additional land is
required for realignment or widening of such street as indicated on
the Comprehensive Plan or where the Planning Board deems such reservations
necessary, the Planning Board may require that such areas be indicated
on the plat and marked "Reserved for Street Realignment (or Widening)
Purposes."
C.
Easements for utilities and drainage. Where topography
or other conditions are such as to make impractical the inclusion
of utilities or drainage facilities within street rights-of-way, perpetual
unobstructed easements at least 20 feet in width for such utilities
shall be provided across property, outside the street line and with
satisfactory access to the street. Such easements shall be centered
on rear or side lot lines.
D.
Easements for pedestrian access. The Planning Board
may require, in order to facilitate pedestrian access from streets
to schools, parks, playgrounds or other nearby streets, perpetual
unobstructed easements at least 20 feet in width.
E.
Responsibility for ownership of reservations. Title
to all reservations, if vested in interests other than the subdivider,
shall be clearly indicated on the plat.
A.
Monuments and markers.
(1)
Permanent monuments shall be placed at all block corners,
angle points, points of curvature and points of tangency in streets
and at intermediate points as required by the Town Engineer. In no
case shall there be fewer than four permanent monuments per block.
Monuments shall be set so as to prevent movement by frost upheaval
and other pressures.
(2)
Markers of a material, size and length suitable to
the Town Engineer shall be placed at all points where road lines intersect
plat boundaries at all lot corners.
B.
Water and sewerage facilities. Facilities for water
and sewerage shall be provided in each new subdivision, in accordance
with the requirements of the appropriate agency having jurisdiction
over their planning and installation.
C.
Storm drainage facilities. Storm drainage facilities
shall provide a clear and protected channel fully adequate to handle
runoff from a ten-year storm and designed so that heavy runoffs which
exceed the capacity of the channels can be handled with the least
possible damage to improvements and structures.
D.
Public utilities. The Board may accept assurance from
each public utility company whose facilities are proposed to be installed.
Such assurance shall be in writing, addressed to the Board, stating
that such public utility company will make the installations necessary
for the furnishing of its services within a specified time, in accordance
with the approved subdivision plat.
