Livonia City Zoning Code

All land subdivisions receiving preliminary approval after the date of adoption of this chapter and all lots created by such subdivisions shall demonstrate conformance to the maximum extent practicable with the requirements and objectives of this article.

Any construction, alteration or change of use on a lot existing prior to the date of adoption of this chapter which requires site plan approval shall demonstrate conformance to the maximum extent practicable with the requirements and objectives of this article.

Access and circulation shown on subdivision and site plans developed under this chapter shall also conform to the requirements of other federal, state and local agencies responsible for transportation system elements proposed for modification. This includes but is not limited to highway superintendent standards, transportation agency standards for stopping and intersection sight distances, signal warrants and, if applicable, the subdivision regulations of Chapter 125 and other portions of this chapter, especially the district regulations of Article VI, the off-street parking and loading regulations of Article X and the site plan review regulations of Article XIV.

Deviations from the standards outlined in this article for developments generating more than 150 peak-hour trips must be based on documentation from a qualified traffic engineer that an alternative access arrangement provides equal or greater safety and mobility and comparable or lower adverse environmental impacts. All such deviations must be in accordance with the procedures and requirements for obtaining an area variance as specified in § 150-17 of this chapter. The Joint Planning Board has discretion for approving deviation from the standards for uses generating less than 150 peak-hour trips and reserves the right to require professional justification of deviation from standards for projects generating less than 150 peak-hour trips.

Parcels created after the effective date of this chapter do not have the right of individual access to existing abutting public streets. The number of planned access connections is to be the minimum necessary to provide safe and reasonable access. This may be less than the number of access connections which would be allowed based solely on minimum property width requirements.

New public or private streets, shared driveways or cross access may be necessary to meet the requirements of this chapter. If access is to be provided by means other than direct access to a public street, a permanent recorded easement, which runs with the land, shall be executed. In addition, operating and maintenance agreements for all such facilities shall be recorded with the deed.

Subdivision of a parcel with frontage on two or more streets may be required to provide access from all lots which result from the proposed subdivision to all such streets without traveling on the existing street network. In most cases, even if a vehicle connection is not provided, a pedestrian connection shall be provided.

Parcels with frontage on more than one street may be limited to one access connection to the lowest class of street serving the proposed development.

Unless otherwise specified, all distances shall be measured from center line to center line along the edge of the street right-of-way. Where street or intersection modifications are planned, all distances shall be from the proposed center line along the edge of the proposed right-of-way.

Prior to subdivision or site plan approval or approval of a zoning permit for any new or modified access or intersection, the applicant must provide a concept plan. The concept plan shall show the location of buildings, parking and circulation, including connections to preexisting streets, and alignments of any new streets necessary to accommodate full build-out as allowed by current zoning for all lands under single ownership as of the date of adoption of this chapter.

Access to individual residential driveways within a subdivision should be obtained from an access or development street.

Access to other uses in a proposed subdivision should be coordinated with existing, proposed and planned streets and driveways outside the subdivision and should consider providing cross access connections to abutting developed or undeveloped properties.

When the concept plan for access to lands planned jointly or under common ownership as of the date of adoption of this chapter shows development of an access or development street as part of eventual full build-out, the Joint Planning Board may allow temporary access directly to a public street while requiring that parcel layout be designed to provide future access only from the proposed access or development street. Furthermore, the Joint Planning Board may establish square footage or peak-hour trip generation thresholds which govern when construction of the access or development street must take place.

Minimum recommended spacing between driveways on the same side of the street is as follows:

Access connections on opposite sides of the street not separated by a restrictive median shall be aligned or offset so as to eliminate left-turn overlap conflicts between vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.

Access connections to development on opposite sides of the street with peak-hour trip generation of 150 or more may be required to be aligned to enable installation of a traffic signal to serve both developments.

On the advice of the Municipal Engineer, the Joint Planning Board may raise or lower the required driveway spacing standard, based on the volume of site-generated traffic, the impact of site generated traffic on the operation of the adjacent street, or posted or operational speeds in the vicinity of the proposed site.

The Joint Planning Board as part of site plan review will evaluate how proposed driveway location impacts opportunities to develop abutting properties. At a minimum, such evaluation shall identify any sight distance and alignment/offset constraints and indicate whether compliance with the recommended spacing standards is practicable for abutting properties, based on the applicant's proposed driveway location.

Generally, no driveways shall be allowed within the functional area of the intersection. If parcel boundaries or topography preclude location outside the functional area of the intersection, access may be limited to right turns in and/or right turns out and/or left turns in, as determined by the Municipal Engineer, and the driveway shall generally be located as far from the intersection as possible and in the safest possible location.

Development on corner parcels should be linked by cross access to abutting properties of the same type (i.e., residential or nonresidential).

Driveways for corner parcels with frontage along a major or collector street shall be located no closer than 220 feet from the intersection. If no alternative reasonable access exists, partial (right-in/right-out) access that does not create safety or operation problems may be allowed if located a minimum of 110 feet from the nearest edge of existing or proposed pavement.

Driveways for corner parcels with frontage solely along local streets or access or development streets shall be located no closer than 60% of the minimum lot width.

Corner clearance is to be measured along the street right-of-way from the center line of the driveway pavement to the closest edge of the existing or proposed street pavement.

The following presents recommended cross street and signal spacing standards.

On the advice of the Municipal Engineer, the Joint Planning Board may raise or lower the required intersection spacing standards, based on posted or operational speeds in the vicinity of the proposed site, the type and character of the development proposed to be served, and the impact of projected traffic generation on the area street network.

The feasibility of bringing nonconforming access connections into compliance shall be evaluated under the following conditions:

At the direction of the Joint Planning Board in consultation with the Municipal Engineer, the evaluation may be required to address the feasibility of the following:

The objective of the feasibility evaluation is to make recommendations to improve operational and safety characteristics of the access connection by bringing the number, location, spacing and design of access connections into conformance with this article.

Existing driveway spacing along major and collector streets in developed portions of the Village of Livonia and the hamlets of Hemlock, Lakeville, Livonia Center, South Lima and South Livonia is as low as 50 feet to 100 feet. Such buildings are not expected to accommodate uses that generate more than 150 peak-hour trips. Driveway spacing standards for expansion, change of use or intensification of use for buildings in these areas shall target driveway spacing of 125 feet if the posted speed is 35 miles per hour or less and 220 feet if the posted speed limit is more than 35 miles per hour. Peak-hour trip generation above 150 may be appropriate if the driveway spacing standards of § 150-130 can be met.

The Joint Planning Board may require implementation of access changes that will improve traffic operations, safety or overall access.

Driveways and on-site circulation shall be designed so as to provide for the safe and efficient movement of traffic between the roadway and the site and to eliminate the potential for the queuing of vehicles along the roadway due to congestion in or at the driveway.

Driveway location, width, radii, flare, throat length and other elements of the circulation system for developments generating more than 150 peak-hour trips shall be based upon consultation with qualified traffic, engineering and design professionals. Alternatively, the Joint Planning Board may retain such a professional to review the design at the cost of the applicant.

Any proposed residential subdivision or nonresidential development projected to generate more than 150 trips during any weekday or weekend peak hour may be required to mitigate the traffic impacts of such new development. Required mitigation shall be recommended by a qualified traffic engineer based on the assumptions and analyses included in a comprehensive traffic study completed in accordance with the procedures of the State Environmental Quality Review Act.

Required mitigation may include, but shall not be limited to, the installation of signals, turning lanes or medians; the use of shared driveways, cross access or the construction of access or development streets; and/or other traffic demand management strategies.

Phased mitigation may be allowed where phased development is proposed.

The standards and methodologies for estimating peak-hour trip generation shall be as follows:

The following are examples of developments which would generate approximately 150 peak-hour trips.