Warsaw City Zoning Code
§ 405.080
Mobility and Connectivity Development Standards.
[Ord. No. 211 § 2, 12-21-2015; Ord. No. 527, 12-26-2023]
A.
Purpose. These standards attempt to avoid the creation of large, isolated tracts without routes for through traffic or pedestrian and bicycle connections. The purpose of this Section is to:
1.
Support the creation of a highly connected transportation system within Warsaw in order to provide choices for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians;
2.
Increase effectiveness of local service delivery; promote walking and bicycling; connect neighborhoods to each other and to local destinations, such as employment, schools, parks and shopping centers;
3.
Reduce vehicle miles of travel and travel times, improve air quality, reduce emergency response times; and
4.
Mitigate the traffic impacts of new development and free up arterial capacity to better serve regional long-distance travel needs.
B.
Traffic Impact Mitigation.
1.
Applicability of traffic impact analysis requirement. The transportation system for new development shall be capable of supporting the proposed development in addition to the existing and future uses in the area. Evaluation of system capacity shall be undertaken through a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) that should consider the following factors without limitation: street capacity and level of service; vehicle access and loading; on-street parking impacts; the availability of transit service and connections to transit; impacts on adjacent neighborhoods; and traffic safety, including pedestrian safety. A TIA shall be required with applications for development review and approval when:
a.
Trip generation during any peak hour is expected to exceed two hundred fifty (250) trips per day or more than one hundred (100) trips during any one-hour peak period, based on traffic generation estimates of the Institute of Transportation Engineers' Trip Generation Manual (or any successor publication); or
b.
A TIA is required by the Planning and Zoning Commission or Board of Aldermen as a condition of any land use application approved pursuant to the requirements of this Code; or
c.
The Director, in his or her sole discretion, requires a TIA for:
(1)
Any project that proposes access to a street with Level of Service D or below;
(2)
Any application for a rezoning or specific plan review;
(3)
Any case where the previous TIA for the property is more than two (2) years old;
(4)
Any case where increased land use intensity will result in increased traffic generation; or
(5)
Any case in which the Director determines that a TIA should be required because of other traffic concerns that may be affected by the proposed development.
2.
Traffic impact analysis and development review process.
a.
A scoping meeting between the developer and the Director shall be required prior to the start of the TIA in order to determine the parameters of the study. This may be conducted as part of a preapplication meeting. The Director shall define the vicinity of the TIA study in as limited a geographic area as is feasible to make adequate traffic determinations for the project. Where a larger boundary is necessary to make adequate traffic determinations, the City shall work with the applicant to provide traffic information and perform such modeling as is necessary to study the area outside of the project vicinity.
b.
The TIA shall be submitted with the applicable development application.
c.
When access points are not defined or a site plan is not available at the time the TIA is prepared, additional studies may be required when a site plan becomes available or the access points are defined.
3.
Traffic mitigation measures.
a.
The applicant shall, as part of the TIA, recommend measures to minimize and mitigate the anticipated impacts and determine the adequacy of the development's planned access points. Mitigation measures shall be acceptable to the Director and may include, without limitation: an access management plan; transportation demand management measures; street improvements on or off the site; placement of proportionate pedestrian, bicycle or transit facilities on or off the site; or other capital improvement projects, such as traffic calming infrastructure or capacity improvements.
b.
Following City approval of the TIA, the developer and the City shall enter into an agreement specifying the implementation program and time frame for the required traffic improvements and identifying mitigation requirements where the project construction time frame varies from the anticipated traffic improvement time frame.
C.
Streets And Vehicular Circulation.
1.
Street standards. All streets shall meet the standards of Section 500.050, City of Warsaw Standards and Procedures for Design and Construction, Section 405.070, Stormwater Management and Natural Area Protection Standards, and Section 405.140, Subdivision Design Standards, and shall be consistent with the transportation element of the Warsaw Comprehensive Plan.
2.
Street connectivity.
a.
Purpose. Street and block patterns should include a clear hierarchy of well-connected streets that distributes traffic over multiple streets and avoids traffic congestion on principal routes. Within each development, the access and circulation system should accommodate the safe, efficient and convenient movement of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians through the development and provide ample opportunities for linking adjacent neighborhoods, properties and land uses. Local neighborhood street systems are intended to provide multiple direct connections to and between local destinations, such as parks, schools and shopping. These connections should knit separate developments together rather than forming barriers between them.
b.
Residential streets.
(1)
Residential streets shall be laid out so that use by through traffic will be discouraged. Traffic-calming techniques, such as diverters, neck-downs, street gardens and curvilinear alignments, are encouraged to reduce speeds and cut-through traffic.
Fig. 405.080-A: Oblong median
(2)
Should topography or other constraints require the use of straight streets that extend more than six hundred (600) feet without being punctuated by cross streets, an oblong median, traffic-calming device or similar feature shall be used to slow traffic and break-up the runway appearance. (See Figure 405.080-A.)
(3)
To the maximum extent practicable, streets shall be arranged to follow the natural contours of the site.
c.
Vehicular access to public streets and adjacent land.
(1)
All development shall provide public street connections to all existing, proposed or preliminary platted adjacent public streets.
(2)
If there are no adjacent public streets, subdivisions and/or site plans shall provide for connections along each boundary abutting adjacent vacant land for future connections spaced at intervals not to exceed one thousand (1,000) feet for arterials, or six hundred sixty (660) feet for other street types, or as otherwise approved by the Director.
(3)
When connections to surrounding streets are required, public right-of-way shall be dedicated and streets developed pursuant to Section 405.140 to existing paved rights-of-way. The City may also require temporary turnarounds to be constructed and paved for temporary culs-de-sac between development phases.
d.
Culs-de-sac and dead-end streets discouraged.
(1)
The design of street systems shall use through streets. Permanent culs-de-sac and dead-end streets shall only be used when topography, the presence of natural features, and/or vehicular safety factors make a vehicular connection impractical.
(2)
All permanent dead-end streets shall be developed as culs-de-sac and extend no further than six hundred sixty (660) feet.
(3)
All culs-de-sac shall conform to the requirements of the present adopted International Fire Code.
(4)
Half streets (i.e., streets of less that the full right-of-way and pavement width) shall not be permitted except where such streets, when combined with a similar street (developed previously or simultaneously) on property adjacent to the development, creates or comprises a street that meets the right-of-way and pavement requirements.
Figure 405.080-B Pedestrian Connection
(5)
Whenever cul-de-sac streets are created, at least one (1) eight-foot wide pedestrian access easement shall be provided, to the maximum extent practicable, between each cul-de-sac head or street turnaround and the sidewalk system of the closest adjacent street or pedestrian pathway. This requirement shall not apply where it would result in damage to or intrusion into significant natural areas, such as stream corridors, wetlands and steep slope areas. The pedestrian access easement will be dedicated to the City and maintained as part of the sidewalk system. (See Figure 405.080-B.)
D.
Driveways And Access.
1.
General.
a.
Every lot shall have access that is sufficient to afford a reasonable means of ingress and egress for emergency vehicles, as well as for those needing access to the property in its intended use.
b.
Private driveways and parking lots that provide access from residential lots and districts to businesses in nonresidential districts shall not be permitted.
c.
All driveway entrances and other openings onto streets shall be constructed so that:
(1)
Vehicles may safely enter and exit from the lot in question;
(2)
Interference with the free and convenient flow of traffic in abutting or surrounding streets is minimized; and
(3)
The driveway is not less than twenty (20) feet in length from the face of the garage to the nearest street improvement.
d.
Each driveway shall be not more than thirty (30) feet in width, measured at right angles to the center line of the driveway, except as that distance may be increased by permissible curb return radii.
Fig. 504.080-C: Use of joint access driveways to minimize curb cuts
e.
Joint driveways are desirable whenever possible in order to minimize the number of access points to streets and access easements. (See Figure 504.080-C.)
f.
One (1) curb cut is allowed for each legal lot. Curb cuts should be spaced at intervals of one hundred fifty (150) feet along the street frontage, unless the Director determines that a lesser amount is appropriate. A second curb cut may be requested for residential lots with more than two hundred (200) feet of frontage through Section 405.030(M), Minor Modification.
g.
Unless no other practicable alternative is available, all driveways and other openings shall be located a minimum of:
(1)
Seventy-five (75) feet from a street intersection;
(2)
Forty (40) feet from another access driveway; and
(3)
Ten (10) feet from an interior property line for single-family development and twenty (20) feet from an interior property line for multifamily and nonresidential development.
2.
Residential. In addition to the above general requirements, all residential development shall be subject to the following:
Fig. 405.080-D: Sidewalk obstruction caused by driveway length
a.
Direct driveway access (ingress or egress) from any single-family residential lots to any arterial street or highway shall be prohibited on any lot platted after the effective date of this Code.
b.
In order to prevent sidewalk obstructions caused by parked cars, garages shall be set back either three (3) feet from the right-of-way line or a minimum of twenty (20) feet from the right-of-way line. No garage may be setback a distance between three (3) feet and twenty (20) feet from the right-of-way.
c.
Multifamily development sites greater than five (5) acres shall include a minimum of two (2) through-access drives. An exception may be made by the Director where a site is landlocked by existing development or other physical constraints, or where existing natural features on the site require the use of protective measures that would otherwise make a second access drive infeasible.
3.
Nonresidential. In addition to the above general requirements, all nonresidential development shall be subject to the following unless otherwise provided for in the downtown Warsaw design standards:
a.
All uses shall have access limited to the collector or arterial streets.
b.
All nonresidential buildings, structures and parking and loading areas shall be physically separated from all nonarterial or collector streets by vertical curbs and other suitable barriers and landscaping to prevent unchanneled motor vehicle access. Each property shall not have more than two (2) accessways to any one street unless unusual circumstances demonstrate the need for additional access points. In addition, each accessway shall comply with the following:
Fig. 504.080-E: Median-divided access
(1)
To the maximum extent possible, unless prohibited by existing site constraints, the width of any accessway leading to the arterial street shall be median-divided to provide separation from incoming and outgoing traffic. (See Figure 504.080-E.)
(2)
Curb returns shall have a minimum radius of thirty (30) feet.
(3)
On corner lots for nonresidential development, no part of any accessway shall be nearer than one hundred (100) feet to the intersection of any two (2) street rights-of-way.
Fig. 504.080-F: Sight Triangle
4.
Visibility at intersections. On all lots or parcels of land on which a front setback is required, no obstruction that will obscure the view of motor vehicle drivers shall be placed within the triangular area formed by the adjoining street property lines and a line connecting them at points of forty-five (45) feet from the intersection of said street property lines. (See Figure 504.080-F.)
E.
Pedestrian Circulation.
1.
Sidewalks required. Sidewalks shall be installed on both sides of all arterials, collector streets and local streets (including loop streets and culs-de-sac) as identified within the Warsaw Transportation Improvement Plan and within and along the frontage of all new development or redevelopment. Sidewalk entries shall be provided to all buildings and individual units that front on the sidewalk.
2.
On-site pedestrian connections.
a.
All commercial, multifamily, mixed-use, and attached residential development shall provide a network of on-site, paved, pedestrian walkways with a minimum width of five (5) feet to and between the following areas (See Figure 504.080-G.):
Fig. 504.080-G: Example of on-site pedestrian connections that link to off-site development
(1)
Entrances to each commercial, multifamily, mixed-use and/or attached residential building on the site, including pad site buildings;
(2)
Public sidewalks, walkways or trails on adjacent properties that extend to the boundaries shared with the subject development;
(3)
Public sidewalks along the perimeter streets adjacent to the development;
(4)
Adjacent land uses and developments; and
(5)
Adjacent public park, greenway, trail or other public or civic use.
b.
Internal pedestrian walkways shall be provided through parking areas in excess of fifty (50) spaces, constructed of materials distinguishable from the driving surface through the use of one (1) or more of the following methods:
Fig. 504.080-H: Change in paving materials to distinguish pedestrian walkway
(1)
Changing paving material, patterns or paving color (See Figure 504.080-H.);
(2)
Changing paving height;
(3)
Decorative bollards;
(4)
Painted crosswalks;
(5)
Raised median walkways with landscaped buffers; or
(6)
Stamped asphalt.