15.74.145 Private streets.
A. While community street requirements are usually best served by public streets, owned and maintained by the town, private streets may be appropriate in some instances.
B. Private streets and roads shall be approved only when they are:
1. Permanently established by right-of-way, tract or easement providing legal access to each affected lot, dwelling unit, or business and sufficient to accommodate required improvements, to include provisions for future use by adjacent property owners when applicable; and
2. Serving properties and development that is zoned R-3; and
3. Maintained by a capable and legally responsible owner or homeowner’s association or the legal entity made up of all benefited property owners, under provisions of subsection D of this section; and
4. Designed and built to Pierce County road standards. Pavement width of all private streets shall be 22 feet or more; radius of horizontal curves and vertical grade of private streets shall be based upon the topography of the site; any vertical grade in excess of 15 percent shall be approved by the town engineer; design and construction of private streets shall be subject to the same town engineering inspection and approval as for public streets; modifications to these standards may be granted by the town engineer if adequate consideration of the following factors is made during the plat review:
a. Provision of off-street parking,
b. Restriction of on-street parking,
c. Provision of adequate clearance for emergency vehicles,
d. Provision of clear vision at intersections,
e. Provision of alternative bicycle and/or pedestrian paths,
f. Provision of adequate utility easements outside of street,
g. Future street revision or extension is not planned; and
5. Provision is made for private streets to be open at all times for emergency and public service vehicles; an easement or other right of access shall be recorded which runs in favor of the town of South Prairie; said right of access shall provide the right of ingress and egress for the town and its employees to carry out any lawful town purpose, including but not limited to fire, police, water, and sewer services; said easements shall also provide access to all other urban service providers such as refuse haulers, television cable operators, electric utility providers, emergency medical services and others; and
6. Private streets shall not obstruct public street circulation; and
7. At least one of the following conditions exists:
a. Existing abutting development precludes the construction of a public street, or
b. Topographic, geological or soil conditions make development of a public street undesirable, or
c. The streets are within a private community with a corporate or a functional identity, or
d. Neighborhood traffic circulation and lot access can be met more logically by private streets than by public streets, or
e. Streets are a part of a planned unit development (PUD), or
f. Streets serve commercial facilities where no circulation continuity is necessary, or
g. The town engineer and fire department determine that no other access is available and the private street is adequate.
C. Notice. The following statement is required on the face of any plat, short plat, site plan, or binding site plan containing a private street:
Town of South Prairie has no responsibility to improve or maintain private streets contained within or private streets providing access to the property described in this plat. Any private street shall remain a private street unless it is upgraded to public street standards including standards meeting ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements at the expense of the subdivider or adjoining lot owners to include hard surface paving and is accepted by the Town for public ownership and maintenance.
D. Maintenance Agreement. The town will not maintain roadways, signs, or drainage improvements on private streets. A private maintenance covenant recorded with the town clerk will be required for any private street. The covenant will set out the terms and conditions of responsibility for maintenance, maintenance methods, standards, distribution of expenses, remedies for noncompliance with the terms of the agreement, right of use easements, and other considerations. The covenant shall be submitted to the town engineer or his designee for approval prior to recording.
Property owners shall maintain and keep in good repair, at all times, those private streets adjacent to their property. In order to insure the continued good repair, a declaration or covenant requiring maintenance of the private street shall be recorded with the Pierce County auditor’s office concurrent with recording of the subdivision plat.
The covenants shall include the following terms:
1. The covenant shall establish minimum annual assessments in an amount adequate to defray costs of ordinary maintenance and procedures for approval of additional needed assessments;
2. The covenant shall include a periodic maintenance schedule;
3. The covenants for maintenance shall be enforceable by any property owner served by the street;
4. The means shall be established for assessing maintenance and repair costs equitably to property owners served by the private street;
5. The covenants shall run with the land;
6. “Maintenance” shall include, but not be limited to, street surfacing, shoulders, gates, signs, pavement markings, street lighting, storm drainage facilities, and vegetation control;
7. The town shall have the right to inspect the condition of private streets and if, in the opinion of a licensed professional engineer, the condition of private streets has deteriorated to the level where improvements are needed, the town has the right to order that this work be done. If the property owners associated or the developer do not carry out said improvements in a timely manner, the town has the right to order the improvements.
E. Street Signs. Private street signs with street designations shall be provided by the developer at the intersection of a private street with private and public streets. Such signs shall meet the specifications of Pierce County road standards and, in the case of intersections with public streets, shall be located within the public right-of-way or within a separate maintenance easement. Road signs shall be included in the maintenance agreement.
F. Inspection. Private streets will be subject to the same inspection schedule as public streets.
G. Developer Maintenance Obligation. The developer of a residential plat shall be responsible to insure the maintenance of the private street for a period of two years from the date of recording of the plat or short plat. Thereafter, the developer’s maintenance responsibility will depend upon the number of lots under the developer’s continuing ownership, as stated in the recorded maintenance agreement. [Ord. 378 § 2 (Exh. 1), 1999.]