MEMORANDUM

TO: Timothy Navarre, Assembly President

Members, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly

FROM: Milli Martin, Assembly Member

DATE: November 26, 2001

SUBJECT: Ordinance 2001-47, amending Title 20 regarding road construction

Enclosed is an ordinance that requires construction of internal subdivision roads prior to final plat approval where the subdivisions are in close proximity to borough- or state-maintained roads. The ordinance addresses residential subdivisions accessed by maintained roads and is intended to promote continuation of the maintenance system. I believe such an ordinance will better serve our residents and taxpayers who expect the borough to be more proactive regarding road improvements.

The road service area (RSA) board and planning commission have held public hearings on the ordinance, and a separate work session attended by RSA board members, planning commission members, and interested members of the public, including surveyors and developers, was also conducted. As a result of these public hearings, revisions were made to the original proposal. I am requesting that the ordinance now proposed before the assembly be submitted to the planning commission, advisory planning commissions, and RSA board for a final public hearing and vote.

The ordinance requires a certificate from the RSA that the internal subdivision roads for a proposed plat meet borough maintenance standards. Proposed subdivision roads within 330 feet of a borough- or state-maintained road must meet maintenance standards unless there is no legal access to the subdivision. The ordinance defines legal access. This section of the ordinance is intended to require the construction of an internal subdivision road where a borough- or state-maintained road terminates at the last lot or parcel adjacent to the proposed subdivision. The ordinance requires construction of the internal subdivision roads if the state or borough maintenance ends within an eighth of a mile of the subdivision. The proposed subdivision must contain at least five lots in order to require road construction under this section.

The ordinance requires road construction of internal subdivision roads where a state- or borough-maintained road directly abuts or connects to the subdivision. For these types of situations, the roads must be constructed if a minimum of two lots are being platted. Otherwise, road construction could be avoided by doing a series of two-lot subdivisions until the lots would fall outside the ambit of the code because of distance from state- or borough-maintained roads.

The ordinance allows for phased road construction. It is only necessary for a developer to construct the roads for that portion of a subdivision for which he is requesting final plat approval. The remainder of a subdivision which has received preliminary plat approval will not be subject to the road construction requirements until that portion or phase of the preliminary plat is proposed for final plat approval.

There is an exception process for a reduction in standards which is already set forth in KPB 14.06. It is recommended that the exception process in KPB 14.06 be used rather than the KPB 20.24 exception process. This allows the RSA board to grant any necessary exceptions to the maintenance standards under the same process that is used for certification for maintenance, which would eliminate the need for two separate processes for an exception. Further, the exception standards set forth in KPB 14.06 are directly applicable to roads and are more appropriate to allowing exceptions to road standards than the KPB 20.24 procedures.

There is a bonding option which requires security to guarantee road construction if the borough approves a final plat which falls within the ambit of the ordinance prior to construction of the internal subdivision roads.