Sec. 20.5-92. Alignment and layout.

(a) In accordance with section 15.2-2241-2, Code of Virginia, all proposed streets shall be designed to coordinate with other existing or planned streets contiguous to or within the general area of the subdivision or within existing or future adjacent subdivisions as to location, width, grades, and drainage. Connections with existing or platted streets shall be continuous without offset.

(b) The agent shall require that adequate rights-of-way are platted and dedicated for public use to the boundary line(s) of the subdivision which will afford desirable and safe street access to adjoining properties when such properties are of a compatible land use designation. In such cases, the following requirements shall apply:

(2) The following notation in, at a minimum, twelve (12) point lettering shall be incorporated into any plat showing a stub or future street:

THIS RIGHT-OF-WAY IS PLATTED WITH THE INTENT OF BEING EXTENDED AND CONTINUED IN ORDER TO PROVIDE INGRESS AND EGRESS TO AND FROM ADJOINING PROPERTIES.

(3) The following statement shall be included on the conveyance documents for any lot on a stub or future street:

THE RIGHT-OF-WAY UPON WHICH THIS LOT FRONTS HAS BEEN PLATTED WITH THE INTENT OF IT BEING EXTENDED AND CONTINUED IN ORDER TO PROVIDE INGRESS AND EGRESS TO AND FROM ADJOINING PROPERTIES, AS SHOWN ON THE PLAT RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK ______, PAGE ______INSTRUMENT NO.________, CIRCUIT COURT FOR YORK COUNTY.

(c) Where a street right-of-way in an existing subdivision or development has been platted to the boundary line of a proposed subdivision, it shall be extended and continued into such proposed subdivision unless the extension is specifically precluded by an approval by the board of an overall development master plan for the proposed subdivision as part of the establishment of a planned development district, or unless a waiver is granted by the agent after review by the department of transportation and upon the agent making one of the three findings enumerated in subparagraph (1) below:

(2) A traffic operations and safety analysis of all connections shall be performed by a transportation planner or engineer or other professional qualified to perform such analyses. Such analyses shall be used by the agent in determining whether to require interconnection and, if so, whether traffic-calming measures should be included in the design, or whether to grant a waiver. The traffic operations and safety analysis shall be submitted by the developer with the preliminary subdivision plan.

(3) Upon review of the proposed subdivision plan and relevant traffic operations and safety analyses, the agent shall render a decision concerning whether to require interconnection, to require interconnection with traffic-calming measures, or to grant a waiver from the interconnection requirement. If the agent decides to require interconnection and if the subdivision street(s) to which the connection would be made pre-dates the notice requirements specified in subsections (b)(1), (2) and (3) above, the agent shall, prior to approval of the Preliminary Plan, provide written notice of the decision to the developer and to the owners of record of parcels fronting on the road right-of-way to be extended and to any duly constituted property owners association representing adjacent lots or parcels. The notice shall state the location and times at which the plans and relevant traffic analyses may be examined. Inadvertent failure to provide such notice to one or more property owners shall not invalidate any aspect of the subdivision process

(4) No waiver may be granted if, by the granting of said waiver, any other provision of this chapter or the zoning ordinance would be violated, including specifically the requirement for two points of access required by section 20.5-92(e) of this chapter.

(5) The decision of the Agent with respect to requiring interconnection and granting or not granting a waiver may be appealed by any person or persons individually or severally aggrieved to the planning commission within fifteen (15) days of notice of the decision having been mailed to the parties referenced above. The inadvertent failure to notify one or more property owners shall not extend the time frame for appeal. The commission, after conducting a public hearing advertised in accordance with the terms of section 15.2-2204, Code of Virginia, and upon reaching one of the findings enumerated in subsection (1) above, may affirm or overturn the decision of the agent and may impose reasonable conditions as a part of its decision. The fifteen-day time limit notwithstanding, the developer of a subdivision may appeal to the planning commission at any time during the course of development of the project.

(6) In situations where the agent or the planning commission grants a waiver to the street interconnection requirement, an alternative means for bicycle and pedestrian access may be required to be provided in close proximity to the otherwise required street based on local site conditions. Such bicycle and pedestrian facilities shall be either within an existing right-of-way or in a separate right-of-way and shall be designed and constructed in accordance with Figure VI-B in appendix A or with the standards used by the Virginia Department of Transportation for such facilities. Where the facility is designed to include the 16-foot wide base depicted in that figure, it will be deemed to satisfy the two points of emergency access required by section 20.5-92(e).

(d) Street intersections shall be spaced and designed in accordance with the standards set forth in the Virginia Department of Transportation Subdivision Street Design Guide, dated January 1, 2005, and as may be amended from time to time.