2020.02.03 Council Agenda Item 11

Background:

The residents of the Alpine Drive and Sylvan Drive neighborhood approached town staff in 2017 about the process to accept these private streets as public streets. On January 11, 2017, an application was submitted to request the streets be accepted as public streets. Staff and the town attorney reviewed the application and sent a letter to the applicant on February 7, 2017. The letter identified some threshold/compliance issues and outlined the process for implementing the corrective measures. From the time of that letter through late last year, there were no formal resubmittals from the applicant to the Public Works Director. The original developer, Ralph Sama, had been in contact with the Town Manager during that time frame to discuss connectivity requirements. This is one of the critical threshold/compliance issues. It has been a practice and policy for the Town Council to prefer connectivity from one neighborhood to another via automobile or other mode. On January 6, 2020, town staff met with residents in the neighborhood and the developer. At that time, it was discussed that most issues could be resolved but staff suggested that the applicant seek Town Council guidance on connectivity. At the January 27, 2020 Town Council meeting, staff delivered a presentation on the street acceptance process and the applicant proposed a connectivity solution. The Council was asked to provide feedback regarding the proposed connectivity solution.

Current Status: 

At the January 27th Town Council meeting, the Town Council reviewed a request to accept Alpine and Sylvan Drives as public streets. At that meeting the Town Council requested several items including the following:

•    Review options to access Bowdoin Drive and Eastern Avenue via trail from paper street. Staff reviewed the property record files and have determined that the area immediately adjacent to the paper street off Sylvan Drive is not a paper street off Bowdoin Drive. This gap area between two lots on Bowdoin Drive is part of a larger (30+ acres) lot identified as Map/Lot R06-029.

•    Review parking options for trail users including an option to extend the right-of-way near the cul-de-sac for future off street parking. The developer, Ralph Sama has submitted a sketch that identifies several options for parking associated with trail access. The sketch is attached and includes notes about several options. Mr. Sama will elaborate on this item at the meeting.

•    Review with the School Department whether buses will be able to maneuver around parked cars in the cul-de-sac. School Department staff have contacted Town staff and informed us that school buses would not have an issue maneuvering in the cul-de-sacs with or without on street parking. They also indicated that there are several factors that determine the location of a bus stop and it is not possible to determine now, whether the current bus stop will remain or be relocated.
 
•    Look into separating sidewalk and street acceptance. More information will be needed to further analyze this idea. Roadway infrastructure can be tied into the sidewalks such as drainage so it may be too difficult to separate these two areas of the roadway. 

•    Will the Town plow the sidewalk in the winter and are there costs associated with winter maintenance? The Town does not currently remove snow from sidewalks in smaller neighborhoods and would not plow these streets based on current practice and resources.