City Council

Agenda Request

Agenda Of:

10/17/06

Agenda Request No:

VII A

Initiated By:

Keisha E. Seals, Engineer ii 

Responsible Department:

engineering

Presented By:

patrick walsh, p.e., interim city engineer

Department Head:

patrick walsh, p.e., interim city engineer

 

 

Additional Department. Head (s):

Mike Hobbs, Director of Public Works

Subject / Proceeding:

design standard variance to driveway separation requirements for the tramontina facility expansion on gillngham lane

Exhibits:

applicant’s traffic engineer’s letter of support; site layout

Clearances

Approval

Legal:

n/a

Executive Director:

Jim callaway

Community Development

 

joe esch, Business & Intergov. Relations*

Purchasing:

n/a

Asst. City Manager:

n/a

Budget:

n/a

City Manager:

Allen Bogard

Budget

Expenditure Required:  $

0

Amount Budgeted/Reallocation:  $

0

Additional Appropriation:  $

0

Recommended Action

Approval of a variance to section 7.7.5 of the Design Standards for minimum opposite-side driveway separation for the proposed driveway to the Tramontina facility expansion at 1400 Gillingham Lane.

Executive Summary

 

Mr. Rick Staigle, P.E., PTOE, of Traffic Engineers, Inc., on behalf of Tramontina USA, Inc. has requested approval of a variance to Section 7.7.5 of the Design Standards as it relates to driveway separation.  The variance is needed for a proposed driveway to serve an expansion of an existing Tramontina building at 1400 Gillingham Lane. 

 

The Design Standards states in section 7.7.5,  “On streets classified as collectors, arterials, and highways that do not contain medians, non-residential driveways must align with driveways on the opposite side of the street or meet the minimum separation requirement”.  This separation is 165 feet for a collector such as Gillingham Lane as found in Section 7.7.3 of the Design Standards.  However, the proposed Tramontina driveway is proposed to be separated from an existing driveway (Suntron Development) on the opposite side of Gillingham Lane by approximately 104 feet (see attached site layout exhibit), thus not meeting the 165-feet requirement.

 

Engineering staff recommends approval of the non-standard driveway separation primarily because Tramontina has agreed to work with an adjacent property owner to ultimately reduce the number of driveways on Gillingham Lane.   The proposed single driveway will serve as a consolidation of two driveways (see attached site layout exhibit):

 

  1. An existing driveway serving Thermo Electron Corporation immediately north of the proposed Tramontina expansion;
  2. Tramontina’s originally proposed driveway, which was approved during site plan submittal because the original driveway proposal met all design standards.  Tramontina has requested that the proposed consolidated driveway replace this original driveway because the original driveway would result in a curved drive alignment within the Tramontina property that makes it difficult for the anticipated truck traffic to maneuver.

 

Although the consolidated driveway will not meet the City’s opposite-side driveway separation standard, the reduced number of driveways improves safety and mobility on the roadway and offsets the impacts of the non-standard separation.  Furthermore, staff have confirmed that a clear line of sight exists between the two drives, and staff have required a stop sign be installed at the driveway approach to ensure that motorists exiting the shared access driveway will observe traffic exiting the Suntron driveway to the south.  The driveway will meet all same-side driveway separation standards.

 

Tramontina, Thermo Electron Corporation and Inland Real Estate Acquisitions, Inc. (owner of the Thermo facility) have discussed the elimination of their existing driveway and support the proposed consolidated driveway.  The three parties have reached an agreement and drafted a shared access easement agreement subject to the granting of this variance. The elimination of the existing Thermo driveway and the recordation of a shared access easement for the consolidated driveway will be conditions for a permanent certificate of occupancy for the Tramontina expansion.

 

Mr. Staigle has provided the City a letter supporting the variance.  The letter has been signed and professionally sealed by Mr. Staigle (see attached letter of support).  The letter provides adequate responses to the four questions required in the City’s variance request form.

 

Exhibits

 

 

LETTER OF SUPPORT

 

Site Layout