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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 25060 BILL NO. 20 ORDINANCE NO. 2506 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 10, OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF CALDWELL, COUNTY OF CANYON, STATE OF IDAHO BY THE ADOPTING A NEW ARTICLE TO BE KNOWN AS TRANSPORTATION POLICIES AND PRACTICES; ADDING ARTICLE 10 TO THE MUNICIPAL CODE; ALSO REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS, ORDERS, AND PARTS THEREOF IN CONFLICT HEREWITH. BE IT ORDAINED, BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CALDWELL, COUNTY OF CANYON, STATE OF IDAHO: Section 1: That Article 10, Transportation Policies and Practices, be added to Chapter 10 as follows: Article 10 Transportation Policies and Practices SECTION: 10- 10 -01: Traffic Impact Study Requirements Traffic impact study, intersection study, master plan policies, and related transportation matters. 1. TRAFFIC STUDIES A. REQUIREMENTS AND GENERAL INFORMATION Traffic studies will be required in conjunction with private development when the traffic generated exceeds certain development thresholds. B. DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Traffic studies will be required for City roadway or intersection improvement projects. These may vary from a simple one -page study evaluating existing traffic volumes, accidents and physical conditions. They can also be a complex analysis of existing and future levels of service at several locations, on and off the project site, as well as various possible development and public improvement project scenarios. They may need to consider various roadway concept alternatives, alignments, modes of travel and project enhancements. C. DESIGN AND PROJECT STUDIES Traffic studies may be required for a variety of issues. The City should be an active participant I in the review of those involving City roads to include those within the City's impact area. D. SCOPING OF THE PROJECT Where many unknown and alternate designs exist for a project, a scoping study should precede the project design to clearly define the project scope. E. TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDIES CRITERIA: The City of Caldwell must consider the impacts of a proposed development on property and transportation facilities. Therefore, a traffic impact study will be required if the proposed development generates 1000 or more vehicle trips per day, which is generally equivalent to 100 dwelling units; more than 30,000 square feet of commercial use; or more than 50,000 square feet of industrial use. Institutional reviews will be required based upon the City's experience with other like operations or from information provided by other jurisdictions in this region. The City may require an impact study, even if the aforementioned criteria are not exceeded to OA56ord/ Traffic impact studies resolve unique circumstances. The City may also waive the requirement if, in the City's opinion, there are no traffic issues to resolve. The type of land use and the trips generated will be determined using the Institute of Transportation Engineers' (ITE) publication. "Trip Generation" — An information Report." Typical uses within the commercial, industrial and institutional categories include (but are not limited to): COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL : ,IN ' TUTI�hI/ L Indoor Theater Truck/bus Terminal Military Base Office Building Light Industrial School Business Park Heavy Industry College /University Retail Store Industrial Park Place of Worship Shopping Center Manufacturing Prison Restaurant Warehousing Library Supermarket Utility Plant Hospital/Nursing Home The term "dwelling units" used in this policy includes units associated with hotel, motels and private homes or apartments. The City will consider proposed developments of other types not listed above and decide the need for a traffic impact study on a case -by- case basis. The developer of a proposed large -scale development should review the project with the City Engineering Staff before submitting a preliminary plat application. The City will decide at that time whether a traffic impact study will be required and set the study parameters. The traffic impact study will be submitted with the preliminary plat application. The impact study area shall include all roadways and intersections directly joining the proposed development. It shall include other roadways and intersections that the City believes are affected by traffic generated by the proposed development. 2. TRAFFIC IMPACT CONSIDERATIONS A. The traffic impact study shall identify and consider: 1) The continuation of local residential streets, collector streets and arterial streets. The study shall cover streets from the development boundaries, to an intersection with existing or proposed residential, collector or arterial streets as shown on the latest edition of the "Canyon County Functionally Classified Road Map." 2) Existing land use, roadways, traffic patterns and roadway volume, and turning movement volume within the study area. The study must consider average daily traffic and traffic during at least two representative peak hours. 3) Existing levels of service within the study area. This will be determined using the latest edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) and existing traffic control devices. 4) Planned road improvements and major land developments within the study area. OA56ordl Traffic impact studies • 0 5) Forecasts of future traffic patterns, roadway capacity and turning movements in the study area before the proposed development is built. This establishes "background traffic." Traffic patterns and roadway capacity shall be forecast for the built out year and for a 20 -year planning period. Turning movements shall be forecast for the built - out year. Traffic forecasts by COMPASS should be used, when available. Those forecasts shall be checked for credibility and reconciled with independent forecasts. The study should include a reasonable rate of regional traffic growth. It should estimate additional traffic likely to be generated by vacant land development in and surrounding the area. The basis of development projections will be current zoning, prepared with advice from staff. 6) Trip generation and distribution expected from the proposed development; this is "site traffic." 7) Forecast of future traffic patterns, roadway capacity volumes, and turning movements in the study area after the proposed development is fully built and occupied. These numbers are "site traffic" plus "background traffic." 8) Future levels of service in the study area, with "site traffic" plus "background traffic." Forecast levels of service for roadway links and impacted intersections at the development build -out year and 20 years from the present. Identify all roadway /intersections configurations and traffic control devices. 9) Recommended roadway /pathway improvements and mitigation measures. This includes location and design of driveways, intersections and traffic control devices. Include potentially viable non - roadway measures, such as ridesharing, transit, bicycling incentives and staggered or flexible work hours. 10) School crossings, safe routes to school and bikeways. 11) Roadway access control that differs from the city's general requirements. Show exceptions where there are special conditions such as unusually heavy turn storage requirements, high speeds and high traffic volumes. 12) The effects of the traffic from the proposed development on existing local streets and the effects of traffic from existing local streets on the proposed development. 3. AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC (ADT) The evaluator needs to estimate ADT for all street segments in the proposed development likely to have volumes exceeding 1,000 vehicles per day. These estimates will help select the proper street cross - section for each segment. Each proposed collector street should be broken into several segments. The evaluator will base this on key intersections in the proposed street network. That will reduce the length of Collector -width Streets required and define the extent of collector traffic levels in the development. The evaluator will compare project volumes on streets that provide access to the development with the applicable threshold volumes. The evaluator should use the Caldwell Subdivision Ordinance and adopted planning thresholds for reference purpose. 4. TRIP GENERATION RATES Trip generation rates used in the impact study shall be supported by appropriate data presented in the latest edition of the publication," Trip Generation Manual." Other studies recognized by the traffic engineering profession may be used for analysis purpose. Those conducting impact studies should consult ITE's 'Traffic Access and Impact Studies for Site Development" (A recommended Practice 1991), and the Federal Highway Administration's, "Site Impact Traffic Evaluation (SITE) Handbook" report number FHWAIPL1851004, January 1985, or the most recent publication update. 5. PREPARATION OF TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY The applicant shall pay for a traffic impact study commissioned by the City. A qualified professional shall prepare the traffic impact study. The City shall approve the professional who will do the study before the work begins. The City Engineer or designated staff member will confirm the qualifications of the proposed professional. The qualified professional will serve as the City's primary contact during the study. OA56ord/ Traffic impact studies • 0 6. STUDY BOUNDARIES The boundary of the study area shall be identified jointly by the professional conducting the study and City staff. 7. JOINT TRAFFIC STUDY The City may participate or require the participation of others in a joint traffic study when there is a need to evaluate some traffic component that has wider application that the proposal at hand. The joint traffic study will include the elements of the traffic impact study area required of the development. The developer will pay a negotiated portion of the study. 8. MASTER PLANS Developments that are to be platted in multiple phases may require a master plan. The master plan shall address broad community development, street network issues and all the elements required in a traffic impact study. If all of the phases of the proposed development exceed the threshold requirements, the developer may be required to update the traffic study when future phases of the project are submitted or in the City's opinion, conditions in the area have changed significantly, or if the future phases deviate significantly from the approved master plan. 9. TRAFFIC SIGNAL WARRANTS The traffic signal warrants from the MUTCD should be used as guidelines to consider the need for a traffic signal at a location. Other features should be considered such as traffic circulation patterns; spacing with respect to other controls; and the physical characteristics of the intersection (such as the horizontal and vertical curvature). If either the total volume warrant or the volume interruption warrant are satisfied, it will not be necessary to check warrants 8 through 11 which are primarily special volume warrants. The evaluator should give special consideration to locations that satisfy the school crossing warrant or the accident warrant. 10. LEVEL OF SERVICE Traffic conditions will be measured according to present and forecasted level of service (LOS) for roadways relative to their functional classification. Level of service is a measure of the congestion level on a street in an urban setting; it is typically measured at intersections. Functional classifications refer to the transportation distribution characteristics of a roadway. Planning volume thresholds are the 24 — hour equivalents of what the typical intersection levels of services are expected to be along a street based on its number of lanes and functional classification. Planning thresholds are based on typical intersection conflicts and intersection designs. An arterial street that has the same number of lanes as a collector street carries more traffic than the collector because it is assumed to receive 60 percent more green time as compared to 40 percent green time for collectors. Planning volume threshold are used to determine the needed street section based on future traffic forecasts. Traffic forecasts are generated from a computer traffic model, which simulates the trips generated by future land use types, densities and locations routed on an assumed roadway network. 11. FUNCTIONAL STREET CLASSIFICATION Urban and rural street classification maps are prepared by COMPASS and adopted by its member agencies, including the City of Caldwell. The maps depict the current local, collector and arterial street designations. Several future and arterial streets are shown on the maps. Not all future collector and arterial streets are indicated. The City reserves the right to designate future collector streets or upgrade existing streets as conditions and projections warrant. The functionally street classification map will be relied upon to determine a development's level of participation in transportation improvement matters based upon the development's anticipated impact on the road system. OA56ard/ Traffic impact studies , I - 1 r. °r o Tk I 1 -1 r , Tk I 1 -1