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Staff urges keeping secondary-access requirement after Wendy Lane case; commission weighs board vs. staff authority
Summary
City staff recommended maintaining a code requirement that subdivisions with 10 or more lots have a secondary emergency access not routed through an existing subdivision, citing Wendy Lane easements and bridge vulnerability; the commission debated whether staff or the board should enforce such a requirement and took no formal action.
City staff on June 11 urged the planning and zoning commission to retain a subdivision code section requiring a secondary point of emergency access when a subdivision or portion thereof creates 10 or more lots, and to limit routing that secondary access through an existing subdivision.
Joe Hillborn, presenting staff, said the discussion was prompted by a recent application involving Wendy Lane where property owners (named as Leach, Black and Smith in the staff remarks) hold easements that could extend to future homeowners. He said that in some circumstances a developer had proposed routing a second access through an existing subdivision and that "that seems contrary to that code section." Hillborn described safety concerns tied to a bridge on the route: if a bridge were washed out or flooded, homes could be stranded without access for an extended period.
Hillborn said staff had required the developer to provide a second point of access and that, when he deems it necessary, he would require a second access: "I'm actually referring to me, because, you know, I never mentioned before that I'm the fire marshal." A commissioner responded that he preferred the board make such decisions rather than staff acting unilaterally.
The commission did not take formal action on the code language that night. The Chair said no action was needed and adjourned the meeting. Staff and commissioners exchanged views on the balance between fire-safety-driven staff requirements and board authority; any formal code amendment would return to the commission for consideration later in the process.
