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• Mr. Pat Klaers July 10, 1998 Page 5 ■ Street Widths The Developers are proposing that the City Standard 32-foot wide residential street width be modified to allow 26-foot wide street widths on cul-de-sacs. The actual cul-de-sac bubble would be built to the City Standard. Several City staff members with different perspectives have reviewed this issue. The Fire Chief's perspective was that if this narrower street was to be allowed, at least one side of the street needs to be signed "No Parking," to ensure that emergency vehicles can access the cul-de-sacs at all times. Phil Hals, Street Superintendent, was concerned about snow storage in heavy snowfall years. He has indicated that in heavy snowfall years, the Public Works Department may not get the streets cleared from curb line to curb line. With a narrower street, any snow left on the edges will narrow that street even further. My concern with the street width proposal is one of precedent setting. You will recall that it was a long, hard struggle to get a street width of 32 feet as a standard. My concern is that a narrowing of cul-de-sacs in this development will have to entail a policy change to allow it in other developments. This may lead to other arguments of low-volume streets at narrower widths. Since the rights-of-way are the standard 60-foot width, narrowing of the street does not • provide any benefit for the saving of trees, due to the homes being closer. In fact, in an effort to save trees, the Developers are suggesting a change in the setback from 30 feet to 25 feet. Given all of these comments, I would recommend that the proposed street narrowing be rejected, and the development be required to build the City Standard 32-foot wide street widths throughout the plat. Street A, the main corridor from the southeast corner to the northwest corner of the development, is provided with a 70-foot right-of-way, and proposed to be a 36-foot street, due to the much higher volumes of traffic anticipated on this route. • Number of Cul-de-Sacs This project contains 14 cul-de-sacs, one of which is a private road serving the northwest townhouse development. Two of the cul-de-sacs, Street I and Street L, appear to be slightly longer than the City Ordinance of 700 feet. In the staff review of this plat, the issue was raised about the number of cul-de- sacs. The City Ordinance does not speak to a maximum number of cul-de- sacs, but rather a maximum length. There are a number of competing issues, one being the ease of maintenance, the other being trying to create neighborhoods and higher-priced housing. We would suggest that the Developer review a plat for the opportunity to eliminate some of the cul-de- sacs. The one specific recommendation we have is to look at extending Street F to meet Street S, eliminating the Street F cul-de-sac. This will also • provide a secondary route for the middle of the development to exit through the southwest onto CSAH 13 (Tyler Street). Howard R. Green Company O:\PROD\800111j\0240\111-0804.july.doPONSULTING ENGINEERS