HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd 1999-30 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
ORDINANCE#99-30
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND COMMON
COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS,
ARIZONA, AMENDING ARTICLES III AND V OF THE
SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN
HILLS, TO CLARIFY THE MAXIMUM STREET GRADE
FOR HILLSIDE LOCAL ROADS AND TO CLARIFY THE
METHODOLOGY BY WHICH "PRESERVATION
REQUIREMENT" AND DISTURBANCE ALLOWANCE"
ARE CALCULATED.
WHEREAS, The Town of Fountain Hills adopted Ordinance #90-8, on June 28, 1990, which
adopted The Code of the Town of Fountain Hills,Arizona, and
WHEREAS, The Town of Fountain Hills adopted Ordinance 96-XX on October 3, 1996 which
adopted The Subdivision Ordinance of the Town of Fountain Hills, and
WHEREAS, Chapter 15 of The Code of the Town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, is commonly
referred to as The Subdivision Ordinance of the Town of Fountain Hills, and
WHEREAS, The Town of Fountain Hills has made subsequent amendments to The Subdivision
Ordinance of the Town of Fountain Hills, and
WHEREAS, The Town of Fountain Hills has rewritten portions of Articles III and V of The
Subdivision Ordinance of the Town of Fountain Hills in order to clarify several
regulations contained therein, including but not limited to the maximum road slope
for hillside local roads and the methodology by which "preservation requirement"
and"disturbance allowance" are calculated.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL
OF THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS,ARIZONA AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Articles III and V of The Subdivision Ordinance of the Town of Fountain Hills are
hereby amended as shown below. New language is shown as being double-
underlined and language to be deleted is shown as being cressecd eut.
PASS 'AIL lo -qg____
MOTION ClilowL.r
ORDINANCE 99-30 SECOND 0-AKA-a%c S oh
PAGE 1 OF 7 COUNT 4 -o
ARTICLE III—SUBDIVISION DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS
Street Design.
Grades.
1. The maximum grade of a street is as follows:
a. Arterial Streets: As determined by the Town Engineer.
b. Major Collector Streets: Ten percent
c. Minor Collector Streets: 12 percent
d. Local Streets: 12 percent
e. Hillside-local Streets: In subdivisions where the natural slope of at least
75 percent of the gross subdivision size is 10 percent or greater, and with
the Town Engineer's approval, hillside local streets may be utilized. The
maximum street grade shall not exceed more than 15 ]2 percent €ef
However, short road sections
that are less than 400 feet long may have a continuous grade of between 12
and 15 percent. Those street grades and road sections length) between
sections of streets exceeding 12 percent, regardless of their length, shall
Lir not exceed 12 percent nor shall they be less than 400 feet in length.
ARTICLE V - GRADING STANDARDS
502. Subdivision Grading Standards
B. Grading for Parks and Golf Courses. The limitations in disturbance as specified in this
sectien Article(including area of disturbance as well as height and detention of cut and fill)
may be waived by the Town Council for the development of a park, golf course, trails or
other recreational development that does not entail a building or buildings as the primary
purpose of the development.
C. Grading for Utility Lines. Utility lines,including water and sewer lines and laterals,must
be placed within the allowed disturbance area and all disturbed lands shall be restored to
the original grade and revegetated with vegetation indigenous to the site. Lots or parcels
owned by utility companies which are regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission
are only exempted from the hillside disturbance regulations of this ordinance if the
development of the lot or parcel is solely for utility-related uses.
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ORDINANCE 99-30
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504. Hillside Disturbance.
A. The purpose of these land disturbance regulations is to limit the amount of hillside
disturbance within each subdivision. The amount of hillside area that may be disturbed
shall be based on the severity of the slope. Hillside areas shall mean any area having slopes
equal to or greater than 10 percent,as measured from a topographical contour map prepared
and stamped by an Arizona-registered land surveyor. The Town requires the submission of
topographic contour maps having contour intervals not greater than two feet and at a scale
not smaller than 1" = 20' for sites less than 10 acres. Sites 10 to 100 acres may utilize
contour intervals not greater than five feet at a scale not smaller than 1" = 50'. Sites over
100 acres may utilize contour intervals not greater than five feet at a scale not smaller than
1"=100'. Individual non-contiguous areas of hillside or non-hillside that are less than 500
square feet that are located within larger areas non-hillside or hillside, respectively, shall
may be included with the larger area of non-hillside or hillside that surrounds it. Whether a
subdivider chooses the Lot-by-Lot Hillside Protection Option or the Hillside Transfer and
Protection Option, T1he actual square footage of disturbance permitted within one slope
interval may be transferred,but only into areas having a lesser degree of slope. The percent
of slope shall be determined by the spacing between the contour lines of as shown on the
preliminary plat. Following are the land disturbance allowance of slope interval areas of
500 square feet or more:
Percent of Preservation Disturbance
Slope Requirement Allowance
(%) (%)
<10 0 100
10-<20 70 30
20-<30 80 20
30 and more 90 10
B. There are no exempted disturbance activities, except as otherwise specifically provided for
in this ordinance. Any exempted disturbance activities shall be subtracted from the gross
area of the subdivision, and the required "Preservation Requirement" and "Disturbance
Allowance" areas, as noted above in Subsection A, shall be calculated from the net (gross
area of the subdivision minus exempted disturbance activities) area of the subdivision, or
that area remaining after the area(s)of exempted disturbance have been subtracted from the
gross area of the subdivision.
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ORDINANCE 99-30
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For example, the following is an illustration of the correct method to calculate the
"Preservation Requirement" and "Disturbance Allowance" for Happy Acres, a fictional,
100 acre subdivision, having 25 acres in each percentage slope band, with 10 acres
"exempted" for roadway construction. The ten acres of "exempted" disturbance activities
are allocated evenly across the four percentage slope bands. The following table provides
the only acceptable methodology to calculate "Preservation Requirement" and "Disturbance
Allowance" under the Hillside Transfer and Protection Option, as described in Subsection
A,above and subsection G.2.below:
HAPPY ACRES SUBDIVISION
10-20% &NI Igtfil
Total Land Area(In Acres) 25.00 25Q4 25.00 25.00 100.00
Q. Exempt Areas(In Acres) 2-50 2 0 2.50 QS 10.00
Residual(Net) Total 22 0 22.50 22.50 22.50 90.00
E Disturbance Allowance % 100% 30le 2Q!°Lo 1 0
F Maximum Disturbance Allowance in 22.50 5 4 5_0 2.25 36.00
Acres
Preservation Requirement % 70E0 °o °o
%kwI Minimum Preservation Requirement in 0 15.75 18.00 ? 5 454. Q
Acres
Proposed Disturbance in Acres 15.00 7s00 4 l0 4-0Q 30.00
I Excess(Short) N/A (0.25) 0-5_4 (1.75)
Internal Hillside Transfers NLA 0.25 _ (0.25) 0
Required Size of Outside Sending Area ILA 0 0 17.5
A. 1 r 'v' ' n i r .vi ' ' 1 r .
B. The total "exempt" areas for the subdivision total 10.0 acres.
Residual or "net" areas in the subdivision are derived by subtracting "Exempt Areas" from"Total
Land Area", in each slope category. These net totals, in each slope category, are used to
calculate Maximum Disturbance Allowance and Minimum Preservation Requirement in each
slope category.
D. The maximum disturbance percentage in each slope category.
E Derived by multiplying "Residual (Net)Total" by "Disturbance Allowance %."
F. The minimum preservation requirement in each slope category.
U. Derived by multiplying "Residual (Net)Total" by "Preservation Requirement %."
ORDINANCE 99-30
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Loy
H. The developer of the Happy Acres Subdivision proposes to disturb, through the development of
the subdivision, an amount of non-"exempted" land in each slope category, in an amount noted
on the table.
Derived by subtracting "Proposed Disturbance in Acres" from "Maximum Disturbance
Allowance in Acres." A (Short) in this row indicates that the proposed subdivision will disturb
more land in that slope category than is permitted. In this case the subdivider can transfer an
excess in the 20-30% slope category to compensate for the shortage in the 10-20% slope
cate,. . In the case of the "short" in the 30%+ slope cate•• h- .s'v'.- IL. -i -r -• . -
the amount of disturbed land in that slope category or seek Town Council approval of a hillside
transfer from outside the subdivision.
,L If the subdivider chooses the Hillside Transfer and Protection Option, as has the subdivider for
Happy Acres. hillside transfers from a steeper slope category to a lessor slope category are
permitted within the subdivision. The subdivider has transferred .25 acres of the .5 acre excess
in the 20-30% slope category to compensate for the .25 acres of non-permitted disturbance in the
10-20% slope category.
I. Derived by dividing any (short') acreage, after any internal hillside transfers, by the Disturbance
Allowance %. If the subdivider did not desire to preserve the required amount of land in that
slope category within the subdivision, and the Town Council approved of a hillside transfer from
outside of the subdivision,this is the amount of land within that slope category, or a steeper slope
category that would need to be preserved within the "outside sending area" or the area outside of
(libe the subdivision from which the hillside transfer was originating.
The following disturbance activities are exempted only from the horizontal
Hillside Disturbance Regulations contained in this Section:
g Disturbance within street rights-of-way, tracts of land for private roads
meeting public road standards, and any roadway grading required by the
Town Engineer outside of street rights-of-way or tracts for private roads
meeting public road standards,
h. Utility lines or any other public improvements are not exempted from
the requirements of this Section. However, Hhillside disturbance
activities needed for the development of utility lines develepment and
associated equipment outside of disturbances caused by other
development activities are exempt from the regulations of this Section
on land not owned by the utility if the utility company requires in writing
that the utility line be located outside of other development activities and
if the Town Council concurs with the need of the specific utility line and
its alignment.
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ORDINANCE 99-30
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2. The following disturbance activities are specifically not exempted from the
Hillside Disturbance Regulations contained in this Section:
Disturbance activities for the development of any effluent watering field
or any lake or pond intended for the storage of treated effluent, or any
service and/or access road or any above or below ground pipeline or
utility lines, whether or not the development of such fields, ponds, lakes,
service/access roads, pipelines or utility lines have been mandated or
suggested by another governmental agency or Court.
lz Any "utility" disturbance, other than for a utility line and associated
equipment as described above in subsection lb.
In addition to the detailed information that is required to be provided to the
Town to ensure compliance with this Article, as noted in Section 203(D)(9) of
this Ordinance, the property owner may submit to the Town an alternative
method of calculating the "Preservation Rea • - ii- " - ",. .. -
Allowance" as included in Section 504 (A). The Town Council may approve
this alternative method of calculating the "Preservation Requirement" and the
"Disturbance Allowance"at the time of preliminary plat consideration.
C. Any previously-disturbed hillside areas within a proposed subdivision, including but not
limited to areas such as access roads, where the salvaging of landscape materials for
110r revegetation purposes as described in Section 606 (C) of this Ordinance has occurred,
shall be counted toward the total amount of hillside within the subdivision but shall not
be accepted by the Town as undisturbed hillside areas. If an applicant desires to salvage
landscape materials for revegetation purposes prior to Final Plat approval, the applicant
may do so at the risk of non-compliance with this Ordinance and denial of the final plat.
D. All grading and/or disturbance performed subsequent to September 20, 1991, or
subdivision improvement grading (whichever date is most recent) is considered to be
cumulative under this ordinance. In other words the topography of land within the Town
as of September 20, 1991 is considered to be natural grade by this Ordinance. Grading
and/or other disturbance activities conducted since September 20, 1991 shall not be
exempted from the hillside disturbance regulations of this Ordinance and their
cumulative hillside disturbance shall be offset at the time of subdivision approval
pursuant to the regulations of this Section.
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ORDINANCE 99-30
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Section 2. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance or
any part of the code adopted herein is for any reason held to be invalid or
unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such
decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions thereof.
PASSED AND ADOPTED BY the Mayor and Common Council of the Town of Fountain Hills,
Arizona, this twenty-first day of October, 1999.
FOR THE TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS: ATTESTED TO:
14 CAL
Sharon Morga , yor Cassie B. Hansen, Town Clerk
1, I D BY: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ea.euw: Li) Z:A.11
Paul L Nordin, Town Manager William E. Farrell, Town Attorney
ORDINANCE 99-30
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