Skip to main content
Loading…
Article II. Road Improvements
This article is included in your selections.
This section is included in your selections.

A. When Required. Street frontage improvements are required for the following development projects:

1. New Construction. The installation of street frontage improvements is required prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy for all new construction projects except two or fewer single-family houses (when constructed concurrently on adjacent existing lots) or one duplex, unless otherwise required by the City Engineer.

2. New Subdivisions and Short Plats. The installation of street frontage improvements is required prior to final plat approval for subdivisions and short plats which create two or more additional/new lots, unless otherwise required by the City Engineer.

3. Additions, Alterations, or Tenant Improvements – Special Provisions Apply. Street frontage improvements shall be constructed as part of all additions, alterations or tenant improvements if one of the following conditions is met:

a. The proposed addition, alteration or tenant improvement will generate an increase in traffic exceeding 12 additional/new vehicular trips per day as determined by the latest edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) manual.

b. The proposed addition, alteration or tenant improvement is considered a change of use which intensifies the use of the site or significantly alters the traffic circulation within the site.

c. The proposed addition, alteration or tenant improvement will create a traffic safety concern or exacerbate a known traffic safety concern in surrounding project vicinity.

d. The proposed addition, alteration or tenant improvement will redevelop the property (remove/demolish existing buildings, parking areas and improvements on site and construct new buildings, parking areas and improvements within the property).

B. Scope of Improvements. Street frontage improvements shall be installed along the entire frontage of the property, to the centerline of the street, or if a multi-lane street, the affected lane, at the sole cost of the applicant as directed by the City Engineer. The City Engineer may permit modification of street improvement standards where the required street improvements are not, in the opinion of the City Engineer, roughly proportionate to the impact, type, scale and cost of the proposed development action.

1. Street frontage improvements may include the following: curb, gutter, sidewalk, storm drainage, street lighting, traffic signal equipment, utility installation or relocation, landscaping strip, street trees and landscaping, irrigation, street widening, pavement overlay or reconstruction, and channelization.

2. In addition to required frontage improvements, the applicant shall provide ramps from the new sidewalk or walkway to the existing shoulder, across streets and pavement and channelization tapering back to the existing pavement and channelization as required to address safety concerns.

3. Frontage Improvement Pavement Requirements.

a. Half-street pavement reconstruction shall be required when: the existing pavement rating is at or below 40, based on the City of Lakewood Pavement Management System; crown slope is greater than three percent; is light bituminous pavement; and/or was built with no base structure. Pavement coring and/or subsurface investigation shall be required to determine base condition.

b. Half-street asphalt overlay (two-inch minimum) shall be required when the existing pavement rating is at or below 60 based on the City of Lakewood Pavement Management System. Pre-leveling and/or grinding may be required to create a uniform two percent crown slope.

c. Minimum frontage improvement pavement requirements shall be a patch per City standard plans and one lane grind/inlay (two-inch minimum).

d. See the Engineering Standards Manual for additional requirements.

C. Deferral of Improvements. When the City has plans for an improvement project, or an area is deemed not essential to the City sidewalk system, or for other similar reasons, the City Engineer may determine that street frontage improvements cannot or should not be constructed at the time of building construction or subdivision, and may allow improvements to be deferred. In these instances, the property owner shall, prior to issuance of the building permit or site development permit, at the direction of the City Engineer:

1. Pay to the City an amount equal to the property owner’s cost of installing the required improvements prior to issuance of a building permit. The property owner shall provide documentation satisfactory to the City Engineer that establishes the cost of the materials, labor, quantities; or

2. Record an agreement which provides for these improvements to be installed by the property owner by a date acceptable to the City Engineer; or

3. Record an agreement to not protest a local improvement district to improve the street frontage.

Note: In the case of subsection (C)(1) of this section, the City shall be required to use the money collected in accordance with RCW 82.02.020 and identify to the owner which streets the money collected will be used to improve.

D. Corner Lots. In the case of corner lots or other development sites fronting more than one right-of-way, should the impact of the development be such that street system improvements would not be required on all rights-of-way fronting the development site, street system improvements shall be constructed on the right-of-way or rights-of-way selected by the City Engineer.

E. The City Engineer may require the applicant to deed to the City, in accordance with LMC 12.05.060, additional right-of-way as necessary from the property under consideration to create a right-of-way width which complies with state statutes, City ordinances, and/or any other statutes, ordinances, or regulations as a means of mitigating any impact the project may have on the City street system. [Ord. 583 § 6, 2014; Ord. 501 § 3, 2009.]