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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: May 3, 1993 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item # <br /> SUBJECT: SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS TEXT AMENDMENT <br /> SECTION IV-B-3-d-1 - Private Road Justification Criteria <br /> DEPARTMENT: PLANNING PUBLIC HEARING Yes x No <br /> ATTACHMENT(S) : INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Willis <br /> Extension 2583 <br /> Proposed Amendment <br /> 2/22/93 Public Hearing Minutes TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br /> (Draft) Hillsborough - 732-8181 <br /> 3/15/93 Planning Board Minutes Durham - 688-7331 <br /> (Draft) Mebane - 227-2031 <br /> Chapel Hill - 967-9251 <br /> PURPOSE: To consider an amendment to provide for the approval of <br /> private roads in situations which may not have been <br /> anticipated when the current standards were developed, but <br /> for which private road access is deemed appropriate. <br /> BACKGROUND: The Orange County Subdivision Regulations presume that all <br /> newly-created lots will be served by public roads. <br /> Private roads may be allowed only if justified according <br /> to specific criteria set forth in Section IV-B-d-3-1. The <br /> burden of proof to show that a private road is justified <br /> according to these criteria lies with the subdivider. <br /> The adequacy of the existing private road justification <br /> criteria has been questioned in recent months by both the <br /> Board of Commissioners and Planning Board. This <br /> questioning was prompted in large part by the Featherwood <br /> and White Cross Subdivisions. In both cases, the Board of <br /> Commissioners appeared to favor private rather than public <br /> roads. However, both were approved with public roads <br /> because the current private road justification criteria <br /> did not address the particular factors found to be <br /> important in those subdivisions. <br /> Two additional criteria which could be used to justify a <br /> private road are proposed in the attached amendment. The <br /> first relates to the length of the road. It is proposed <br /> that any road less than 350' in length, may be private, <br /> provide that the average lot size is at least 40, 000 <br /> square feet and the grade does not exceed 9%. The second <br /> criteria relates to the degree to which the tract being <br /> subdivided is already developed. It was proposed at the <br /> public hearing that private roads be allowed where the <br /> property is already developed to at least 90% of its <br />