§ 23.05.104. Site Access and Driveway Requirements.

All projects that are subject to a land use or construction permit approval shall be provided adequate vehicular and pedestrian access, as follows:

a.

Minimum site access. No land use or construction permit shall be approved for any site unless the site has legal access and all-weather physical access to a public road; except that all-weather physical access may be provided prior to final building inspection or prior to occupancy where allowed by Section 19.04.042 (Occupancy or use of an incomplete structure).

b.

Site access location. The provisions of this subsection apply only to land uses that are required to have six or more parking spaces. Land use permit approval shall not be granted to a proposed use unless at least one driveway serving the use is located on the type of street specified by this section. These requirements are based on the traffic volume and turnover rate generated by a new land use, determined by the number of parking spaces required and the intensity of use of the parking lot (see Section 23.04.162 - Off-Street Parking Required, or Chapter 23.08 for a special use).

(1)

Required street type: At least one vehicle access driveway shall be located on any street with a capacity equal to or greater than the minimum specified by the following table. These standards do not apply to a parking lot that is a principal use (see Section 23.08.286 - Vehicle Storage).

(2)

Alternative street types: Driveway access locations other than those required by subsection b(1) above are allowable subject to Minor Use Permit approval, provided that the Zoning Administrator first finds that the alternate location will not result in traffic congestion or traffic volumes inappropriate or substantially detrimental to the site vicinity. Where a Development Plan is otherwise required, the approval can be granted by the Approval Body through the Development Plan subject to the same required finding.

PARKING LOT SIZE	REQUIRED ACCESS LOCATION
	Parking Lot Turnover
	High	Medium	Low
6 - 20	Local	Local	Alley
21 - 40	Collector	Local	Local
41 - 80	Collector	Collector	Local
81 +	Collector	Collector	Local

 

Notes:

1.

Expressed as the type of street (arterial, collector, local) on which a proposed use must be located. Actual access driveways may be located on a cross-street where the site abuts the required type of street.

2.

The number of proposed spaces in the parking lot.

3.

Parking lot turnover is determined by Section 23.04.166 (Off-Street Parking Required), for the specific land use.

4.

For the purposes of this section, collector streets include freeway frontage roads that extend between two collectors, between two freeway access points (which must include access and egress for both freeway directions), or a combination of the two situations.

5.

At least one site access driveway on a collector shall be within 800 feet of an arterial, measured along the roadway.

6.

At least one site access driveway on a local street shall be within 400 feet of a collector, measured along the roadway.

c.

Driveway placement: A driveway from a street to a parking area with four or more parking spaces shall be located and designed as follows:

(1)

Distance from street corner: Driveways shall be located a minimum of 50 feet from the nearest street intersection, as measured from the centerline of the driveway to the nearest travel lane of the intersecting street.

(2)

Number of driveways: Driveways serving a single site shall be limited to two along the frontage of any street, except where additional driveways are authorized by Minor Use Permit. The centerline of such driveways shall be separated by a minimum of 30 feet.

(3)

Distance from property line: Where a driveway intersects a street, the driveway shall be located a minimum of four feet from a side property line, except that the driveway transition may extend to within one foot of the property line, and except where adjoining lots use a shared driveway.

d.

Driveway design and construction. Proposed driveways shall be designed and constructed as follows. These requirements are in addition to any applicable provisions of Chapter 13.08 of the county code (Encroachments).

(1)

Driveway width. The width of a driveway, as defined in Chapter 22.11 (Definitions - Driveway), providing access to a building site(s) or a parking area from the public street or between separate parking areas on a site shall be a minimum width of 10 feet and shall also provide a fuel modification area, as defined by Chapter 23.11 (Definitions - Fuel Modification Area), where applicable.

(2)

Exception to width standard. In high or very high fire hazard severity zones, the following standards will apply:

a.

Required Driveway Width in Feet.

LENGTH (IN FEET)	REQUIRED WIDTH
less than 50	10
50-200	12
greater than 200	16

 

Notes:

1.

The driveway shall provide for a fuel modification area as defined in Chapter 23.11 (Definitions - Fuel Modification Area).

2.

A turnout, as defined in Chapter 23.11 (Definitions - Turnout), shall be provided near the midpoint.

3.

For driveways exceeding 300 feet a turnaround, as defined in Chapter 23.11 (Definitions - Turnaround), shall be provided at the building site and must be within 50 feet of the dwelling. For driveways exceeding 800 feet, turnouts shall be provided no more than 400 feet apart.

(3)

Driveway grade. The minimum level of improvement is determined by the grade of the driveway providing access from the road to the building site or parking area as follows:

SURFACE	MAXIMUM GRADE
All-weather	less than 12%
Non-skid	12% to 16%
Non-skid	over 16%

 

Notes:

1.

Surface shall be asphalt or concrete as specified in the San Luis Obispo County Standard Specifications and Improvement Drawings including a non-skid finish.

2.

A driveway with a grade greater than 16 percent and less than 20 percent may be authorized through an adjustment as set forth in Section 23.05.104f (Adjustment). An adjustment may also be requested for a driveway that exceeds 20 percent grade and is designed by a Registered Civil Engineer.

e.

Road design and construction. Proposed roads or extensions of existing roads, as defined in Chapter 23.11 (Definitions - Road), not associated with the approval of a subdivision application shall be designed and constructed as follows:

(1)

Road width. The minimum width of applicable roads, as specified above, shall be as follows:

	REQUIRED ROAD WIDTH IN FEET
	Residential	Commercial/Industrial
ONE-WAY	10	16
TWO-WAY	18	20

 

Notes:

1.

The road shall also provide for a fuel modification area as defined in Chapter 23.11 (Definitions - Fuel Modification Area).

2.

Fire lanes shall be provided as set forth in the Uniform Fire Code.

(2)

Road grade. The minimum level of improvement is determined by the grade of the road providing access to the building site or parking area as follows:

SURFACE	MAXIMUM GRADE
All-weather	less than 12%
Non-skid	12% to 16%
Non-skid	over 16%

 

Notes:

1.

Surface shall be asphalt or concrete as specified in the San Luis Obispo County Standard Specifications and Improvement Drawings including a non-skid finish.

2.

A road with a grade greater than 16 percent and less than 20 percent may be authorized through an adjustment as set forth in Section 23.05.104f (Adjustment). An adjustment may also be requested for a road that exceeds 20 percent grade and is designed by a Registered Civil Engineer.

f.

Adjustments. An adjustment to the standards of Section 23.05.104d or e may be granted where proposed by the applicant and mitigated practices are approved by the fire inspection authority, where the mitigation provides for the ability to apply the same degree of accepted fire suppression strategies and tactics and fire fighter safety as these regulations overall, towards providing a key point of defense from an approaching fire or defense against encroaching fire or escaping structure fires.

(1)

Application filing and processing. Requests for adjustment shall be filed with the fire inspection authority by the applicant or the applicant's representative in the form of an attachment to the project application. The request shall state the specific requirement for which an adjustment is being requested, material facts supporting the contention of the applicant, the details of the adjustment or mitigation proposed and a site plan showing the proposed location and siting of the adjustment or mitigation measure, where applicable. A request for adjustment shall be approved by the fire inspection authority when it has determined that the criteria for adjustment are satisfied as described in Section 23.05.104f.

(2)

Appeals. Where an adjustment is not granted by the fire inspection authority, the applicant may appeal such denial to the Fire Appeal Board as set forth in Title 16 of the county code. Decisions by the Fire Appeal Board may be appealed to the Planning Commission (Section 23.01.042).