Title
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY’S ACCESS MANAGEMENT CODE AS ADOPTED AND MADE A PART OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES BY SECTION 26-308 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LEE’S SUMMIT, MISSOURI.
(NOTE: First reading by City Council on April 5, 2018.)
Body
Issue/Request:
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY’S ACCESS MANAGEMENT CODE AS ADOPTED AND MADE A PART OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES BY SECTION 26-308 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LEE’S SUMMIT, MISSOURI.
Key Issues:
- The original Access Management Code was adopted in November 2004. This is the first proposed amendment of the Access Management Code.
- The purpose, benefits, and applicability of the Access Management Code have not been amended.
- Various provisions of the Access Management Code have been updated to reflect current industry best practices and consistency with years of application in Lee's Summit.
- Proposed changes are generally less restrictive and more practical than originally drafted. No significant alterations or adverse impacts foreseen.
Proposed City Council Motion:
I move for adoption of AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY’S ACCESS MANAGEMENT CODE AS ADOPTED AND MADE A PART OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES BY SECTION 26-308 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LEE’S SUMMIT, MISSOURI.
Background:
The Access Management Code (AMC) was adopted by Ordinance 5832 and incorporated in Chapter 26 of the Code of Ordinances, Article IV. It was drafted and approved in 2004 and has not been amended since then. The Access Management Code applies to all development and redevelopment applications and is used in capital project planning and design. The Access Management Code provides criteria, standards, and conditions for access along the City's rights-of-way to protect the function, efficiency and safety of all right-of-way users.
Changes primarily clarify language, update the AMC to incorporate current industry standards, and codify the past 10 years of local practice. Clarifications focus on grammar, typos, expanding on statements to better describe the intent of the AMC, and better clarify the roles of City Staff. Updates to current standards generally incorporate more recent industry references. The AMC was changed to incorporate references to the most recent Highway Capacity Manual, Trip Generation Manual and other best practices used in traffic engineering. The only new requirement in the AMC specifies that evaluations for installing a roundabout shall be conducted when new work will cause a signal to be warranted at an intersection. This means a comparison of the traffic impacts of a signal versus roundabout will be conducted at these locations.
Updating the AMC to match past practices generally makes the code less restrictive. For the past ten years, numerous waivers have been granted to development work because requirements in the manual created work not warranted by the impacts of a project. For example, turn lanes on minor arterials streets were routinely waived, so that AMC requirement increased the cars per hour that would trigger installing a turn lane on minor arterial streets. The requirement for traffic impact studies was modified so that many studies for small projects no longer require a 20 to 40 year long-range outlook.
Access Management is a proven safety measure and can mitigate costly capacity and delay deficiencies. The Access Management Code also clearly defines the City's expectations of managed right-of-way, turn lane requirements, traffic study conditions, etc. for the development community. These updates will improve the clarity and use of the AMC.
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Presenter
Presenter: Michael Park, PE, PTOE, City Traffic Engineer
Recommendation
Recommendation:
Staff recommends approval of AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY’S ACCESS MANAGEMENT CODE AS ADOPTED AND MADE A PART OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES BY SECTION 26-308 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LEE’S SUMMIT, MISSOURI.
Committee Recommendation
Committee Recommendation: The Public Works Committee February 20, 2018 was cancelled due to forecasted weather conditions.