Common Driveways

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BYLAW: Common Drives

MUNICIPALITY: Pepperell, Massachusetts

DATE ADOPTED: May 3, 1999 recieved at Munilaw: Jan. 10, 2000

PURPOSE:
A. Common drive, as defined in Section 174-5, may be allowed by Planning Board Special permit in all districts subject to the following requirements: A. The common drive shall be designed and built to a standard that will allow for the passage of all vehicles that are expected to use it year round. The planning Board may require bituminous concrete on common drives.

B. The maximum grade shall be ten percent (10%). The minimum grade shall be one percent (1%).

C. The common drive including utilities, permanent marker(s), shoulders, parking area(s), turnaround(s), travel way and any snow storage area(s) shall be laid out entirely within an access and utility easement with a minimum width of thirty (30) feet. All proposed utilities shall be shown on the plan submitted with the special permit application.

D. Adequate drainage shall be provided. The drainage design and appurtenances shall prevent washout and excessive erosion and it shall prevent drainage runoff from entering the public way, prevent runoff from the public way from entering the common drive, and prevent runoff from flowing across the driveway. The wearing surface of the travel way shall be graded to drain from the crown. Drainage calculations may be required bat the discretion of the Planning Board, the special permit granting authority for common drives.

E. The travel way shall be a minimum of sixteen (16) feet wide with two (2) foot gravel shoulders on each side with the same twelve (12) inch base as the common driveway and free of obstructions such as trees and utility poles.

F. The common drive may be either pavement or gravel. Whether the wearing surface is pavement or gravel, a minimum gravel base of twelve (12) inches (gravel shall have no aggregate larger than three (3) inches) shall be required. A paved drive shall have two courses of bituminous concrete with a total thickness of three (3) inches. If the drive is gravel, the top two (2) inch wearing surface shall be dense, graded crushed stone.

G. The first twenty-five (25) feet from the public way shall be paved with two courses of bituminous concrete with a total thickness of three (3) inches and return (corner) radii of twenty-five (25) feet.

H . A permanent marker of engraved granite not greater than six (6) square feet in area shall be placed at the end of the driveway where it meets the public way with a diagram listing the addresses of the properties as assigned by the Board of Assessors. A similar marker shall be placed where the common drive meets each individual lot driveway listing the address of the property. Should the common drive split, permanent marker(s) must also be placed at the intersections indication which homes are located on either side of the split(s)

I. A common drive shall be designed in accordance with the Guidelines for Driveway Access design provisions formulated by the Fire Department Board of Fire Engineers.

J. A draft document providing for restrictive covenants and easements binding present and future owners of all the lost served by the common drive must be submitted for Planning Board approval. Should the special permit be approved, the document(s) shall be recorded at the Registry of Deeds and shall also be recited in and attached to every deed to every lot served by the common drive. Such document(s) must include but are not limited to the following: (1) Specific standards for the maintenance of all structures designed to the requirements of a common drive special permit, including but not limited to the travel way, drainage system and signage. (2) Provisions for allocating responsibility for maintenance, repair and/or reconstruction of the common driveway, drainage system and signage. (3) Text of proposed easements including the metes and bounds description. (4) A procedure for the resolution of disagreements.

K. The Planning Board may require a bond for the completion of the common drive and that such bond shall be posted prior to the issuance of building permits on the lots.

L . The common drive may be named, but the name must be approved by the Planning Board either at the time of submission of the special permit application or when a petition for name and street numbering is submitted to the Board of Assessors.

M. It is the intent of this chapter that a common drive be substantially completed prior to the issuance of building permits for new buildings to be serviced by the common drive, unless the common drive is secured by a bond. All common drives shall be completed prior to the occupancy of any dwelling unit served by the common drive. Completion shall be verified by submittal of as-built drawings requiring approval by the Planning Board.

N. Strict compliance with the requirements of these regulations may be waived, when in the judgement of the Planning Board, such action is in the public interest and not inconsistent with the Pepperell Zoning Bylaw.