Residential local access streets provide safe access to housing and are often used for bicycle and pedestrian travel. Auto traffic should be light and slow and truck traffic minimized. Commercial and industrial local access streets provide convenient vehicular and pedestrian access to businesses for shoppers, employees, and service vehicles. Local access street patterns and design should:
- Avoid difficult driveway approaches.
- Minimize the number of intersections and connections with arterials.
- Provide safe intersections and access points at a safe distance from intersections to avoid traffic conflicts.
- Separate local traffic from through traffic as much as possible.
- Allow safe, convenient, well-maintained pedestrian and bicycle routes and travel areas.
- Support existing and planned future arterial road facilities.
- Separate truck traffic from shoppers and employees.
- Provide good solar access for adjacent residential lots.
- Minimize stormwater runoff and site disturbance during construction.
- Provide safe vehicular access and turning movements to and from driveways and lot access points.
- Discourage through traffic, and encourage reduced speeds.
- Provide curbs and gutters or other devices effective for drainage control.
- Provide durable landscaping and street trees.
- Ensure adequate road width, turning radii, and sight distances for large truck traffic in industrial areas.
Accident prevention is a major concern in street design standards. At higher densities, sidewalks or improved walkways and clearly marked crossing points are essential for pedestrian safety.
Rights-of-Way
Rights-of-way for all local street classifications should be the standard minimum 66 feet necessary to accommodate the roadway, transit-related improvements, sidewalks, and utilities necessary for existing and planned development. Many of the streets in Reed City have 80-foot rights-of-way, while only a few have less than the standard 66-foot right-of-way. These streets include Mill and Bittner Streets. Acquisition of additional rights-of-way along these sections of roadway is generally not necessary and not recommended.
The plan recommends the following specific roadway improvements. First, extend Slosson to Roth Street using a portion of the abandoned railroad right-of-way. Second, officially link Savadge to Lincoln in the area of the sewage treatment facility. Third, extend Hillside Drive south to Peck Lake Road, opening up a large land area for future residential development. Fourth, extend the road at the new high school west to Patterson, crossing the proposed extension of Hillside. This will provide an east-west access to the planned lower-density residential area in the southwest portion of the city and will help to reduce traffic along West Lincoln and West Church Streets. Fifth, build a new road along the city limits, east of Roth Street to Durham Street, opening up another large area of land for residential development. Sixth, extend Commerce Drive east through the proposed industrial park to provide road access to the entire park. This improvement will provide improved truck circulation in the industrial park.
Local access streets will be required in areas currently undeveloped but planned for medium-density residential development. The cost for providing these may be borne by the developer as public or private roads meeting city standards or by the city itself to encourage additional growth. The layout of these roads may be in the traditional geometric shape to conform with the remainder of the city or in a more curvi-linear fashion to maximize the developable area in more environmentally restrictive sites.
Parking
The city should obtain deeds and sole ownership of all municipal parking areas and should also obtain additional adjacent land for buffering and future expansion. The parking lot on the north side of Slosson should be expanded, and the alley should be eliminated. Parking areas should be nicely landscaped and defined, with internal island, exterior curbing, and adequate room for maneuvering. The Quonset hut in the parking area at East Osceola should be acquired and demolished. For all residential streets, on-street parking areas should be viewed as a means of accommodating occasional "overflow" parking demand by visitors or service vehicles. Residents' parking needs should be accommodated off-street and, in the case of multifamily development, as close as possible to the dwelling units served. Off-street parking provides greater safety and is more cost-effective than accommodating extensive on-street parking through wider streets.
Road and Street Improvements
Streets should be inventoried with regard to their physical condition and prioritized for severity and need for repairs. This would include everything form potholes and soft shoulders to complete reconstruction and storm drainage improvements. Street trees, sidewalk improvements, and improved lighting should be considered in all residential street improvement projects.
Street in need of complete reconstruction can tentatively be identified as:
- East Lincoln: Between Chestnut and Patterson (including curb and gutter).
- Todd: Between Park and Tomahawk.
- Slosson: Between Higbee and Patterson.
- Stimpson: Between Higbee and Sears.
- Higbee: Between Lincoln and Church.
- West Osceola: West of Sears (including curb and gutter).
- Hillside Court: Entire length.
- East Lincoln: Between Roth and Savadge.
- East Todd: Between Dekalb and Chestnut.
- Church: Between Higbee and Patterson (including curb and gutter).
- Patterson: Between Upton and the north city limits (including curb and gutter).
Street Beautification
Main Street (Chestnut) is in need of improvement to provide better definition in the vicinity of the downtown business district. Items to be considered might include installation of curbs, improved sidewalks, lighting, trees, banners, burying overhead utility lines, and new street signs. A signage program might be initiated that would include directional, informational, and historical signs in addition to street signs. New sign poles and fixtures can produce a noticeable impact. Many of these structures can be combined with pedestrian lighting or streetlights and can serve multiple functions for holding displays, placards, banners, decorations, etc.
WATER SUPPLY
Service level standards for water supplies should assure continued water quality, adequate domestic supplies, and fire flow levels. A decision to expand existing water services should be based on the following criteria:
- If it is economically feasible with no increase in planned densities.
- If water quality problems that threaten public health exist that can best be solved by public service.
- If water quantity problems exist that can best be solved by public service.
The existing water distribution system and water tower have adequate capacity to meet the water service needs of the city through the planning period. The four active water wells have a combined capacity of 2,235 gallons per minute under optimum operating conditions. In reality, the four pumps operate in a tandem sequence and do not run simultaneously. The elevated storage tank holds 300,000 gallons and signals for the pumps to engage when the quantity drops below 220,000 gallons. This will meet the needs of the projected population of 2,650 in the year 2010.
Future watermain extensions will be appropriate in areas designated as medium- to high-density residential, commercial, industrial, and newly expanded areas of the city intended for development.
Some rust problems exist in higher elevations; and pressure problems exist at varying times, mostly the result of undersized and dead-end lines. It is recommended that the watermain be looped wherever practical and as new demands allow. In general, watermains should be upgraded to a minimum of 8-inch-diameter pipe. Well head protection measures should be implemented at existing well sites following subsurface analysis of the aquifer's depth, direction of flow, etc.
Proposed new well locations should be identified far in advance of their development to ensure adequate well head protection. Protection zones should prohibit such activities as chemical storage, tile fields, gas stations, and industrial or commercial businesses that use, transport, or manufacture chemicals or toxic substances of any kind.
SANITARY SEWERS
Adequate sewage treatment and disposal are essential for economic growth to protect public health and safety and to maintain high quality for all water resource user. Sewer system projects should be limited to extending services to development areas of the city much the same as the proposed water system extensions. In general, the following criteria should be applied in considering sewer service extensions:
- Land use plans and zoning for urban uses and densities support the proposed addition.
- On-site wastewater disposal methods are not feasible for planned land uses, and densities or water quality are threatened by the presence or potential of health hazards resulting from inadequate wastewater disposal methods.
- Sewers are technically and financially feasible within the proposed area.
The current sewage treatment facility has a maximum treatment capacity of approximately 660,000 gallons per day, however, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered that the facility treat the water being continually pumped from the Beazer Creosote site. The treatment facility may have certain limitations as long as this situation exists. It is recommended that a third 660,000 gallon per day clarifier be added to the system effectively increasing the facility's treatment capacity by that amount.
STORM DRAINAGE
Natural drainage systems have many important functions, including storing and regulating stormwater flow, purifying surface water, recharging groundwater, transporting water, and supporting important biological activities. Alteration of natural drainage systems results in public costs and can result in environmental degradation, including flooding, erosion, sedimentation, and damage to water quality and habitats elsewhere in the system.
Various land uses can have significant effects on water quality. Sedimentation from ground disturbed by grading, new development, and farming can reduce stormwater flow, fill wetlands, and smother aquatic life and habitat. Surface water runoff from developed areas can carry pollutants, such as oil, heavy metals, garden chemicals, and animal wastes into the water system.
The most direct and effective approach to protect water quality is to control the amount and quality of surface water runoff. New development can be required to prevent significant runoff and water quality problems.
The existing stormwater management system requires minimal modifications to drain specific low areas and to minimize flooding potential. The plan recommends that the entire drainage system be studied to identify potential problem areas and determine future required improvements.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UTILITIES
This section contains policies to guide the city in the operation and regulation of utilities, allocating public funds for utilities, approving or denying private development proposals, and reviewing utility services and facilities provided by other public agencies and the private sector.
The following general guidelines should apply to all utilities:
- Utility plans and proposals should support and be consistent with the general development plan.
- Utilities should be designed, located, and constructed to avoid significant adverse environmental impacts and to protect valuable environmental features.
- The city should consider addition of utility placement design standards to encourage consistent location of utilities within the public right-of-way.
- Where utilities are inadequate to serve existing development, necessary improvements should be provided. Utility capital improvement programs should give priority to improving systems with significant inadequacies.
- Plans for utility service should be consistent with long-term, development policies in low density areas.
- Whenever possible, utilities should make joint use of utility rights-of-way. Underground utilities should be grouped together and easily accessible for maintenance, repair, and additions.
- Power and telephone wires should be installed underground where feasible, particularly in newly developing and high-density areas.
- Aboveground utility installations should be designed and located to minimize unsightly views and environmental impacts. Power and telephone poles should be as fare from right-of-way centerlines as possible.
CITY BUILDINGS
It is recommended that a new or renovated city hall be constructed at a future date. The existing 2,000-square-foot building is inadequate for the city's purposes. The existing offices should be reorganized to make for a more efficient coordination of personnel and interaction with public. The proposed city hall should be approximately 5,000 square feet and should provide office space for the mayor, clerk, treasurer, assessor, manager, assistant manager, police department, and include a separate meeting room for public meeting purposes that can function as a multipurpose room for more efficient use. The cost for some of these projects may be financed through tax increment financing. The DDA plan could include the renovation of the city office building or the construction of a new city government complex.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
A projected increase in population may have a serious effect on the ability of the school system to serve its student population. However, discussions with the school administration reveal that the system has the capacity to absorb the projected increase in students. The population projections in this plan indicate a population increase in the year 2000 of 95 additional persons and 225 additional persons by the year 2010. Based on the 1990 Census data information, 29 percent of the total persons in the city are school-aged; therefore, there will be approximately 28 additional students by the year 2000 and 65 additional students by the year 2010.
Provided by the Reed City Downtown Development Authority.
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