OAR 660-012-0045: Implementation of the Transportation System Plan

(1) Each local government shall amend its land use regulations to implement the TSP. (a) The following transportation facilities, services and improvements need not be subject to land use regulations except as necessary to implement the TSP and, under ordinary circumstances do not have a significant impact on land use: (A) Operation, maintenance, and repair of existing transportation facilities identified in the TSP, such as road, bicycle, pedestrian, port, airport, and rail facilities, and major regional pipelines and terminals; (B) Dedication of right-of-way, authorization of construction, and the construction of facilities and improvements, where the improvements are consistent with clear and objective dimensional standards; (C) Uses permitted outright under ORS 215.213(1)(j)–(m) and 215.283(1)(h)–(k), consistent with the provisions of OAR 660-012-0065; and (D) Changes in the frequency of transit, rail, and airport services. (b) To the extent, if any, that a transportation facility, service or improvement concerns the application of a comprehensive plan provision or land use regulation, it may be allowed without further land use review if it is permitted outright or if it is subject to standards that do not require interpretation or the exercise of factual, policy, or legal judgment; (c) In the event that a transportation facility, service, or improvement is determined to have a significant impact on land use or to concern the application of a comprehensive plan or land use regulation and to be subject to standards that require interpretation or the exercise of factual, policy, or legal judgment, the local government shall provide a review and approval process that is consistent with OAR 660-012-0050. To facilitate implementation of the TSP, each local government shall amend its land use regulations to provide for consolidated review of land use decisions required to permit a transportation project. (2) Local governments shall adopt land use or subdivision ordinance regulations, consistent with applicable federal and state requirements, to protect transportation facilities, corridors, and sites for their identified functions. Such regulations shall include: (a) Access control measures, for example, driveway and public road spacing, median control, and signal spacing standards, that are consistent with the functional classification of roads and consistent with limiting development on rural lands to rural uses and densities; (b) Standards to protect future operation of roads, transitways, and major transit corridors; (c) Measures to protect public use airports by controlling land uses within airport noise corridors and imaginary surfaces, and by limiting physical hazards to air navigation; (d) A process for coordinated review of future land use decisions affecting transportation facilities, corridors, or sites; (e) A process to apply conditions to development proposals in order to minimize impacts and protect transportation facilities, corridors, or sites; (f) Regulations to provide notice to public agencies providing transportation facilities and services, MPOs, and ODOT of: (A) Land use applications that require public hearings; (B) Subdivision and partition applications; (C) Other applications that affect private access to roads; and (D) Other applications within airport noise corridors and imaginary surfaces that affect airport operations; and (g) Regulations ensuring that amendments to land use designations, densities, and design standards are consistent with the functions, capacities, and performance standards of facilities identified in the TSP. (3) Local governments shall adopt land use or subdivision regulations for urban areas and rural communities as set forth below. The purposes of this section are to provide for safe and convenient pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular circulation consistent with access management standards and the function of affected streets, to ensure that new development provides on-site streets and accessways that provide reasonably direct routes for pedestrian and bicycle travel in areas where pedestrian and bicycle travel is likely if connections are provided, and that avoids wherever possible levels of automobile traffic that might interfere with or discourage pedestrian or bicycle travel. (a) Bicycle parking facilities as part of new multi-family residential developments of four units or more, new retail, office and institutional developments, and all transit transfer stations and park-and-ride lots; (b) On-site facilities shall be provided that accommodate safe and convenient pedestrian and bicycle access from within new subdivisions, multi-family developments, planned developments, shopping centers, and commercial districts to adjacent residential areas and transit stops, and to neighborhood activity centers within one-half mile of the development. Single-family residential developments shall generally include streets and accessways. Pedestrian circulation through parking lots should generally be provided in the form of accessways. (A) “Neighborhood activity centers” include, but are not limited to, existing or planned schools, parks, shopping areas, transit stops, or employment centers; (B) Bikeways shall be required along arterials and major collectors. Sidewalks shall be required along arterials, collectors, and most local streets in urban areas, except that sidewalks are not required along controlled access roadways, such as freeways; (C) Cul-de-sacs and other dead-end streets may be used as part of a development plan, consistent with the purposes set forth in this section; (D) Local governments shall establish their own standards or criteria for providing streets and accessways consistent with the purposes of this section. Such measures may include but are not limited to: standards for spacing of streets or accessways; and standards for excessive out-of-direction travel; (E) Streets and accessways need not be required where one or more of the following conditions exist: (i) Physical or topographic conditions make a street or accessway connection impracticable. Such conditions include but are not limited to freeways, railroads, steep slopes, wetlands or other bodies of water where a connection could not reasonably be provided; (ii) Buildings or other existing development on adjacent lands physically preclude a connection now or in the future considering the potential for redevelopment; or (iii) Where streets or accessways would violate provisions of leases, easements, covenants, restrictions or other agreements existing as of May 1, 1995, which preclude a required street or accessway connection. (c) Where off-site road improvements are otherwise required as a condition of development approval, they shall include facilities accommodating convenient pedestrian and bicycle travel, including bicycle ways along arterials and major collectors; (d) For purposes of subsection (b) “safe and convenient” means bicycle and pedestrian routes, facilities and improvements that: (A) Are reasonably free from hazards, particularly types or levels of automobile traffic that would interfere with or discourage pedestrian or cycle travel for short trips; (B) Provide an accessible and reasonably direct route of travel between destinations such as between a transit stop and a store; and (C) Meet travel needs of cyclists and pedestrians considering destination and length of trip; and considering that the most common trip length of pedestrians is generally under one-half mile. (e) Internal pedestrian circulation within new office parks and commercial developments shall be provided through clustering of buildings, construction of accessways, walkways and similar techniques. (4) To support transit in urban areas containing a population greater than 25,000, where the area is already served by a public transit system or where a determination has been made that a public transit system is feasible, local governments shall adopt land use and subdivision regulations as provided in subsections (a)–(g) below: (a) Transit routes and transit facilities shall be designed to support transit use through provision of bus stops, pullouts and shelters, optimum road geometrics, on-road parking restrictions and similar facilities, as appropriate; (b) New retail, office, and institutional buildings at or near major transit stops shall provide for convenient pedestrian access to transit through the measures listed in paragraphs (A) and (B) below. (A) Accessible walkways shall be provided connecting building entrances and streets adjoining the site; (B) Accessible pedestrian facilities connecting to adjoining properties shall be provided except where such a connection is impracticable as provided for in paragraph (3)(b)(E). Pedestrian facilities shall connect the on-site circulation system to existing or proposed streets, walkways, and driveways that abut the property. Where adjacent properties are undeveloped or have potential for redevelopment, streets, accessways and walkways on site shall be laid out or stubbed to allow for extension to the adjoining property; (C) In addition to paragraphs (A) and (B) above, on sites at major transit stops provide the following: (i) Either locate buildings within 20 feet of the transit stop, a transit street or an intersecting street or provide a pedestrian plaza at the transit stop or a street intersection; (ii) An accessible and reasonably direct pedestrian facility between the transit stop and building entrances on the site; (iii) A transit passenger landing pad accessible to people with disabilities; (iv) An easement or dedication for a passenger shelter if requested by the transit provider; and (v) Lighting at the transit stop. (c) Local governments may implement paragraphs (b)(A) and (B) through the designation of pedestrian districts and adoption of appropriate implementing measures regulating development within pedestrian districts. Pedestrian districts must comply with the requirement of paragraph (b)(C); (d) Designated employee parking areas in new developments shall provide preferential parking for carpools and vanpools; (e) Existing development shall be allowed to redevelop a portion of existing parking areas for transit-oriented uses, including bus stops and pullouts, bus shelters, park and ride stations, transit-oriented developments, and similar facilities, where appropriate; (f) Road systems for new development shall be provided that can be adequately served by transit, including provision of pedestrian access to existing and identified future transit routes. This shall include, where appropriate, separate accessways to minimize travel distances; (g) Along existing or planned transit routes, designation of types and densities of land uses adequate to support transit. (5) In developing a bicycle and pedestrian circulation plan as required by OAR 660-012-0020(2)(d), local governments shall identify improvements to facilitate bicycle and pedestrian trips to meet local travel needs in developed areas. Appropriate improvements should provide for more direct, convenient, accessible, and safer bicycle or pedestrian travel within and between residential areas and neighborhood activity centers (i.e., schools, shopping, transit stops). Specific measures include, for example, constructing walkways between cul-de-sacs and adjacent roads, providing walkways between buildings, and providing direct access between adjacent uses. (6) Local governments shall establish standards for local streets and accessways that minimize pavement width and total right-of-way consistent with the operational needs of the facility. The intent of this requirement is that local governments consider and reduce excessive standards for local streets and accessways in order to reduce the cost of construction, provide for more efficient use of urban land, provide for emergency vehicle access while discouraging inappropriate traffic volumes and speeds, and which accommodate convenient pedestrian and bicycle circulation. Notwithstanding section (1) or (3) of this rule, local street standards adopted to meet this requirement need not be adopted as land use regulations.