Seward requires wider paved streets and bans cul-de-sacs in new subdivisions

The Seward City Council voted 6-0 Monday to rewrite the rules for new subdivisions, requiring developers to build wider paved streets with room for pedestrians and banning permanent cul-de-sacs.

Under the new code, street rights-of-way must be 60 feet wide instead of 50, and the part used for driving must be paved. Streets must also have pedestrian facilities, either a sidewalk or a wider paved strip marked for walkers, as in Hilltop. Electric lines must go underground.

Much of the rewrite puts into code what the city already required, City Planner Courtney Bringhurst told the council. Developers have always had to pay for streets and utilities in their subdivisions, she said, and the new code makes clearer what they're responsible for.

The cul-de-sac ban drew debate at the Planning and Zoning Commission, which voted unanimously in September to send the rewrite to the council. Cul-de-sacs mean quieter streets and slower traffic, Bringhurst said, but they cut off walkers from neighboring areas and make snowplowing and looping water and sewer lines harder.

Tim McDonald, the only person to testify, said he swings a hammer for a living. He said the requirements could add 20% or 30% to the cost of a house and that the city should pay at least half. He said the city gave one contractor almost $400,000 for subdivision improvements two years ago.

Seward "shouldn't be an exclusive enclave," he said.

Council Member Michael Calhoon said the city has given developers far more than $400,000 through its development program, but never for free. Developers have had to pay much of that money back, he said, and the cost of improvements gets built into lot prices that homeowners end up paying.

"This has been in the code. This just makes it, in my opinion, tighter," Calhoon said.

Council Member Robert Barnwell pointed to Forest Acres as a developer that slipped by and cost everybody a lot of money. "There's a reason for these demands," he said.

The code also creates a way around city water. Developers can apply for a waiver to use wells, a community well, cisterns or rainwater catchment if a subdivision is more than 400 feet from city water or if steep terrain makes connecting impractical. Bringhurst said the waiver was written with development off Nash Road in mind, including Mount Alice Estates, which needed a conditional use permit to get wells approved.

The requirements aren't easy, Bringhurst said. Developers must prove a water source with an engineer's report when they submit a preliminary plat. Lots with private wells must be at least 40,000 square feet. Homes that rely on stored water must keep enough on hand for fire sprinklers, on top of what households need. And if city water later comes within 400 feet, owners must connect within 12 months of being notified.

Council Member Draper raised a catch. Alaska Housing told the city it would finance homes with catchment or cistern systems if they were common in the area. They aren't common, he said, partly because they're hard to finance.

The new rules apply only to land being subdivided now or in the future, Bringhurst said.