Article V. Pedestrian Access and Circulation
10.12.140 Pedestrian pathways.
To ensure safe, direct and convenient pedestrian access and circulation, all developments, except single-family detached housing on individual lots or parcels shall provide a continuous pedestrian and/or multi-use pathway system. Pathways only provide for pedestrian circulation. Multi-use pathways accommodate pedestrians and bicycles. The system of pathways shall be designed based on the standards below.
(1) Continuous Pathways. The pathway system shall extend throughout the development site, and connect to all future phases of development, adjacent trails, existing and planned transit stops, and public parks and open space areas whenever possible. The developer may also be required to connect or stub pathway(s) to adjacent streets and private property. As a condition of approval, the developer shall record an access easement to grant reciprocal access to adjacent parcels.
(2) Safe, Direct, and Convenient Pathways. Pathways within developments shall provide safe, reasonably direct and convenient connections between primary building entrances and all adjacent streets, based on the following definitions:
(a) “Reasonably direct” means a route that does not deviate unnecessarily from a straight line or a route that does not involve a significant amount of out-of-direction travel for likely users.
(b) “Safe and convenient” means bicycle and pedestrian routes that are reasonably free from hazards and provide a reasonably direct route of travel between destinations.
(c) For commercial, industrial, mixed use, public, and institutional buildings, the “primary entrance” is the main public entrance to the building. In the case where no public entrance exists, street connections shall be provided to the main employee entrance.
(d) For residential buildings the “primary entrance” is the front door (i.e., facing the street). For multifamily buildings in which each unit does not have its own exterior entrance, the “primary entrance” may be a lobby, courtyard or breezeway which serves as a common entrance for more than one dwelling.
(3) Connections within Development. Pathways shall connect all building entrances to one another within a development. In addition, pathways shall connect all parking areas, storage areas, recreational facilities and common areas (as applicable), and adjacent developments to the site, as applicable.
(4) Connections to Streets. When pathways are used to provide connections to public or private streets, they should comply with the following standards:
(a) Multi-use pathways (i.e., for pedestrians and bicyclists) are no less than 10 feet wide and located within a 20-foot-wide right-of-way or easement that allows access for emergency vehicles.
(b) Stairs or switchback paths using a narrower right-of-way/easement may be required in lieu of a multi-use pathway where grades are steep.
(c) The city may require landscaping within the pathway easement/right-of-way for screening and the privacy of adjoining properties.
(d) The city may determine, based upon facts in the record, that a pathway is impracticable due to: physical or topographic conditions (e.g., railroads, extremely steep slopes, sensitive lands, and similar physical constraints); buildings or other existing development on adjacent properties that physically prevent a connection now or in the future, considering the potential for redevelopment; and sites where the provisions of recorded leases, easements, covenants, restrictions, or other agreements recorded as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter prohibit the pathway connection. (Ord. 2048 § 5, 2021; Ord. 1919 § 14, 2004)