Cookeville City Council will consider making changes to the city’s zoning code regarding driveway surfacing Thursday.
The amended code would require driveways to be surfaced to the back of the public right-of-way or for a distance of ten feet into the driveway in single-family districts. Community Development Director Jon Ward said Public Works has seen quite a few instances where the slope of a gravel driveway has washed rock into the street. Ward said the driveway issues are mostly from larger lots rather than subdivisions.
“You know, you got somebody building a house on like a ten-acre tract,” Ward said. “You know, that’s part of the things that we are trying to address with this amendment, to at least require a section of that to be surfaced without requiring the whole driveway to be surfaced.”
Ward said amending the code would add cost to building homes, but the Community Development Department and the planning commission believe that gravel in the street is a safety issue.
The council thought the zoning code already covered driveway surface requirements. Ward said there is, but it can be hard to find.
“There’s a section in the zoning code that says that all driveways shall be surfaced, but it’s in the parking requirements,” Ward said.
The council also voiced issues with some properties not meeting the maximum width of a residential driveway. Ward said the maximum width is 25 feet. Council Member Chad Gilbert asked how the city can better clarify the minimum driveway width at the public right-of-way.
“I’ve seen instances where it’s just a little goofy where they have a three-car garage situation and they don’t have a lot of distance between front of house,” Gilbert said. “Which we want to promote home ownership, so you drive costs down, and then if they are bang bang to the road or the sidewalk, it gets real awkward to get that increase, and you can’t back out.”
Ward said he hopes that now the city’s codes department has a better handle on driveways that have slipped through the cracks.
“Codes has been directed to have the location and width of all driveways submitted on every plot plan for a house,” Ward said. “So that should be when you get your building permit, that’s being reviewed before Public Works signs off on that.”
City Manager James Mills said the problem is that some smaller residential properties will just have a sea of concrete without green spaces. Mills said the city wants to have green spaces in residential areas. Mills also said that driveway widths are something that can be brought forward to the planning commission.
The city council will meet this Thursday at 5pm at Cookeville City Hall.
