Road Standards
| Unlike Lenoir City and Loudon
City to a lesser extent, Loudon County officials continue to work on
zoning and development policies to better manage residential development
throughout the county, outside the city limits. After many months of discussion, the new proposal is to establish additional road standards for any developments of 10 lots or more. The only road standards on the books right now require that any subdivision development of more than 5 lots, may only be approved if connecting to a county or state road of 18' or greater. An 18' road is really not a very wide road when considering a development of 20, 30, 40 or more lots. The new proposal would add, any developments of 10 or more lots would only be approved if connecting to a county or state road of 20' in width or more. The new road standards would be; 1-4 lot developments could
connect to a road of less than 18' Also under consideration will be, that if a developer wants build a development outside the parameters above, the developer could, at their expense, bring the substandard road up to county standards from the proposed development to the nearest intersecting road that meets the required road width table above. This would put the cost of infrastructure improvement on the developer rather than the tax payers. At the last county commission meeting, commissioners voted to send the new road standard proposal to the Loudon County Planning Commission for their input and consideration. In the same vote, a moratorium was placed on any new developments greater than 9 lots until the final road standards are adopted. The residents of Loudon County have made it clear, they want controls on residential development to preserve rural and country areas of the county. The county commission is listening and taking actions to do just that. Below is the proposed language for the new, additional road standard. Any proposed residential development with ten lots or more connecting to a county road must connect to a road at least twenty feet wide, measured inside white line to inside white line. The road must be twenty feet in width to the closest intersection where the connecting road is twenty feet in width. Additionally, if there is an average daily traffic count of 1,500 cars or greater, a turn lane, acceleration lane, and deceleration lane must be installed. The ADTC is based on the most recent TDOT count performed on the road. If a TDOT ADTC is not available, a traffic count must be conducted at the developer’s expense. A 10-day average is required. This must not include county recognized holidays. |
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9/9/24