Comprehensive Master Plan - City of Alvin

Appendix A, Land Use SupplementDevelopers typically seek land with available services as opposed toproviding it themselves at an increased cost to the development. This hasalways been a difficult tool for local government, because capitalimprovements are costly given limited resources. With the desire to maintainreasonable local taxes, the use of capital improvements as a management toolhas become even more difficult. However, it is effective since it impacts theeconomics of development. The developer who builds where new serviceshave just been provided has a competitive advantage over those who mustpay to extend services to their property. Unlike the large scale developer,local government gains no control over the type or quality of land use byextending services alone. In fact, if local government does not control theinfrastructure, but depends on a quasi‐independent utility such as a ruralwater provider or municipal utility district, it may not even be able tomaintain adequate service.STREET Access Controls • • •Street rights‐of‐way are government owned. The City may provide controlson access for local streets, which may have a minimal to strong impact on theuse of land. A minimum level of control is what is referred to as a “curb cutpermit”, which looks at the location and number of driveways and theirwidth and spacing along the property frontage. Commonly, site access is keptto a required minimum distance away from intersections (75 feet forcollector/commercial/minor streets and 125 feet for thoroughfares, accordingto Section VI of the Subdivision Design Requirements). Often, such controlspermit each property to have an access point unless there are safety issuesthat cannot be overcome.Another form of access control is used to preserve the rights‐of‐way of futureroad alignments. The City’s adopted Thoroughfare Plan addresses thelocation of streets, which sets the pattern for the location of commercial usessince they seek to locate along major roads, such as Business 35, S.H. 35Bypass, and S.H. 6. Because major roads require capital investment, there arelimits to its effectiveness as a land use control. Other access controls such asthose described below seek to manage the impact of access on the flow oftraffic. The following measures offer opportunities for land use control, withvarying degrees of success:• Permits for curb cuts are a relatively weak tool for land use purposes.They serve to limit the number of curb cuts on a road and, in some cases,the number of curb cuts on an individual property. This regulationPage A-3