Proposed Amendments to the Town of Smyrna Subdivision Regulations

Executive Summary of Major Changes

December 2008
Article 1:

1. 1-108 through 1-111 have been moved to Article 3 and the existing sections
following have been renumbered.
2. 1-109.107 has been amended so that the slope of a private access easement cannot
exceed 10%, which is the same as a public street.
3. 1-110.3 has been amended to reflect financial surety and not bonds.

Article 2:

1. Definitions have been moved from Article 6 to Article 2 and the articles following
were renumbered to reflect the change. Several definitions were added, deleted,
or amended.

Article 3:

1. This article was formerly Article 2 and was substantially amended in May 2007.
The formatting of this document highlights the amendments made at that time.
2. 3-101 has been moved from 1-109.
3. 3-103.3 has been added and 3-104.4 and 3-105.4 have been amended to reflect a
change in State law. The previous State statute required the Planning
Commission to approve or disapprove a plat within 30 days of submission of the
plat for review, unless the applicant consented to an extension of this time period.
The State law now is that the Planning Commission must approve or disapprove a
plat within 35 days of initial consideration of the plat by the Planning
Commission, unless the applicant consents to an extension. This clarifies in State
law that a plat can be deferred for up to one month by the Planning Commission.
Smyrna’s regulations have stated that that the submission date is considered the
date of the first Planning Commission meeting on the plat, which allows for one
month deferral. This change puts us in compliance with State law as amended,
but doesn’t change the process we have had since 1996.
4. 3-107 is new regarding development agreements being required per the Municipal
Code.
5. 3-108, 3-109, and 3-110 have been moved from 1-108, 1-110, and 1-111.

Article 4:

1. This article was formerly Article 5.

2. This article has been amended with several clean-up amendments, including the
Town Engineer final plat signoff being changed to the Director of Public Works.
 3. A certification requiring signoff of final plats by Middle Tennessee Electric
Membership Cooperative has been added per their request.

Article 5:

1. Article 5 was formerly Article 4.

2. There have several grammatical changes, etc., including changing City Engineer
to Director of Public Works in numerous locations.
3. Setback requirements from high voltage electric lines have been removed and will
be recommended to be added to the Zoning Ordinance.
4. There is an amendment to require construction access not utilizing existing Town
streets instead of suggesting it.
5. There is a change in the minimum pavement width for minor residential streets
from 22 feet to 24 feet.
6. Several sections regarding the design criteria for sanitary sewers have been
removed and replaced with a requirement that sanitary sewers be designed to meet
the Town of Smyrna Sewer System Standard Specifications for New
Construction.
7. The amendment as discussed in 1998 regarding major electrical and natural gas
easements is included in 5-109 (5).

Article 6:

1. Article 6 was formerly Appendix A and includes specifications for public works
issues, including roads, drainage, sidewalks, etc.
2. There are several changes to road pavement base widths, base thicknesses, and
surface course widths. These vary depending on the type of road and are
summarized in the chart in 6-302.
3. 6-301 includes 32 pages of standard detail drawings, many of which are carry
overs from the existing regulations as well as new and revised drawings. These
details allow for standard rollover curb and gutter or extruded curb to be used on
residential minor and collector level streets. It requires standard curb and gutter
on residential arterial streets and all non-residential streets.
4. A recommended amendment is to require sidewalks on one side of all residential
minor streets and on both sides of all nonresidential minor streets.

Article 7:

1. Article 7 was formerly Article 3.

2. Amendments include requiring storm drainage facilities to be installed and
inspected prior to issuance of building permits. This is in addition to water,
sewer, and roads up to the binder installed as is the case now.

Article 8:

1. Article 8 was formerly Article 7.