Los Altos Hills Municipal Code Art. 11 Driveways

The purposes of this article are to insure that driveways are designed and constructed to provide adequate sight distances; to allow for emergency access; to be unobtrusive from off-site; to limit the removal of trees and environmental damage; and to insure that while minimizing impermeable surfacing, sufficient off-street parking is provided on each site to meet the needs of the occupants, their guests, and service vehicles.

(§ 15, Ord. 299, eff. December 11, 1985)

(a) Driveways shall enter the fronting road or street in such a manner as to provide safe sight distance and ease of ingress and egress, and shall be brought to the road or street at an angle as near a right angle as safety and physical features permit.

(b) Natural slope and topography shall be retained whenever safely possible.

(c) Where the driveway is in an embankment, culverts and embankment protectors shall be used to convey the runoff or other drainage to proper disposal channels.

(d) Intersections of driveways and pathways shall be surfaced in a manner approved by the City Engineer to minimize the danger of slipping by pedestrians or horses.

(e) An encroachment permit shall be required for work to be done in the public right-of-way.

(f) The horizontal alignment of the driveway shall be adequate for safe and convenient travel.

(g) Driveways shall meet all standards for width, vertical clearance, grade, surface, weight, turning radius, turnouts, turnabouts and all other requirements as established by the Santa Clara County Fire Department except that driveway width shall be a minimum of 12 feet and a maximum of 14 feet (excluding parking and back-up areas). Where the placement of a driveway would require the removal of a tree, that tree may be allowed to encroach on the driveway width provided there is at least 10 feet of clearance and that the Fire Department does not object.

(h) Driveways shall not be located within 10 feet of any property line except as necessary for site access and common driveways and as approved by the Site Development Authority.

(§ 15, Ord. 299, eff. December 11, 1985; § 1, Ord. 422, eff. October 19, 2002)