6.3 Rights-of-Way, Utilities & Easements

Public Rights-of-Way

A public right-of-way (ROW) is a strip of land owned or controlled by a public agency (city, county, or state) intended for the movement of people, goods, and utilities. The ROW contains the paved street, but it usually extends several feet beyond the curb or edge of pavement to include sidewalks, streetlights, fire hydrants, street trees, and underground utilities.

It is a common misconception among homeowners that their property line begins at the street curb. In reality, the front property line usually begins several feet behind the sidewalk. Permit Technicians must ensure that applicants do not propose building private structures—like fences, retaining walls, or monuments—within the public ROW. Any work performed within the ROW, such as installing a new driveway approach, typically requires a separate Public Works or Encroachment Permit under the 2021 IZC guidelines.

Street Classifications

Rights-of-way are categorized by the volume of traffic they are designed to handle. This classification impacts zoning setbacks and driveway access rules:

• Arterial Streets: Major, high-capacity roadways intended to move large volumes of traffic quickly across a city. Driveway access directly onto arterials is usually heavily restricted.
• Collector Streets: Medium-capacity roads that gather traffic from local streets and funnel it to arterials.
• Local Streets: Low-capacity roads primarily providing direct access to residential properties.

Easements

While a right-of-way is generally publicly owned land, an easement is a legal right granted to a specific person or entity to use a portion of someone else's privately owned land for a specific purpose. The property owner retains ownership of the land and pays taxes on it, but their use of that specific area is restricted by the easement terms.

For site development and permitting, identifying easements is critical because permanent structures usually cannot be built over them, as reinforced by the 2021 International Building Code (IBC) for fire safety and structural integrity.

Common Types of Easements

1. Utility Easements: Granted to utility companies to run power lines, gas lines, telecommunications cables, or water mains across a property. If a homeowner builds a shed over a utility easement and the utility company needs to access their pipes, the company has the legal right to demolish the shed.
2. Drainage Easements: Areas designated for the safe overland flow of stormwater. These easements often contain swales or underground storm drains. Grading or building in these areas can cause severe flooding and is strictly prohibited.
3. Access Easements (Right-of-Way Easement): Allows a neighbor to cross the subject property to reach their own property. A common example is a shared driveway serving a flag lot.
4. Conservation Easements: Restricts development on a portion of land to protect environmental features like wetlands, forests, or steep slopes.

Right-of-Way vs. Easements

The following table highlights the distinct differences between a right-of-way and an easement, which often confuse applicants.

Utility Access and Clearances

Beyond formal easements, Permit Technicians must also be aware of mandatory clearances required by utility providers, particularly for electrical infrastructure. The National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) dictates minimum vertical and horizontal clearance distances between buildings and overhead power lines to prevent fire hazards and ensure utility worker safety. Even if a proposed building addition complies with local zoning setbacks, it may still be denied if it encroaches into the required clearance zone of a high-voltage transmission line. Similarly, underground utilities like water meters, sewer cleanouts, and gas meters must remain accessible and cannot be buried under concrete patios or enclosed within structures.

Sight Triangles (Clear Vision Areas)

At the intersections of public rights-of-way, the 2021 IZC and public works codes typically require a sight triangle or clear vision area. This is a designated triangular area at street corners (or where a driveway meets a street) where structures, fences, and landscaping are strictly limited in height—usually restricted to no more than 30 to 36 inches.

This regulation ensures that motorists and pedestrians have an unobstructed line of sight to oncoming traffic before entering the intersection. When reviewing a site plan for a corner lot, a Permit Technician must carefully check the placement and height of proposed retaining walls, solid fences, and mature tree plantings within this triangle to ensure compliance.

Buffer Zones and Landscaping

When vastly different zoning districts abut one another—for instance, a heavy industrial park located next to a residential subdivision—the 2021 IZC will often require a buffer zone. A buffer is a transitional space designed to mitigate nuisances like noise, dust, odor, and unsightly views.

Buffer zones are typically required on the property of the more intensive use. They are heavily regulated and may require:

• Spatial separation: A massive building setback distance.
• Screening: Dense landscaping, tall opaque masonry walls, or earth berms to physically block the line of sight and deflect sound.

Permit Technicians reviewing commercial or industrial site plans must check the zoning map to see if the property abuts a less intensive zone, triggering the need to route the application to a planner or landscape architect to verify buffer compliance.

Reviewing the Site Plan

During intake, the Permit Technician examines the submitted site plan to ensure all these elements are accurately depicted. The site plan must show:

• The exact location of the public ROW and the property lines.
• All recorded easements with their dimensions and purposes labeled.
• The location of existing overhead and underground utilities.
• Any required buffer zones, sight triangles, and landscaping.

If a proposed structure encroaches into an easement, the Technician must require the applicant to either redesign the project or obtain a formal vacation or encroachment agreement from the easement holder before the permit can be approved.