Stanley and Bonnie Robinson, and Shepard Construction Co., Inc., applied to the Town of Hartford Planning Commission for approval of а four-lot minor subdivision. Philomena Sacco, whose property is bordered on three sides by one of the lots of the proposed subdivision, contested the application. The application was approved, and Sacco appealеd to the superior court. After.a trial de novo pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 4472(a), the court ordered that a minor subdivision permit be issued to the Robinsons аnd Shepard Construction Co., but with a number of conditions necessary to give effect to the Town of Hartford zoning and subdivision regulations. Sacco appealed to this Court, claiming that the trial court’s issuance of the permit was error because the proposed subdivision a) did not comply with lot frontage requirements for the applicable zoning district; b) violated a prohibition against “reserved strips,” as defined by the Hartford Subdivision Regulations; and c) did not provide safe access past Sacco’s property to the proposed lots of the subdivision. We affirm.
The dispute centers around the access drive to the proposed lots. The acсess
Sacco’s first claim on appeal is that proposed Lot 003 does not comply with the width requirements of Hartford’s Zoning Regulation 4-7-2, because only twenty feet of Lot 003 has frontagе on a public road. Regulation 4-7-2 defines lot measurements and requires that eighty percent of the required lot width for this residential zonе have frontage on a road, in this case one hundred feet. The Hartford zoning regulations also permit interior lots, with zero street frontage, as long as there is access from a street through private “rights-of-way” or “easements” meeting certain safety requirements. Regulation 4-3-3.1. The trial court correctly determined that Regulation 4-7-2 does not logically apply to Lot 003. But for the access drivе, which continues from the end of a public road, Lot 003 is really an interior lot with access to the street by private road. That Lot 003 will bе accessed by its own strip of land, rather than a right-of-way or easement, is not inconsistent with the scheme of Hartford zoning regulations.
Sаcco further contends that the access drive is an unlawful “reserved strip” under § 5-4-1.3 of the Hartford Subdivision Regulations. The reserved-strip prоvision states: “No privately owned reserved strip, except on open space areas shall be permitted which controls access to any part of the subdivision or to any other parcel of land from any street . . . .” Case law in another jurisdiction indiсates that so-called “reserved strips” typically have been narrow strips of land, reserved from the major parcel grantеd, with the object of limiting the accessibility of the parcel.
Koff v. Frank,
Finally, Sacco contends that the court’s judgment is rendered void by the inclusion in the subdivision permit of condi
tions that, she argues, are vague and unenforceable. We cannot agree. The trial court was authorized to issue a permit with conditions. See
In re Poole,
The conditions are not vague; they are unqualified and definite. Those affecting the access drive require the permit holder to improve and widen the road, post a sign stating a 10 mрh speed limit, post a warning regarding children and pedestrians, and remove snow in winter to maintain room for two cars to pass.
The conditions are, moreover, enforceable. A violation of a condition of a subdivision permit would be a violation of the zoning ordinance itself.
Appellant expressed particular concern about the condition requiring posting of a 10-mile-an-hour speed limit, challenging the trial court’s conсlusion that the condition would make the road safe, since law enforcement officials will have no authority to enforce а speed limit on a private road. We agree that permit conditions cannot insure against unreasonable use by persons other than the permit holders. Private access roads are undeniably unsafe if traversed at unreasonable speeds, and law enforcement officers, it is true, have no authority to enforce posted speed limits on such roads. But appellant’s argument, сarried to its logical conclusion, would prohibit private access roads altogether. We do not believe that such a result is warranted.
Affirmed.
