Building over public right-of-way

[ddmccool]

Hi:
We've got a development that owns propery on both sides of a major street in out city. They want to build a skyway plaza over the street to connect the two buildings. This plaza would be more than just a walkway -- they plan to have rooms, etc. This is a first request of its kind in our city of 47,000. How do we handle this zoning-wise? How do we deal with encroachments, since it goes over the public right-of-way? Any advice on how your cities have handled this would be appreciated.

Thanks much!
Deanna

 

[Chet]

Lease

We did a right-of-way encroachment by lease. The abutting district allowed zero lot line development, and by Code, zoning does did apply to rights-of-way. Therefore, the terms of the enchroachment were all negoatiated parts of the lease. The lease did include a provision for removal entirely at owners expense with a reasonable amount of lead time.

 

[ddmccool]

How much to charge?

How much did you charge for the lease? Was it something that was renewed yearly?

 

[Chet]

lease charges

It was a politically-motivated economic development incentive - A 99 year lease for $1.

 

[Tranplanner]

Just make sure there is enough clearance under the skyway for large vehicles to make it through! I'd say 15 feet would be the absolute minimum you would want.