Article 8. Subdivision Design and Improvements

Contents of Article

20-801 General...................................................................................................... 2

(a) Purpose and Intent....................................................................................... 2

(b) Jurisdiction................................................................................................... 2

(d) Exemptions.................................................................................................. 2

(e) Vested Rights............................................................................................... 2

20-802 General Review and Approval Procedures............................................... 2

(a) Authority to File Applications.......................................................................... 2

(b) Form of Application....................................................................................... 2

(d) Application Processing Cycles......................................................................... 2

(e) Application Review and Recording fees........................................................... 2

(f) Application Completeness, Accuracy and Sufficiency......................................... 2

(g) Applications Containing Technical Deficiencies................................................. 2

(h) Applicability.................................................................................................. 2

20-803 Property Divisions in Service Area 1, Lawrence Urban Growth Area...... 2

(a) Prerequisite to Development.......................................................................... 2

(b) Procedure Required...................................................................................... 2

20-804 Cluster Developments in the Urban Growth Areas.................................. 2

(a) Purpose....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Applicability.................................................................................................. 2

(d) Notice to Nearby Property Owners.................................................................. 2

(e) Cluster Developments – After Annexation........................................................ 2

(f) Application................................................................................................... 2

(g) Administrative Review................................................................................... 2

20-805 Large Parcel Property Divisions in Urban Growth Areas.......................... 2

(a) Purpose....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Applicability.................................................................................................. 2

(d) Restrictive Covenants.................................................................................... 2

(e) Notice to Nearby Property Owners.................................................................. 2

(f) Application................................................................................................... 2

(g) Administrative Review and Consideration Procedures....................................... 2

(h) Developable Acreage and Development of Future Development Area................. 2

20-806 Property Divisions in the Rural Area (Outside the UGAs)........................ 2

(a) Purpose....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Definitions.................................................................................................... 2

(d) Parent Parcel Division.................................................................................... 2

20-807 Certificate of Survey, Administrative Review Procedures...................... 2

(a) Purpose....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Authority...................................................................................................... 2

(d) Application................................................................................................... 2

(e) Requirements and Material to be Included....................................................... 2

(f) Criteria for Review........................................................................................ 2

(g) Review and Action by the Planning Director..................................................... 2

(h) Appeals Process for Sections 20-804, 20-805 and 20-806................................. 2

20-808 Minor Subdivisions.................................................................................... 2

(a) Purpose....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Authority...................................................................................................... 2

(d) Criteria for Review........................................................................................ 2

(e) Application................................................................................................... 2

(f) Review and Action by the Planning Director..................................................... 2

20-809 Major Residential and Non-Residential Subdivisions................................ 2

(a) Purpose....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Applicability.................................................................................................. 2

(d) Criteria for Review........................................................................................ 2

(e) Preliminary Plat – Application......................................................................... 2

(f) Review and Action by the Planning Commission............................................... 2

(g) Phasing for Final Plats................................................................................... 2

(h) Effects of Approval by the Planning Commission............................................... 2

(i) Preliminary Plat – Review and Action by Governing Body................................... 2

(j) Preliminary Plat Expiration............................................................................. 2

(k) Final Plat – Application.................................................................................. 2

(l) Final Plat – Review by Planning Director.......................................................... 2

(m) Signatures on Final Plat................................................................................. 2

(n) Processing After Approval of Final Plat............................................................ 2

20-810 Subdivision Design Standards................................................................... 2

(a) General....................................................................................................... 2

(b) Frontage and Access..................................................................................... 2

(d) Streets........................................................................................................ 2

(e) Street Names and Lot and Block Numbering.................................................... 2

(f) Easements................................................................................................... 2

(g) Parks, Open Space Schools and Other Public Facilities...................................... 2

(h) Land In Floodplain Overlay District.................................................................. 2

(i) Resource Preservation – City of Lawrence....................................................... 2

(j) Resource Preservation – Unincorporated Area of the County............................. 2

(k) Soils and Soil Testing – City of Lawrence........................................................ 2

20-811 Public Improvements................................................................................ 2

(a) Public Improvement (Construction) Standards................................................. 2

(b) Streets........................................................................................................ 2

(d) Wastewater Disposal Systems....................................................................... 2

(e) Water Supply............................................................................................... 2

(f) Telephone, Cable Television Electrical Lines.................................................... 2

(g) Street Trees................................................................................................ 2

(h) Completion of Public Improvements................................................................ 2

(i) Escrow Deposit............................................................................................. 2

(j) Irrevocable Letter of Credit............................................................................ 2

20-812 Contents of Plats...................................................................................... 2

(a) Preliminary Plat............................................................................................ 2

(b) Final Plat..................................................................................................... 2

20-813 Administration and Enforcement.............................................................. 2

(a) Planning Department Powers and Duties......................................................... 2

(b) Planning Commission Powers and Duties......................................................... 2

(d) Building Permits............................................................................................ 2

(e) Appeals....................................................................................................... 2

(f) Variances.................................................................................................... 2

(g) Design Variances for Planned Development..................................................... 2

(h) Enforcement and Penalties............................................................................ 2

(i) Violations..................................................................................................... 2

(j) Penalties; Remedies..................................................................................... 2

20-814 Building Setbacks, Enforcement, Exceptions............................................ 2

(a) Building or Setback Lines On Major Streets or Highways................................... 2

(b) Exceptions................................................................................................... 2

(d) Enforcement................................................................................................ 2

(e) Interpretation............................................................................................... 2

20-815 Interpretations, Rules of Construction and Definitions........................... 2

(a) Interpretation and Rules of Construction......................................................... 2

(b) Definitions.................................................................................................... 2

(1) The purpose of the Subdivision Regulations of this Article is to ensure that the Division of land, which, in many instances, is an initial step in urbanization, will serve the public interest and general welfare. Since the allocation and arrangement of parcels of land for both private uses and public uses helps to influence the health, safety, economy, livability, and amenities of an area, these regulations are intended to:

(i) Provide for the harmonious and orderly Development of land within the City and the Unincorporated Area of Douglas County by making provisions for adequate open space, continuity of the transportation network, recreation areas, drainage, utilities and related Easements, light and air, and other public needs;

(ii) Contribute to conditions conducive to health, safety, aesthetics, convenience, prosperity, and efficiency; and

(iii) Provide for the conservation and protection of human and natural resources.

(2) The Subdivision Regulations of this Article are designed, intended and should be administered to:

(i) Ensure that Development in the City and in the Unincorporated Area of Douglas County is in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan; any adopted watershed/sub-basin plans, sector or neighborhood plans covering the subject Subdivision; the applicable Zoning Regulations enacted to implement those plans; and the Lawrence/Douglas County MPO Transportation Plan;

(ii) Provide for the conservation of existing neighborhoods and facilitate the development of new neighborhoods;

(iii) Prevent the Development of substandard Subdivisions and blighted areas that will be a detriment to the Community;

(iv) Coordinate the Development of each parcel of land with the existing Community and facilitate the proper development of adjoining land;

(v) Provide adequate and accurate records of all land Divisions;

(vi) Ensure that the cost of Improvements, which benefit primarily the tract of land being developed, be borne primarily by the Owners or Developers of the subject tract, and that the cost of Improvements that provide benefits to the subject tract and the Community as a whole be shared by the Developer and the Community;

(vii) Ensure that Subdivisions are designed and developed in a manner that is consistent with all applicable Flood protection and stormwater management regulations and other applicable land use and Development regulations of Lawrence and Douglas County;

(viii) Provide for the efficient arrangement and orderly location of Street/Roads;

(ix) Encourage the reduction of vehicular congestion and support multi-modal transportation design standards in a manner that supports multi-modal transportation;

(x) Provide for the reservation or Dedication of lands for open space and other Community facilities;

(xi) Require the provisions of off-site and On-Site Public Improvements that are necessary to serve land being developed;

(xii) Provide for any other services, facilities and Improvements deemed necessary to serve land being developed; and

(xiii) Establish Building Envelope lines.

(b) Jurisdiction

(1) The Subdivision Regulations of this Article shall apply to all lands within the City of Lawrence and the Unincorporated Area of Douglas County.

(2) In some cases, different standards are established for lands within the City, the Urban Growth Areas and the Rural Area. Unless otherwise expressly stated, however, all regulations and standards of this Article shall apply with equal force to land located in incorporated and Unincorporated Areas.

(c) Applicability

Unless expressly addressed as an exemption in Section 20-801(d) below, no Lot, tract or parcel of land shall be divided into two or more parts for the purpose of sale, transfer or Development, whether immediate or future, except through the procedures and in accordance with the standards set forth in this Article. For property within the incorporated city limits of Lawrence, no building permit shall be issued unless the property is platted. If subdivision is required within the City of Lawrence, ~~than~~ the Subdivider shall plat all of their contiguously owned lands that are not platted.[.1]

(d) Exemptions

(1) The purpose of this sub-section is to list specifically those divisions and transfers of land that are entirely exempt from regulation under this Article. This sub-section shall be strictly construed, so that any transaction failing in any way to meet one, or more, of the requirements for exemption shall be subject to the full effect of this Article.

(2) The following divisions and transfers of land are exempt from the requirement that divisions of land occur only in accordance with the standards and procedures set forth in this Article and may be accomplished by deed or other instrument of transfer without any reference to this Article:

(i) A division of a tract of land exclusively for Agricultural Purposes, when that division does not involve the creation of any new public Streets, public Roads, or public Easements;

(ii) A division occurring through the sale or transfer of any Lot that has been legally platted in accordance with Subdivision Regulations in effect at the time of the platting;

(iii) A division of any land used exclusively for Cemetery purposes and accessory uses associated therewith;

(iv) A division of land occurring through the transfer of land for use as a right-of-way for widening a road or railroad or as an Easement for drainage, utility purposes, when no new Street/Road or Easement of access is involved;

(v) A correction of a description in a prior conveyance provided that the correcting instrument contains a reference to the original instrument of conveyance by date, book and page and other description. Within a reasonable time after receiving a correction instrument, the Register of Deeds shall deliver a copy of the correction instrument to the Planning Department; or

(vi) Within the City of Lawrence, the division of land to allow for the sale of individual attached or detached residential dwellings; provided that, the following conditions are met:

a. The land has been developed with and is occupied by an attached or detached dwelling;

b. The land being divided or transferred under this exemption is covered by a recorded declaration of covenants subjecting the land and Improvements thereon to procedures and conditions regulating the manner in which Improvements may be expanded, reconstructed and maintained;

c. Prior to recording of the first division of land for a townhouse development, a development plan, or similar document, showing at a minimum; the entire townhouse development, a legal description of the boundaries of the entire development, any tracts of land for common ownership, maintenance or use, ponds or drainage areas, and the intended tracts, parcels or general building locations (along with building numbers or proposed addresses) for division into townhouse units, shall be filed at the Register of Deeds. If the declaration allows additional land to be submitted to the townhouse development, the location and description of the additional land shall also be shown.

(e) Vested Rights

(1) A division of land created in conformance with this Article, ~~County Home Rule Resolution No. 06-5-4,~~ or created in conformance with the exemption section of ~~with~~ the previously adopted Subdivision Regulations that ~~has been~~ ~~maintained in individual~~ ~~Ownership as of December 31, 2006, (except as provided in Section~~ ~~20-801(e)(3))~~ were in effect prior to December 20, 2006, and said division was filed and recorded as a plat of survey, deed, or affidavit of equitable interest identifying the division as a separate tract of real estate at the Register of Deeds office (i) on or before June 1, 2005; or (ii) after June 1, 2005, and as of December 31, 2006, provided a division of land made after June 1, 2005, met the 10 acre requirement and other requirements for a residential building permit pursuant to Douglas County Resolution No 05-6-5 and resolutions extending such Resolution, shall remain lawfully existing, retaining established rights to the issuance of a building permit, subject to additional regulatory authority of the Governing Body. Such legally created division of land shall not be subject to further review under this Article; unless or until this previous division of land is further divided ~~pursuant to this Article[.2]~~ .

(2) A Lot of Record created before the Effective Date of this Article in the City of Lawrence that has been maintained in individual ownership, may be used for residential purposes for a single-family home or for another use that is allowed in the City’s UR (Urban Reserve) District without further review under this Article, until such Lot of Record is further subdivided.

A Lot of Record or a division of land lawfully created within the A (Agricultural) District, A-1 (Suburban-Home Residential) District, or R-1 (Single-Family Residential) District in the Unincorporated Area of Douglas County before the Effective Date of this Article, that has been maintained in individual ownership, may be used for residential purposes for a single-family home or for another use allowed within the A (Agricultural) District, without further review under this Article, until such Lot of Record or division of land is further subdivided

(3) Upon the recording of a Final Plat, development rights in land covered by that Plat shall vest in accordance with K.S.A. 12-764. This vesting shall be effective only so long as the same general category of residential uses is continued; any significant change of use shall subject the property to additional review and the applicability of additional regulations, which may affect some rights that are vested as to the particular use and the particular pattern of development. The development rights for a single-family residential subdivision shall expire in accordance with K.S.A. 12-764(a).

20-802 General Review and Approval Procedures

(a) Authority to File Applications

Unless otherwise expressly stated, applications for review and approval under this Article may be initiated by (1) all the Owners of the property that is the subject of the application; or (2) the Owners’ authorized Agent.

(b) Form of Application

Applications required under these Subdivision Regulations shall be submitted in a form and in the numbers of copies required by the official responsible for accepting the application. Officials responsible for accepting applications shall develop checklists of application submittal requirements and make those checklists available to the public. Application forms and checklists of required submittal information shall be available in the office of the official responsible for accepting the application. The application also shall contain all materials required by: Section 20-807(d) for Certificate of Survey applications; Section 20-812(a) for Preliminary Plat applications; or Section 20-812(b) for Final Plat applications, whichever is applicable.

(c) Pre-application Meetings

(1) All Applicants submitting applications for approvals required by this Article must attend a pre-application meeting with Planning Staff. Pre-application meetings are also required whenever the provisions of this Article expressly state that they are required. Pre-application meetings shall be scheduled by the Applicant to allow adequate time to review and respond to issues raised at the pre-application meeting. The meeting shall occur at least 7 working days before submitting an application.

(2) All other Applicants are encouraged to arrange a pre-application meeting with Planning Staff. The Planning Director will provide assistance to Applicants and ensure that appropriate Planning Staff members are involved in pre-application meetings.

(d) Application Processing Cycles

Officials responsible for accepting applications may, after consulting with review and decision-making bodies, promulgate processing cycles for applications. Processing cycles may establish:

(1) The official date upon which a completed application was submitted;

(2) Deadlines before consideration;

(3) Dates of regular meetings;

(4) The scheduling of Staff reviews and Staff reports on complete applications; and,

(5) Any required time frames for action by review and decision-making bodies.

(e) Application Review and Recording fees

Applications shall be accompanied by the review and recording fee amounts that have been established by the applicable Governing Body. Fees are not required with applications initiated by review or decision-making bodies. Application review fees are nonrefundable.

(f) Application Completeness, Accuracy and Sufficiency

(1) An application will be considered complete and ready for processing only if it is: submitted in the required number and form; includes all required information; and, is accompanied by the required fees.

(2) Within 7 working days of application filing, the Planning Director shall determine whether the application includes all information required by these Subdivision Regulations. If an application does not include all of the required information, it will be deemed incomplete. If an application includes all of the required information, it will be deemed complete. Written notice of the incompleteness and the specific information lacking shall be provided to the Applicant or the Applicant’s Agent within 2 working days of a determination.

(3) No processing of incomplete applications shall occur and incomplete applications will be removed from the processing cycle. When the deficiencies are corrected, the application will be placed in the next processing cycle. If the deficiencies are not corrected by the Applicant within 60 days, the application will be considered withdrawn. No refund of a review fee shall be made for applications that are withdrawn.

(4) Applications deemed complete will be considered to be in the processing cycle and will be reviewed by Planning Staff and other review and decision-making bodies in accordance with the procedures of these Subdivision Regulations.

(g) Applications Containing Technical Deficiencies

(1) The Planning Director may require that applications be revised before being placed on the agenda of the Planning Commission or Governing Body, if the Planning Director determines that:

(i) The application contains one or more significant inaccuracies or omissions that hinder timely or competent evaluation of compliance with this Article;

(ii) The application contains multiple minor inaccuracies or omissions that hinder timely or competent evaluation of compliance with this Article;

(iii) The application cannot be approved without a variance or some other change or modification that the decision-making body for that application does not have the authority to grant or approve. This determination shall be made in written form to the applicant. If the determination is based on this sub-section (iii), it shall include an explanation of what variance, change or modification would be required to allow approval of the application.

(2) Applications that contain the aforementioned types of inaccuracies or that substantially fail to comply with this Article shall be revised before they will be placed on an agenda of the Planning Commission or Governing Body.

(3) Action or inaction by the Planning Director under this section may be appealed to the appropriate Governing Body in accordance with Section 20-807(h) or Section 20-813(e) whichever is applicable.

(h) Applicability

Unless expressly exempted under Section 20-801(d), no Subdivision or Rural Residential Development may be created and no Certificate of Survey may be recorded with the Register of Deeds until the division has been approved in accordance with the applicable Review and Approval Procedures of this Article.

20-803 Property Divisions in Service Area 1, Lawrence Urban Growth Area

(a) Prerequisite to Development

No division of land in Service Area 1 of the Lawrence Urban Growth Area shall be approved until the land proposed for division has been annexed into the City.

(b) Procedure Required

Upon annexation of land originally in Service Area 1 into the City of Lawrence, a proposed division of platted or unplatted land shall be processed and considered in accordance with the Minor Subdivision or Major Subdivision provisions of this Article, whichever is applicable.

20-804 Cluster Developments in the Urban Growth Areas[.3]

(a) Purpose

The purpose of this Section is to allow for an alternative administrative approval procedure to Large Parcel Property Divisions in the Urban Growth Area for rural residential development. The clustering of development parcels within the Urban Growth Areas on parcels that are at least 20 Acres but[.4] less than 40 Acres is intended to mitigate strain on infrastructure and public services and to anticipate future development patterns for the remainder of the property after annexation.

(b) Applicability

(1) A division of a parcel of land that is less than 40 acres in area, but at least 20 acres in area, and that is located in Service Areas 2-4, of Lawrence’s Urban Growth Area or in another City’s Urban Growth Area, may be approved according to the Cluster Development provisions of this Section.

(i) For purposes of determining compliance with the 20 acre minimum parcel area, an entire half of a quarter-quarter section (e.g. West ½ of the Southeast ¼ of the Southeast ¼) shall be deemed to be a 20 acre parcel.

(ii) In calculating the size of a parcel, the parcel size shall be deemed to include ½ of the adjoining road right(s)-of-way if this inclusion is necessary for the parcel to conform to the applicable minimum parcel size.

(c) Immediate Development Acreage and Future Development Acreage

Lands divided pursuant to this Section shall be developed as a Cluster Development and shall contain an Immediate Development Area and a Future Development Area in accordance with the following requirements.

(1) &