Local Subdivision Rules

“My question is, how do I protect myself from future litigation and fines from the Board if I choose to break subdivision regulations?“

Easy, don’t do that. 

If a client wishes to have specs outside of established regulations (law), perhaps a variance could be granted by the relevant authority. 

Do the authorities in your area not have the power to grant waivers from subdivision regulations? In my area they do. It is quite common for a developer to request waivers due to site constraints or simply to reduce construction costs. When they do, the Planning Boards get more leeway to negotiate for other things that are not required in the regulations.

Around here (Oregon) by the time a subdivision plat is prepared the final configuration of the lots and streets - matters such as right of way widths - has long since been negotiated and approved by the planning department. And sometimes that configuration is at variance with the letter of the regulations. 

I think that your approach - whip up a plat and throw it against the wall to see if it sticks - needs work. Instead, prepare a preliminary plan in advance and meet with the planners, together with your client, to see if they like your proposed layout. Expect to negotiate.

Good luck "breaking the rules" here. However, the final decision rests with the Boards. If they wish they can approve plats and maps that don't adhere strictly to the "rules". Some of those "rules" are quite frankly bonkers. So, they often get set aside. One of my last subdivisions had so many notes "required" by the regulators there was little room for the plat and I was about to do a second page on this little subdivision just to contain the map. They even wanted my client to vacate roadways that the surrounding landowners protested. He wanted nothing to do with the vacation. Anyway, I finally got a copy of the plat in front of the city attorney and asked if the city wanted to be liable for all the notes, essentially, they were putting the city itself in a box. The next day a request from the engineering dept came to remove all the notes except one. It's a much nicer plat now and the adjoining landowners are quite happy that the vacation is quashed. 

The main thing is to adhere to the state statutes. Those are often vague with planners filling in lots of requirements and I'm thinking it's the same where you are. We have the same 60' wide road requirement, but that's a county reg, not a state statute so the planners can allow a narrower width when asked for and the board can do what they wish regardless of the planner's recommendations. It's odd that they won't allow ownership to the center of the road. I'm a strong believer that the owner on each side of a county road own to the centerline. 

 Since there are waivers that can be made for the subdivision rules, would you be required to have a copy of each and every waiver that was granted to the subdivision that you prepared the plat for, in order to avoid a potential $1500 fine? That seems ludicrous. 

There may be a disconnect between the state board and county planning. I've not seen where the state board enforces subdivision rules created by each county. The state board will have professional standards such as monumentation, corner records, but those are usually separate from county board rules.  

Sounds a bit like it falls into the 80/20 rule where 80% of headaches can be attributed to 20% of the people involved. 

I'll trade with you. Our reviewers reject plats on a whim based on unwritten rules. They make developers add things, "just because it'd be nice". They occasionally get sued and lose but most of the time they extort what they want with no repercussions. Reframe your problem and you might find that it's a blessing not a curse. You may also need to explore why you care more about the rules than their enforcers. Maybe you are too inflexible. Maybe your moral compass can steer you toward projects less subject to the whims of human judgment. 

I've noticed a trend in one county within our work area. Client wants to buy and develop a couple acres. According to the 1970 legal description the parcel is "Tract 3 on a plat prepared by.... dated _____ 1970". And the plat was never recorded. Reviewer rejects it saying that the "parcel was created by deed and the code prohibits division by deed. They can't develop it because its creation was an illegal subdivision." So we called him on it, Show us where code prohibited that type of division in 1970. The project moved forward. The trend is the automatic "No" to any new development. Even when it's CLEARLY within the rules and regs. A project in that county takes a year or more to get approved just to start.