Working on a small industrial park plat in a small town.?ÿ Met yesterday with the City Administrator and the Utilities Superintendent.?ÿ I was hoping to find a way to help the client and get around some of the more painful items listed in their 36-page Subdivision Platting Policy and a similar sized Zoning Regulations booklet.?ÿ It took about one minute to discover neither of them was at all familiar with what either set of guidance contained.?ÿ Zoning issues come up very seldom and they haven't had a subdivision inside the city limits in over 10 years.
I had to point out the very requirements that I thought were unnecessary.?ÿ They agreed every time.?ÿ
I had to point out the very requirements that I thought were unnecessary.?ÿ They agreed every time.?ÿ
As long as you're willing to accept the liability; you can do whatever you want...
What liability? Once the Planning Commission and the Governing Body sign off, it is their baby, not mine.
In the mid 90's I was dividing a city block into 10 lots at the request of the owner. Existing streets all the way around it.?ÿ I knew the city was looking at passing a subdivision ordinance to block that many lots. I told the Mayor who I was working for and what I was doing which would be unethical at the very minimum. I didn't want to get half way thru and the city pass something forcing a design change. The council meeting came and went with more talk but no action. I finished the block, set corners and did the plat before the next meeting. The city refused to run utilities to the lots so I had to change the design to 8 lots with the utilities up the middle.
Afterwards the city adopted the same subdivision ordinance as a nearby town with 10 times the population by just using whiteout to change the city name anywhere it appeared. Then they hired an Engineer to write subdivision regulations just for our town, it cost them a fortune. The city passed it without reading it and It would have allowed more lots than my original design.
The weirdest thing was that a person could not build a small house on a large lot. If you built a small house, it MUST be on a small lot! The city doesn't know that, they have never read it.
About a year later, I shut down my business and went to work for a contractor solely because of a completely different issue with this subdivision ordinance. I have been doing construction work ever since and I haven't missed it one bit.
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That is why states create "model laws". So that the smaller places can simply adopt the state law.
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There's a small hamlet (less than 2,000 folks) near here that took in a good amount of land in their city limits to provide a rural water system about 15 years ago. It's stayed a sleepy little incorporated community until about 3 years ago when a residential boom exploded.
The city big-wheels hastily grabbed a copy of Norman, OK's building and zoning codes and adopted them as their own in just one or two council meetings.?ÿ There's not a soul at the city that has any idea of some of the requirements that lay buried in those pages.?ÿ Like you, most of the time it's me (or some other consulting figure) that brings to their attention some of the more pressing or unique situations.
It's not too bad working with them as they freely admit their lack of knowledge of the codes.?ÿ One of these days the city will acquire someone who thinks they know it all.?ÿ I've always said I'd rather work with someone that is aware of their ignorance than someone that thinks they're smarter than everybody else.
I hope I'm fully retired by then.
I find when doing a subdivision in an area that hasnt done one in awhile, just make a nice looking Plat, use the rules from a big city next to it or just the county?ÿ it is in rules, add or take off what you want, next time there is a Plat in that town, they will use yours as the template.?ÿ
You nailed it, Paden. Big city policies to prevent all sorts of long term headaches in that busy locale being applied in a place that won't have another subdivision plat in the next ten years. Everyone currently having some level of responsibility will be out of the picture by that time and none of them will have a clue.
