Ordinances Article XII—Subdivision Regulations

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Section 1.   Plat Approval before Use of Plat in Sale or Transfer

No owner or agent of the owner of any land located within Washington Grove may transfer, sell, agree to sell, or negotiate to sell any land by reference to or exhibition of or by other use of a plat of subdivision before the plat has been approved by the Washington Grove Planning Commission and recorded in the Land Records for Montgomery County, Maryland.

Section 2.   Plat Approval before Building Permit

No building permit may be issued for construction on land which has been subdivided or re-subdivided unless the plat of subdivision has been approved by the Planning Commission and recorded in the Land Records for Montgomery County, Maryland.

Section 3.   Application for Approval of Plat

An application for the approval of a plat of subdivision must be submitted to the Planning Commission, in care of the Town Clerk, together with the appropriate application fee as set forth in Article XVI of the Code of Ordinances, and include two copies of the proposed subdivision plat, each conforming to the following criteria:

1. Each plat must be drawn upon tracing linen, parchment, or other stable base of a size suitable for recordation in the Land Records for Montgomery County, Maryland;

2. Each plat must contain the directions and distance of all lines drawn thereon or such of them as will enable each lot, block, avenue, street, lane, or alley to be accurately described by metes and bounds, courses and distances, calculated to the true meridian;

3. Each plat must contain a certificate of the surveyor making the same that the lots and blocks and areas therein indicated are a part of the whole land conveyed to the maker of the plat by a deed of conveyance of which the date and place of record shall be given; when such a plat is of land acquired by more than one conveyance, the outlines of the land acquired by the several conveyances must be indicated by broken lines drawn upon such plat. The surveyor’s certificate shall assign the various lots, blocks, etc. to the respective conveyances out of which the same were taken. The surveyor’s certificate must also certify that a permanent monument acceptable to the Planning Commission has been placed at each corner of each lot created or modified by such plat, or offset from the corner where corner monumentation is not practical, and that the locations of such monuments are properly indicated on such plat. Acceptable permanent monuments include corrosion-resistant metal disks secured in concrete or bedrock, and metal rods planted at least three feet in the ground.

4. Each plat must show all property to be dedicated to public use and must state thereon, in square feet, the total amount of property dedicated to public use.

Section 4.   Criteria for Approval of Plat

The Planning Commission may approve a proposed plat of subdivision if, in the Commission’s judgment, the planned subdivision provides for:

1. protection from flooding;
2. a proper arrangement of streets in relation to other existing and planned streets;
3. adequate and convenient placement of open spaces to accommodate traffic, utilities, access to fire fighting apparatus, recreation, light, and air;
4. adequate public facilities including adequate streets for traffic access to and within the planned subdivision;
5. the avoidance of congestion of population; and
6. the placement and size of lots which are in accordance with the Washington Grove Zoning Ordinance.

The Planning Commission may, in addition, condition approval of subdivision plats upon such terms as may promote the purposes of the Master Plan and the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Washington Grove. As a condition of approval, the Planning Commission may require the applicant to enter, at the applicant’s expense, into a Public Improvement Agreement guaranteeing the proper completion and installation of all public improvements which may be required by the Planning Commission such as the construction of new roads, streets, alleys, avenues, lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks and pedestrian ways, storm drainage, markers and monuments, recreation facilities, street lights, stormwater management, and water and sewage disposal.

Section 5.    Copy of Recorded Plat Required

The applicant must record the plat of subdivision in the Land Records for Montgomery County after approval by the Planning Commission, and must provide the Planning Commission with a copy of the recorded plat of subdivision within 30 days of recordation.

Section 6.   Compliance with Forest Conservation

Notice is hereby given that each applicant for approval of a plat of subdivision must also comply with requirements of Article XIV (Forest Conservation).