A.
This chapter is adopted by the Planning Board under the authority
of the Subdivision Control Law (hereafter abbreviated as "SCL"), MGL
c. 41, §§ 81K through 81GG. (See SCL § 81Q.)
B.
This chapter is also intended to implement the legislative statement
of intent of the SCL, § 81M, to provide for adequate access
to lots; for ways that are safe and convenient for travel; for lessening
congestion in such ways and adjacent public ways; for reducing danger
to life and limb in the operation of motor vehicles; for ensuring
safety in case of fire, flood, panic, and other emergencies; for ensuring
compliance with the Protective (Zoning) Bylaw and other laws and ordinances
regulating the use of land and access to it; for securing adequate
provision for water, sewerage, drainage, underground utility services,
fire, police, ambulance, and other similar equipment, and streetlighting
and other requirements where necessary in a subdivision; and for coordinating
the ways in a subdivision with each other and with public ways and
with ways in neighboring subdivisions.
C.
For matters not covered in this chapter, see SCL.
D.
Other references in this chapter to specific sections of the General
Laws and this chapter are guides only.
A.
No person shall make a subdivision or improve or sell lots in a subdivision
or proceed with the construction of ways or other improvements or
with the installation of services therein except in accordance with
a definitive plan approved by the Planning Board in the manner provided
(SCL §§ 81O, 81T, 81U and 81V).
B.
Any person wishing to have his plan of land recorded who believes
his plan does not involve a subdivision (plan believed not to require
approval) shall submit his plan to the Planning Board in the manner
provided (SCL §§ 81P and 81T), and, if the Board finds
that the plan does not require approval, the Board will so endorse
the plan.
C.
No more than one building designed or available for use as a dwelling
shall be erected or placed or converted to such use on any lot in
a subdivision or elsewhere except with the consent of the Planning
Board, which may attach appropriate conditions (SCL § 81Q).
D.
No building designed or available for use as a dwelling shall be
erected or placed or converted to such use on any lot in a subdivision
or elsewhere unless there is, in the judgment of the Planning Board,
already in existence a satisfactory all-weather roadway serving the
frontage of that lot and a satisfactory all-weather access from such
frontage to the building site (SCL §§ 81M, 81Q and
81R).
E.
All plans, procedures, and improvements shall conform to this chapter
unless the Planning Board specifically authorizes a variation therefrom
in a particular instance.
F.
Every approval action taken by the Planning Board under this chapter,
including without limitation the endorsement of approval on plans
and the imposition of conditions on the use of lots, shall be deemed
to incorporate this chapter by reference, even if such action or endorsement
does not explicitly include such reference.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The division of a tract of land into two or more lots and
includes resubdivision, or the process of subdivision, or the land
divided.
However, the division of a tract of land into two or more lots
is not a subdivision if, at the time it is made, every lot within
said tract has frontage in compliance with the Protective Bylaw on:
A public way; or
A way shown on a previously approved subdivision plan; or
A way in existence when the SCL became effective in the Town,
having, in the opinion of the Planning Board, sufficient width, suitable
grades and adequate construction to provide for the needs of vehicular
traffic in relation to the proposed use of the land abutting thereon
or served thereby and for the installation of municipal services to
serve such land and the buildings erected or to be erected thereon.
Conveyances changing the size and shape of lots so that every
lot so affected has the frontage required, or the division of a tract
of land on which two or more buildings were standing when the SCL
became effective in the Town into separate lots on each of which one
of said buildings remains standing, do not constitute a subdivision.
A.
Preparation and certification. Plans shall be prepared by a registered
professional engineer and/or land surveyor, as appropriate. (See MGL
c. 112, §§ 81D to 81R.) Plans shall be signed and dated
by such professional, who shall explain the plan to the Planning Board
if the Board so requests.
B.
Revision. A plan or sheet revised after submission shall be resubmitted
and shall bear a clear indication of the revision(s), including the
date of revision. A plan which has been endorsed by the Board shall
not be altered subsequently, except as required by the Board as a
condition of endorsement. However, such a plan may be reused if any
endorsement of the Planning Board is first removed or conspicuously
voided and the plan is given a new number.
C.
Form and content.
(1)
Plans shall include such information as is necessary, in the opinion
of the Planning Board, to locate on the ground the points and lines
involved and otherwise to carry out the steps and purposes of subdivision
control. In general, except as otherwise indicated in this chapter,
the preparation of plans shall follow the Land Court Instructions
of 1959, except that practices relating to adjacent registered land
are not generally applicable and that survey data need not generally
be included on the plan. In case of questions, the Planning Board
should be consulted.
(2)
Where plans contain multiple sheets, sheets shall be of the same
size and basic scale, with an index sheet showing the entire locus
to a smaller scale. The plan scale shall be adequate, in the opinion
of the Planning Board, for showing all data clearly. Except as otherwise
indicated in this chapter, the basic scale shall be one inch equals
20 feet, one inch equals 40 feet, one inch equals 50 feet or one inch
equals 100 feet. Where copies of plans are required in this chapter,
contact prints with dark lines on white background shall be furnished.
(3)
At least one dimension of all plans shall be < 42 inches. Plans for recording shall be of a size and type acceptable
to the Worcester Registry of Deeds and/or the Land Court and shall
include, among other things:
(a)
Ownership of abutting land as shown on the most recent tax list.
(b)
All existing buildings, stone walls, fences, or other prominent
structures, boundaries of W or WFH Districts, all streams or other
water bodies, inland wetlands, and swamps within or adjacent to (within
25 feet of) the locus.
(c)
Ways that cross or abut the land, including rights-of-way, subdivision
ways, easements that include a right of passage usable by vehicles
(even if for limited purposes), ways in general use, and ways that
have been laid out by the Town or other public body as private or
public ways.
(d)
If the underlying zoning district of the locus is not entirely
AR, the zoning district(s) and its (their) boundaries, if any.
D.
Numbering of lots. A lot or parcel which has access to a way shall
be numbered to correspond to the house numbers which have been assigned
by the Town of Harvard to the (principal) building(s) on such lot.
If no house number has been assigned, then the lot shall be numbered
to correspond to the house numbers that might be assigned (at the
time the plan is prepared) to the access frontage on the way on which
the lot in question has the longest such frontage. Such numbers shall
be used as temporary numbers on plans prepared for the Land Court
and shall be furnished by applicants when Land Court plans are used
in proceedings before Town boards and their agents.
Invalidity of any provision of this chapter or error in administration
thereof shall not affect the validity of other provisions or administrative
actions.
The Planning Board may in any particular case where, in the judgment of the Board, such action is in the public interest and not inconsistent with the SCL waive strict compliance with this chapter (SCL § 81R). The Board will consider carefully all applications for relaxation of standards in a subdivided area characterized by, among other things, attractiveness, livability, and amenity; population density low and property use oriented away from the street; and traffic intensity low, all to a degree substantially greater than the norm and coupled with suitable assurance of permanence. (See Article IV of this chapter on conservation, etc.)
Whenever hearings or determinations by more than one public
body are required, the hearings or determinations by such authorities
should be held before, or concurrently with, that of the Planning
Board. The same data that is supplied to each such body should be
supplied to the others and shall be supplied to the Planning Board.
On its own motion, the Planning Board may arrange for such hearings
(or rehearings) to be held concurrently with its own.
