[Added 6-24-2009 by L.L. No. 1-2009]
This article addresses procedures and standards for the review and potential approval of a final subdivision plat in sections or phases pursuant to Town Law §§ 276 and 277. This article is intended to supplement, rather than to replace or supersede, the generally prevailing procedures and standards established for subdivisions within this chapter. Approving a final subdivision plat for filing in sections shall be a matter of discretion of the Planning Board rather than an entitlement of the project sponsor. The Planning Board should not approve final plat filing in sections until and unless it is persuaded that the manner and method of phasing or sequencing by which it is proposed that the project shall be built out incorporates designs, standards, temporary infrastructure, and sequencing which assures orderly development on the site and otherwise within the Town.
A. 
As early as possible in the review of a subdivision proposal, the project sponsor shall disclose whether approval of the filing of the final plat in sections or phases will be pursued.
B. 
A phasing plan must be submitted and made subject to Planning Board review during review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA)[1] and no later than the lead agency's determination of significance under SEQRA. This subsection shall not apply to subdivision projects with a SEQRA determination of significance made prior to the effective date of the addition of this Article VIII to this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Environmental Conservation Law § 8-0101 et seq.
C. 
In addition to all of the submission requirements of this Chapter 203, the project sponsor pursuing permission to file the final plat in sections or phases shall be required to submit a master phasing plan and reports and narratives, both depicting and justifying with specificity the proposed phasing and sequencing for the final plat. These submissions shall be accompanied by detailed design plans addressing such issues, without limitation, as the phased management of grading, utilities, stormwater management, road and utility profiles, and all other additional and appropriate details and specifications required by the Planning Board to identify and assess issues which arise out of, or may be related to, the phasing proposal of the project sponsor and the extent to which the Planning Board might manage and assure orderly development through the imposition of conditions attached to any approval of filing of the final plat in sections or phases.
D. 
If filing of the final plat in sections is pursued by the project sponsor, wherever possible the Planning Board shall require project sponsors to justify conditional or final approval of the sections of the final plat concurrently with conditional or final approval of the entire plat, subject to any requirements imposed by the Planning Board. This means, in practice, that a preference exists for the project sponsor to submit subdivision plans and a master plan for phasing which, if approved in the discretion of the Planning Board, would yield:
(1) 
A comprehensive final subdivision plat showing all sections or phases for purposes of signature by the Planning Board Chair and filing with the Town Clerk under Town Law § 276, Subdivision II; and
(2) 
The sequential submissions of section or phase plats to the Chairman for signature and filing with the Clerk of Dutchess County upon the fulfillment of any preconditions attached to such signature and filing within the Planning Board's resolution of conditional approval of filing of the final plat in sections.
E. 
Each section of a final plat shall encompass at least 10% of the total number of lots contained in the approved final plat.
F. 
The approval of any remaining sections of the approved final plat shall expire unless said sections are filed with the Dutchess County Clerk before the expiration of the exemption period to which the plat is entitled under § 265-a, Subdivision 2, of this state's Town Law.
G. 
Before approving the filing of a final plat in sections or phases, the Planning Board shall refer, in writing, the matter to the Town Board for review and recommendation. The Planning Board shall give the Town Board a minimum of 45 days within which to provide recommendations.
The following standards shall be applied by the Planning Board in determining whether to exercise its discretion to approve filing of the final plat in sections or phases:
A. 
A subdivision must propose a minimum of 50 lots to be eligible for approval in sections or phases.
B. 
The Planning Board shall not approve the filing of a final plat entailing an inordinate and unreasonable number of sections or phases.
C. 
Avoidance or deferral of increased assessed valuation resulting from the filing of a subdivision plat, and the replacement of undivided land with subdivided lots of higher cumulative value, shall not be a legitimate basis for pursuing approval of the filing of the final plat in sections or phases.
D. 
Where the project sponsor proposes filing in sections or phases to mitigate purported difficulty or impossibility of obtaining financing or bonding of internal public improvements or infrastructure proposed as components of the project, the Planning Board shall require the project sponsor to submit probative and specific information concerning applications to lending institutions or bonding companies, and the results of such financing efforts bearing upon the need and justification for phasing for this reason. The Planning Board shall consider this information as one factor, but not the exclusive factor, in determining whether to approve the filing of the final plat in phases or sections.
E. 
The Planning Board shall examine whether any part or component of the internal utility infrastructure of the subdivision may constitute a likely and desirable component of a general Town goal or policy to extend that utility service outward and beyond the boundary of the project. In the event that this circumstance exists, the Planning Board may condition the filing of sections or phases upon the timely completion and dedication to the Town of the relevant aspect of utility infrastructure within a designated timeframe which reasonably promotes the Town's goals and policies to extend such utility infrastructure.
F. 
The Planning Board shall not allow the project sponsor to defer elements of public benefit, such as, but not limited to, recreational opportunities or dedication of parkland, enhancements to public infrastructure, or public safety improvements, either generated on-site or as off-site mitigation measures, through the process of filing of the final plat in sections or phases.
G. 
When the subdivision approval or binding commitments made between the project sponsor and the Town call for the formation of a special improvement district under Article 12 or 12-A of this state's Town Law, or an improvement area under Article 12-C of this state's Town Law, the Planning Board shall condition the approval of filing of the final plat in sections or phases upon the project sponsor's consent and cooperation in establishing such entities with boundaries coterminus to the overall boundaries of the final subdivision, as distinct from separate and sequential establishment of such entities linked to the filing of phases or sections. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Planning Board may waive this requirement, where there are no adverse consequences to quantitative or qualitative stormwater management, in order to allow sequential establishment of stormwater maintenance districts or district extensions linked to the filing of sections or phases upon such conditions as the Planning Board shall establish.
H. 
Approval of the filing of the final plat in phases or sections shall be conditioned upon the project sponsor's, and owner's if different than project sponsor, consent(s) to application of the relevant benefit assessment formula or ad valorem formula, whichever is applicable to a special district or improvement area to cover the project, to each lot laid out on the overall approved subdivision as distinct from treating lots shown on unfiled phased plats or sections as undivided land pending filing of the applicable phase or section map covering such lots with the County Clerk.
I. 
The Planning Board shall not approve the filing of the final plat in sections or phases unless it concludes that each phase is designed and laid out to be capable of standing independently, or in combination with earlier filed sections or phases, in terms of sound management of all infrastructure issues, environmental impacts and mitigation, safe access for emergency situations, stormwater management, grading, and other appropriate details and specifications promoting public health, safety and welfare as otherwise set forth in this chapter.
J. 
Where the project sponsor proposes temporary or interim accommodations for a portion of the scope of internal road improvements as part of the phasing plan, and where such interim accommodations fall short of generally prevailing local regulations or specifications of the Town for such interim improvements but are found by the Planning Board and the Highway Superintendent to be acceptable and not inconsistent with public health, safety and welfare, the Planning Board and the Highway Superintendent mutually shall be empowered to waive strict application of such regulations or specifications, but only to the minimum extent possible and only for a fixed, limited and defined period of time before replacement with permanent improvements complying with the local regulations and specifications which were waived. The Planning Board shall impose conditions which assure compliance by the project sponsor.
K. 
In the event that the Planning Board determines that the subdivision should be subject to payment of recreation fees in lieu of dedication of parkland, the project sponsor shall be required to follow the Town Board policy and fee schedule for recreation fees for subdivisions approved for filing in phases or sections, and the Planning Board shall impose such compliance as a condition of approval.
The Planning Board shall have discretion to approve, disapprove, or approve with conditions any request by a project sponsor to file the final plat in sections or phases. Without limitation to the foregoing authority to condition the approval, the Planning Board shall be empowered to determine and impose conditions dealing with the proper sequencing of phases and infrastructure. Where reasonable and necessary to promote public health, safety and welfare, infrastructure designed to service any particular phase or section may be required by the Planning Board to be constructed and dedicated to the Town in advance of the filing of the phased plat for such section.
Offers of cession or dedication, covering all interests in real property to be conveyed to the Town for public purpose, as shown on the overall approved subdivision final plat, shall be delivered in acceptable form to the Town by the project sponsor as a condition of the resolution of final approval by the Planning Board, and there shall be no deferral of offers of cession or dedication of real property due to phasing of the subdivision.