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:
SUBDIVISION (summarized from SCL Sec. 81L)
The division of a tract of land into two or more lots and includes resubdivision, or the process of subdivision, or the land divided.
A. 
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:
(1) 
A public way; or
(2) 
A way shown on a previously approved subdivision plan; or
(3) 
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.
B. 
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.
(e) 
The North point, date, scale, the name of the town, and names of the owner, applicant, and person preparing the plan. [See also individual requirements for plans believed not to require approval (§ 130-10) and for definitive plans (§ 130-17).]
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.