[1]
Editor's Note: The provisions of the Protective Bylaw authorizing flexible plan subdivision were repealed by Art. 12 of the 11-16-1987 Special Town Meeting. References in this article to certain sections of the Protective Bylaw are to the Bylaw as it existed prior to the 1987 amendment and are no longer accurate.
This article is intended to implement the provisions of Section 4.6h of the Protective Bylaw, which provides that: "The Planning Board's Rules and Regulations Relative to Subdivision Control shall provide for plans, procedures, coordination of siting of water supply and sewage disposal and of COS, both within and beyond the FPS, and other aspects of FPS design and administration for carrying out the Bylaw. The Planning Board shall approve a plan containing lots of FPS type only if the Board finds that the proposed development is in harmony with the intent and purposes of the Bylaw."
A. 
The statement of intent at the beginning of Section 4.6 (FPS) of the Protective Bylaw reads in part: "It is the intent to provide, as an optional alternative to conventional lot-by-lot development, for the development of residential tracts on an overall basis, for the purposes of conservation and protection of water and other natural resources, improved land use and allocation." FPS is a form of cluster development adopted, as amended, to deal with two common developmental situations in Harvard, where a tract is deep compared to its width or compared to its frontage on a street.
(1) 
The tract is partly easily developed land, partly land that is not readily developed, and partly wetlands and floodplain.
(2) 
The tract was set aside in the hope that it might be developable as a cluster of hammerhead or backland lots but there is inadequate access to intended home sites except as lots in a mini-subdivision served by a mini-subdivision way, and where the lateral dimensions of the mini-subdivision lots may be reduced in exchange for dedicated common open space.
B. 
Entire tract included in FPS. According to the statement of intent in the Protective Bylaw, FPS is intended as "an optional alternative to lot-by-lot development." All of the lots in the tract being developed are therefore considered to be part of the flexible plan subdivision, whether or not dimensional reductions are applied to a specific lot, if FPS lot size reductions are applied to any lot in the tract.
C. 
Status under approval procedure. The fact that lots may have been shown on a plan not requiring approval under the Subdivision Control Law shall not affect the determination whether they are part of an FPS (even if the plan has been recorded), unless such lots have been actually created by conveyance (or otherwise) in an arms-length transaction.
D. 
Computation of COS area. The requirement of Section 4.6d of the Protective Bylaw that common open space (COS) include at least 30% of the FPS shall be interpreted as meaning that no more that 70% of the land area of the tract being divided shall be in individual lots. The requirement may be moot if it is waived by the Board, acting under Protective Bylaw Section 4.8k. (However, see Subsection E, Limitation of waivers to be made in conjunction with mini-subdivision, below.)
E. 
Limitation of waivers to be made in conjunction with mini-subdivision. The mini-subdivision section of the Protective Bylaw was modified in 1982 by the addition of a Subparagraph 4.8h which contains a provision that the special permit granting authority "may waive" certain COS requirements of FPS. The report of the Planning Board concerning Section 4.8h, made to the Town Meeting prior to adoption, and reported to the Attorney General following adoption, indicated the intent to facilitate the use of mini-subdivision for isolated tracts that might otherwise have been slated for development as two or three lots served by a shared driveway and for which COS area and playground use requirements of the FPS section of the Bylaw would be inappropriate. (See also § 130-30B of this chapter.)
(1) 
The Planning Board will utilize Section 4.8h of the Bylaw to waive the provisions of Bylaw Sections 4.6d and 4.6e only to the extent necessary to achieve the above legislative intent and then only if the mini-subdivision is on a tract whose dimensions are restricted and the development is otherwise in all respects in harmony with the intent and purpose of the Bylaw.
(2) 
The Planning Board will not use Bylaw Section 4.8h to waive the requirement of Bylaw Section 4.6d that "All area in the FPS not part of a street layout and not part of a building lot shall be part of the common open space (COS) of the FPS."
A. 
Sewage systems. The sewage disposal system which serves an individual lot in an FPS, including the entire leaching field and area for future revision required by the Board of Health, shall be entirely within the main portion of such a lot.
B. 
Use of COS to isolate sewage disposal systems. The Planning Board may require that all or part of the COS be located in such a way as to spread out the leaching areas (or other parts of the sewage disposal system) serving individual lots in the FPS or to isolate a concentration of such areas from wells, wetlands, water table recharge paths, sources of possible inundation and erosion, or paths of possible discharge of pollution onto adjoining lands.
It is the intent to provide procedures for the creation of common open space and for qualified homeowners' associations as required by the Protective Bylaw and by this chapter. The provisions of this section may also be applied to qualified homeowners' associations in mini-subdivisions.
A. 
Creation of common open space. Prior to the creation (by conveyance or otherwise) of any lot which is part of the FPS, all of the land which is part of COS shall be transferred by recorded deed to a qualified homeowners' association, or to the Town of Harvard through its Conservation Commission, or to a tax-exempt conservation trust or corporation as provided in § 125-2, Definitions, of the Protective Bylaw, Paragraph (3) under the definition of "common open space."[1] The provisions of the deed of transfer shall be subject to prior approval by the Planning Board and shall not reserve to the grantor rights or privileges other than those which the Planning Board deems necessary and proper to expedite the orderly completion of the amenities of the subdivision, nor shall such deed impose on the grantee obligations beyond those contemplated by Section 9 of the Zoning Act, the FPS and COS provisions of the Protective (Zoning) Bylaw, and the provisions of this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: The definition of "common open space" in § 125-2 of the Protective Bylaw was amended by Art. 18 of the 1990 Annual Town Meeting and no longer contains this paragraph.
B. 
Qualified homeowners' association. A qualified homeowners' association shall be created prior to the conveyance of any lot in the subdivision or FPS for which such an association is required, either by the Protective Bylaw or by the terms of a special permit. A failure to enforce this requirement on any particular lot or lots, whether by oversight or otherwise, shall not be deemed a waiver of the requirement.
(1) 
Articles of formation of homes association. The articles of formation of the qualified homeowners' association shall be prepared by a licensed attorney. They shall be submitted to the Planning Board for its review and approval on a time scale which allows for comments by counsel of its choice. The Board may make available an optional pre-approved set of such articles; proposed changes in such articles must be reviewed by counsel for the Board.
(a) 
Such articles shall include:
[1] 
Voting membership by each and every lot owner in the tract and no others.
[2] 
Responsibility by the association and also by the individual lot owners themselves, jointly and severally, for repair, maintenance, and snow removal on the way or ways and for payment of any real estate taxes on the way(s) and other common open space.
[3] 
Non-unanimous voting (except where there are only two lots).
[4] 
Responsibility by the association and also the individual lot owners jointly and severally for management and upkeep of the common open space.
[5] 
No purposes or powers unrelated to the requirements of the Protective Bylaw, or to the terms of a special permit, or to the requirements inscribed by the Planning Board on a definitive plan of subdivision as a part thereof.
[6] 
A provision requiring that all proposed amendments to the articles of formation of the association must be submitted in writing to, and be subsequently approved in writing by, the Planning Board prior to adoption. If the articles of formation of the homes association provide for the adoption of bylaws for the association, then this provision shall extend also to the adoption and amendment of such bylaws.
(b) 
If the formation of a qualified homeowners' association would result in an association which would have permanently only one member, the Planning Board may substitute a recorded enforceable agreement between itself (or the Town) and the lot owner which has the same net effect as if there were such an association.
(2) 
Creation of homeowners' association.
(a) 
The qualified homeowners' association shall be created by:
[1] 
The approval of the articles of formation by the Planning Board; and
[2] 
The execution and recording of an agreement, to run with the land, between (all of) the current owner(s) of the property affected and the Planning Board that membership in the homeowners' association approved by the Board shall be binding on the present owner(s) and his (their) successors and assigns, and a provision that ownership of a lot automatically results in membership shall be a part of the deed to each lot conveyed.
(b) 
Compliance with these provisions shall be deemed complete only when copies of the recorded deeds or agreements, with marginal references, certified by the Register of Deeds or by the Recorder of the Land Court, have been delivered to the Planning Board.