In the construction of this chapter, the rules and definitions
contained in this article shall be observed and applied, except when
the context clearly indicates otherwise.
A. Words used in the present tense shall include the future, and words
used in the singular number shall include the plural number, and the
plural the singular.
B. The word "shall" is mandatory and not discretionary.
C. The word "may" is permissive.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ALLEY
A public or private right-of-way which provides secondary
access to abutting properties.
APPROVING AUTHORITY
Each governmental body having authority to approve or reject
a preliminary or final plat. Approving authorities are set forth in
§ 236.10, Wis. Stats.
ARTERIAL STREET
A street used, or intended to be used, primarily for fast
or heavy through traffic. Arterial streets shall include freeways
and expressways as well as standard arterial streets, highways, and
parkways.
BLOCK
A group of lots existing within well-defined and fixed boundaries,
usually being an area surrounded by streets or other physical barriers,
and having an assigned number, letter, or other name through which
it may be identified.
BUILDING
Any structure built for the support, shelter, or enclosure
of persons, animals, chattels, or movable property of any kind and
which is permanently affixed to the land.
BUILDING SETBACK LINE
A line parallel to the street line defined by the City Zoning
Ordinance beyond which buildings may not be erected.
CERTIFIED SURVEY MAP
A map, prepared in accordance with § 236.34, Wis.
Stats., and this chapter, for the purpose of dividing land into not
more than four parcels or used to document for recording purposes
survey and dedication data relating to single parcels.
CITY
Reference to "City" shall mean the City of Marion, including
any agency, department or committee thereof.
CITY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
Reference to "City Comprehensive Plan" shall mean the City
of Marion Comprehensive Plan, the adopted long-range plan for the
City of Marion as defined by § 66.1001, Wis. Stats., that
sets forth (in words, maps, illustrations, and/or tables) goals, policies
and guidelines intended to direct the present and future physical,
social, and economic development that occurs within its planning jurisdiction.
CITY PLAN COMMISSION
The Plan Commission as authorized by § 62.23, Wis.
Stats., or any other committee created by the Common Council and authorized
to plan land use.
CITY ZONING ORDINANCE
Reference to "City Zoning Ordinance" shall mean Chapter
625, Zoning, of the Code of the City of Marion.
COLLECTOR STREET
A street used, or intended to be used, to carry traffic from
minor streets to the major system of arterial streets, including principal
entrance streets to residential developments.
CONDOMINIUM
A form of ownership combining individual unit ownership with
shared use and ownership of common property or facilities, established
in accordance with Ch. 703, Wis. Stats., the Condominium Ownership
Act. Common areas and facilities are owned by all members of the condominium
association on a proportional, undivided basis. A condominium is a
legal form of ownership and not a specific building type or style.
CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION
An association, whose members consist of owners of units
in a condominium, which administers and maintains the common property
and common elements of a condominium.
COVENANT
A restriction on the use of land usually set forth in the
deed.
CUL-DE-SAC STREET
A minor street with only one outlet and having a turnaround
for the safe and convenient reversal of traffic movement as provided
by this chapter.
DEED RESTRICTION
A restriction on the use of a property set forth in the deed
accompanying the property.
DEVELOPMENT
Any artificial change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to the construction of buildings, structures
or accessory structures; the construction of additions or substantial
improvements to buildings, structures, or accessory structures; the
placement of buildings or structures; mining, dredging, filling, grading,
paving, excavation or drilling operations; and the storage, deposition,
or extraction of materials.
DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT
An agreement entered into by and between the City and a subdivider
whereby the City and subdivider agree as to the design, construction
and installation of required public improvements, the payment for
such public improvements, dedication of land and other matters related
to the requirements of this chapter. The development agreement shall
not come into effect unless and until a letter of credit or other
appropriate surety has been provided to the City by the subdivider.
EXTRATERRITORIAL PLAT APPROVAL JURISDICTION
The unincorporated area within 1/2 mile of a fourth-class
city and within three miles of all other cities over which the cities
may exercise plat approval, provided that they have enacted an official
map ordinance or subdivision control ordinance, in accordance with
§ 236.10, Wis. Stats.
FINAL PLAT
The map or plan of a subdivision and any accompanying material, as described in Article
VI of this chapter.
FLAG LOT
Description of the shape of a property where access to a
road is provided along the long, narrow "flagpole" and the usable
land itself is the rectangular flag at the end of the pole.
FLOODPLAINS
Those lands, including the floodplains, floodways, and channels,
subject to inundation by the one-hundred-year recurrence interval
flood or, where such data is not available, the maximum flood of record.
FRONTAGE
The length of the front property line of the lot, lots, or
tract of land abutting a public street, road, highway or rural right-of-way.
FRONTAGE STREET
A minor street auxiliary to and located on the side of an
arterial street for control of access and for service to the abutting
development.
GRADIENT
The rate of vertical change of a ground surface expressed
as a percentage figure determined by dividing the vertical distance
by the horizontal distance.
HEDGEROW
A row of shrubs or trees planted for enclosure or separation
of fields.
HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION
An association combining individual home ownership with shared
use, ownership, maintenance, and responsibility for common property
or facilities, including private open space, within a land division.
IMPROVEMENT, PUBLIC
Any sanitary sewer, storm sewer, drainage ditch, water main,
roadway, park, parkway, public access, sidewalk, pedestrianway, planting
strip, off-street parking area, or other facility for which the county
or City may ultimately assume the responsibility for maintenance and
operation.
LAND DIVISION
A generic term that includes both subdivisions and minor
subdivisions, as those terms are defined in this section.
LOT
A buildable parcel of land represented and identified in
a subdivision or minor subdivision as defined in this section and
in accordance with the City Zoning Ordinance.
LOT, CORNER
A lot abutting two or more streets at their intersection,
provided that the corner of such intersection shall have an angle
of 135° or less, measured on the lot side.
LOT, THROUGH
A lot which has a pair of opposite lot lines along two substantially
parallel public streets and which is not a corner lot. On a through
lot both street lines shall be deemed front lot lines.
MINOR STREET
A street used, or intended to be used, primarily for access
to abutting properties.
MINOR SUBDIVISION
The division of land by the owner or subdivider resulting
in the creation of not more than four parcels or building sites, any
one of which is less than five acres, or the division of a block,
lot or outlot within a recorded subdivision plat into not more than
four parcels or building sites without changing the exterior boundaries
of said block or outlot.
NAVIGABLE WATER
Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, all natural inland lakes within
Wisconsin and all streams, ponds, sloughs, flowages and other waters
within the territorial limits of this state, including the Wisconsin
portion of boundary waters, which are navigable under the laws of
this state. Under § 281.31(2m), Wis. Stats., notwithstanding
any other provision of law or administrative rule promulgated thereunder,
shoreland ordinances required under § 62.231, Wis. Stats.,
and Ch. NR 115, Wis. Adm. Code, do not apply to lands adjacent to
farm drainage ditches if:
A.
Such lands are not adjacent to a natural navigable stream or
river;
B.
Those parts of such drainage ditches adjacent to such lands
were not navigable streams before ditching; and
C.
Such lands are maintained in nonstructural agricultural use.
OBJECTING AUTHORITY
An authority empowered to object to a subdivision plat pursuant
to Ch. 236, Wis. Stats. The City may not approve any plat upon which
an objection has been certified until the objection has been satisfied.
The objecting authorities include the Wisconsin Department of Administration,
the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, and
the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
OFFICIAL MAP
A document prepared and adopted pursuant to § 62.23(6),
Wis. Stats., which shows the location of existing and planned streets,
parkways, parks, playgrounds, railway rights-of-way, waterways, and
public transit facilities.
OPEN SPACE
Any site, parcel, lot, area, or outlot of land or water that
has been designated, dedicated, reserved, or restricted from further
development. Open space may be privately or publicly owned but shall
not be part of individual residential lots. Open space shall be substantially
free of structures but may contain recreational facilities allowed
by zoning regulations.
OPEN SPACE, COMMON
Privately owned land within a land division or condominium
that has been restricted in perpetuity from further development and
is set aside for the use and enjoyment by residents of the land division
or condominium. Common open space shall be substantially free of structures
but may contain recreational facilities allowed by zoning regulations.
ORDINARY HIGH-WATER ELEVATION
The point on the bank or shore up to which the presence and
action of surface water are so continuous as to leave a distinctive
mark, such as by erosion, destruction or prevention of terrestrial
vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation, or other easily recognized
characteristic.
ORIGINAL PROPERTY
Includes all contiguous property under the same ownership
within the previous 20 years from the time of division regardless
of separate tax identification numbers.
OUTLOT
A remnant parcel of land not to be used for building purposes,
so designated on the plat.
PARCEL
A single piece of land separately owned, either publicly
or privately, and capable of being conveyed separately.
PRELIMINARY PLAT
A map showing the salient features of a proposed subdivision submitted to the Common Council for purposes of preliminary consideration, as described in Article
V of this chapter.
PUBLIC WAY
Any public road, street, highway, walkway, drainageway, or
part thereof.
REPLAT
The process of changing, or the map or plat which changes,
the boundaries of a recorded subdivision plat or part thereof. The
legal dividing of a large block, lot or outlot within a recorded subdivision
plat without changing exterior boundaries of said block, lot or outlot
is not a replat.
RESERVE STRIP
Any land which would prohibit or interfere with the orderly
extension of streets, bicycle or pedestrian ways, sanitary sewers,
water mains, stormwater facilities or other utilities or improvements
between two abutting properties.
SHORELAND
Land lying within the following distances: 1,000 feet from
the ordinary high-water elevation of a navigable lake, pond, or flowage
or 300 feet from the ordinary high-water elevation of a navigable
stream or to the landward edge of the floodplain, whichever distance
is greater.
SUBDIVIDER
Any person, firm or corporation, or any agent thereof, dividing
or proposing to divide land resulting in a subdivision, minor subdivision,
or replat.
SUBDIVISION
The division of a lot, parcel or tract of land by the owner
thereof, or his agent, for the purpose of transfer of ownership or
building development, including condominium development, where the
act of division creates five or more parcels or building sites by
division or successive divisions of any part of the original property
within a five-year period.
SURETY BOND
A bond guaranteeing performance of a contract or obligation
through possible forfeiture of the bond if said contract or obligation
is unfulfilled by the subdivider.
WETLAND
An area where water is at, near, or above the land surface
long enough to be capable of supporting aquatic or hydrophytic vegetation
and which has soils indicative of wet conditions.