As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
BOARD
The Planning Board of the Town of Bellingham.
COLLECTOR STREET
A street which handles traffic equivalent to that generated
by 50 homes or more, or which serves nonresidential abutting property.
CUL-DE-SAC
A street or way open at only one end with special provisions
for turning around at the other end.
DEAD-END STREET
A street, extension of a street, or system of streets connected
to other streets only at a single point ending in a cul-de-sac or
similar configuration.
LANE
A street which carries traffic equivalent to that generated
by 12 or fewer dwelling units, which has no abutting property either
used or zoned for commerce or industry, and which is not capable of
extension.
LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT (LID)
LID is an ecologically friendly approach to site development
and stormwater management that aims to mitigate development impacts
to land, water, and air. The approach emphasizes the integration of
site design and planning techniques that conserve natural systems
and hydrologic functions on a site through the preservation of open
space and minimal land disturbance; protection of natural systems
and processes (drainage ways, vegetation, soils, sensitive areas);
reexamination of the use and sizing of traditional site infrastructure
(lots, streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks) and customization of site
design to each site; incorporation of natural site elements (wetlands,
stream corridors, mature forests) as design elements; and the decentralization
and micromanagement of stormwater at its source.
MINOR STREET
A street which cannot qualify as a lane but which can be
expected to handle less traffic than a collector street.
NONRESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION
A subdivision any part of which lies within a Business or
Industrial District established by the Bellingham Zoning Bylaw.
RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION
A subdivision no part of which lies within a Business or
Industrial District established by the Bellingham Zoning Bylaw.
SUBDIVISION
The division of a tract of land into two or more lots and
shall include resubdivision, and when appropriate to the context,
shall relate to the process of subdivision of the land or territory
subdivided; provided, however, that the division of a tract of land
into two or more lots shall not be deemed to constitute a subdivision
within the meaning of the Subdivision Control Law if, at the time
when it is made, every lot within the tract so divided has frontage
on (a) a public way or a way which the Clerk of the Town of Bellingham
certifies is maintained and used as a public way, or (b) a way shown
on a plan theretofore approved and endorsed in accordance with the
Subdivision Control Law, or (c) a way in existence on April 13, 1956,
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.
Such frontage shall be of at least such distance as is then required
by the Bellingham Zoning Bylaw for erection of a building on such lot. Conveyance or
other instruments adding to, taking away from, or changing the size
and shape of lots in such a manner as not to leave any lot so affected
without the frontage above set forth, or the division of a tract of
land on which two or more buildings were standing on April 13,1956,
into separate lots, on each of which one of such buildings remains
standing, shall not constitute a subdivision.
No person shall make a subdivision of any land within the Town,
or proceed with the improvement or sale of lots in a subdivision or
the construction of ways, or the installation of municipal services
therein, unless and until a definitive plan of such subdivision has
been submitted to and approved by the Planning Board as hereinafter
provided.
In order to assure consistency of subdivision streets or utilities
crossing the Town line, the portion of such facilities within Bellingham
shall meet the requirements of the adjacent community, where those
requirements are more demanding, unless this requirement is explicitly
waived by the Planning Board.