City of Coldwater, MI General Provisions and Definitions

[Ord. No. 339, passed 7-25-1977]

The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement of these Regulations:

ALLEY — Means a dedicated public way affording a secondary means of access to abutting property and not intended for general traffic circulation.

(2)

BLOCK — Means that property abutting one side of a street and lying between the two nearest intersecting streets, between the nearest such street and railroad right of way, unsubdivided acreage, river or live stream, or between any of the foregoing and any other barrier to the continuity of development.

(3)

CLERK/ASSESSOR — Means the City Clerk/Assessor of the City.

(4)

COMMISSION — Means the Planning Commission of the City.

(5)

EASEMENT — Means a specific area of land over which a liberty, privilege or advantage is granted by the owner to the public, a corporation, some particular person or part of the public for specific uses and purposes, and which shall be designated a "public" or "private" easement, depending on the nature of the user.

(6)

GOVERNING BODY — Means the City Council of the City of Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan.

(7)

IMPROVEMENTS — Means grading, street surfacing, curbs and gutters, sidewalks, crosswalks, water mains, fire hydrants, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, culverts, bridges and other additions to the natural state of land which increase its value, utility or habitability.

(8)

LOT — Means a parcel of land separated from other parcels on a preliminary or recorded plat for the purpose of sale, lease or separate use.

(9)

MAJOR STREETS or THOROFARE PLAN — Means the part of the Master Plan which sets forth the location, alignment and dimensions of existing and proposed streets and thorofares.

(10)

MASTER PLAN — Means the comprehensive land use plan for the City, also known as the "Master Plan for Future Land Use," including graphic and written proposals indicating the general locations recommended for the streets, parks, schools, public buildings and all physical developments of the City, including any unit or part of such Plan separately adopted, and any amendment to such Plan or parts thereof adopted by the Planning Commission.

(11)

MUNICIPAL ENGINEER, ENGINEER or CITY ENGINEER — Means the staff engineer or consulting engineer of the City.

(12)

MUNICIPAL PLANNER or PLANNER — Means the staff planner or consulting planner of the City.

[Ord. No. 557, passed 10-27-1997]

(13)

MUNICIPALITY — Means the City of Coldwater.

(14)

PERSON — Means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation or association.

(15)

PARCEL (or TRACT) — Means a continuous area or acreage of land which can be described as provided for in the Subdivision Act.

(16)

PLAT — Means a map or chart of a subdivision of land. In addition:

PRELIMINARY PLAT (STAGE ONE) — Means a map indicating the proposed layout of the subdivision in sufficient detail to provide an adequate basis for review and to meet the requirements and procedures set forth in these Regulations and the Zoning Code.

PRELIMINARY PLAT (STAGE TWO) — Means a map showing all requisite details of a proposed subdivision submitted to an approving authority for the purposes of preliminary consideration, prepared in conformance with the Subdivision Act.

FINAL PLAT — Means a map of all or part of a subdivision providing substantial conformance to the preliminary plat (stage two) of the subdivision, prepared in conformance with the requirements of the Subdivision Act and these Regulations, and suitable for recording by the County Register of Deeds.

(17)

PROPRIETOR — Means a natural person, firm, association, partnership, corporation or combination of any of them, which may hold any ownership interest in land, whether recorded or not.

(18)

PUBLIC RESERVATION — Means a portion of a subdivision which is set aside for public use and made available for public use and acquisition.

(19)

PUBLIC UTILITY — Means any person, firm or corporation or municipal department, board or commission, duly authorized to furnish, and furnishing under governmental regulations, to the public, gas, steam, electricity, sewage disposal, communication, telegraph, transportation or water.

(20)

PUBLIC WALKWAY — Means a right of way dedicated for the purpose of a pedestrian access through residential areas, and located so as to connect to two or more streets or a street and a public land parcel.

(21)

STREET — Means any street, avenue, boulevard, road, lane, parkway, viaduct, alley or other way which is an existing State, County or Municipal roadway; a street or way shown in a plat heretofore approved pursuant to law or approved by official action; or a street or way on a plat duly filed and recorded in the office of the County Register of Deeds. A street includes the land between the street right of way lines, whether improved or unimproved, and may comprise pavement, shoulders, gutters, sidewalks, parking areas and lawns.

In addition:

BOULEVARD STREET — Means a street developed to two two-lane, one-way pavements, separated by a median.

COLLECTOR STREET — Means a street used primarily to carry traffic from minor streets to major thorofares.

CUL-DE-SAC STREET — Means a minor street of short length, having one end open to traffic and being permanently terminated at the other end by a vehicular turn-around.

LOOP STREET — Means a minor street of short length with two openings to traffic beginning from the same street, projecting parallel to each other and connecting at their termination by a loop.

MAJOR THOROFARE — Means an arterial street of greater continuity which is intended to serve as a large volume trafficway for both the immediate Municipal area and region beyond, and may be designated on the City's Major Thorofare Plan as a major thorofare, parkway, expressway or equivalent term to identify those streets comprising the basic structure of the street plan.

MARGINAL ACCESS STREET — Means a minor street, parallel and adjacent to a major thorofare, which provides access to abutting properties and protection from through traffic.

MINOR STREET — Means a street of limited continuity used primarily for access to abutting residential properties.

TURN-AROUND — Means a short boulevard street permanently terminated by a vehicular turn-around.

(22)

SUBDIVISION — Means the partitioning or dividing of a parcel or tract of land by the proprietor thereof, or by his or her heirs, executors, administrators, legal representatives, successors or assigns, for the purpose of sale, lease of more than one year, or of building development, where the act of division creates five or more parcels of land, each of which is 10 acres or less in area; or where five or more parcels of land, each of which is 10 acres or less in area, are created by successive divisions within a period of 10 years.

(23)

SUBDIVISION ACT — Means the Subdivision Control Act, being Act 288 of the Public Acts of 1967, as amended.

(24)

WORDS — Singular words shall include the plural, and masculine words shall include the feminine and neuter.

(25)

ZONING CODE — Means the City of Coldwater's Zoning Code.