A. 
The procedure for review and approval of a subdivision plat consists of two separate steps. The initial step is the preparation and submission to the agent of a preliminary plat of the proposed subdivision. The second step is the preparation and submission to the agent of a final plat together with required certificates. This final plat becomes the instrument to be recorded in the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court when duly signed by the agent.
B. 
The subdivider shall consult early and informally with the agent for advice and assistance before the preparation of the preliminary plat and the formal application for its approval. This will enable him to become thoroughly familiar with these regulations and other official plans or public improvements which might affect the area. Such informal review should prevent unnecessary and costly revisions.
The subdivider may submit to the agent a preliminary sketch of the proposed subdivision prior to his preparing an engineered preliminary and final plat. The purpose of such preliminary sketch is to permit the agent to advise the subdivider whether his plans are generally in accordance with the requirements of this chapter. The agent may mark the preliminary sketch indicating necessary changes. The preliminary sketch shall be as follows:
A. 
It shall be drawn on white paper or on a print of a topographic map of the property.
B. 
It shall be drawn to a scale of not more than 200 feet to the inch.
C. 
It shall show the name, location, and dimensions of all streets entering the property, adjacent to the property, or terminating at the boundary of the property to be subdivided.
D. 
It shall show the location of all proposed streets, lots, parks, playgrounds, and other proposed uses of the land to be subdivided and shall include the approximate dimensions.
A. 
Any owner or developer of any tract of land situated within Mathews County who subdivides the same shall cause a plat of such subdivision, with reference to known or permanent monuments, to be made and recorded in the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court of Mathews County, Virginia. Only that portion of land intended for transfer of ownership and/or building development shall be required to be platted or surveyed in accordance with this chapter. No such plat of subdivision shall be recorded unless and until it shall have been submitted, approved, and certified by the agent in accordance with the regulations set forth in this chapter. No lot shall be sold in any subdivision before the final plat shall have been recorded.
B. 
Before any permit for erection of a structure shall be granted, the subdivider shall apply in writing and have approved by the agent a preliminary plat including the lot, street, and utilities layout.
C. 
In the event a plan for a subdivision is disapproved by the agent designated by the Board of Supervisors, the subdivider may appeal to the Board of Supervisors which may then override the recommendation of the agent and approve said plat.
Every such plat shall be prepared by a surveyor or civil engineer duly licensed by the State of Virginia who shall endorse upon each plat a certificate signed by him setting forth the source of the title of the land subdivided and the place of record of the last instrument in the chain of title. When the plat is of land acquired from more than one source of title, the outlines of the several tracts shall be indicated upon the plat within an insert block or by means of a dotted boundary line upon the plat.
Every such plat, or the deed of dedication to which such plat is attached, shall contain, in addition to the surveyor's or civil engineer's certificate, a statement that the above and foregoing subdivision of (here insert correct description of the property subdivided) as appears in this plat is with the free consent and in accordance with the desire of the undersigned owners, proprietors, and trustees, if any. Such plat shall be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds and, when thus executed and approved as herein specified, shall be filed and recorded in the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court of Mathews County, Virginia, under the names of the landowners signing such statement and under the name of the subdivision.
The subdivider shall present to the agent a preliminary layout at a scale of not more than 100 feet to the inch as a preliminary plat. The preliminary plat shall include the following information:
A. 
Name of subdivision, owner, subdivider, surveyor or engineer, date of drawing, number of sheets, North point with source, and scale.
B. 
Location of proposed subdivision by an insert map at a scale of not less than two inches equal one mile showing adjoining roads, their names and numbers, towns, subdivision, and other landmarks.
C. 
The boundary survey or existing survey of record provided such survey shows a closure with an accuracy of not less than one in 5,000; total acreage; acreage of subdivided area; number and approximate area and frontage of all building sites; existing buildings within the boundaries of the tract; names of owners and their property lines within the boundaries of the tract and adjoining such boundaries.
D. 
All existing, platted, and proposed streets, numbers and widths; existing utility and other easements; public areas and parking spaces; culverts, drains and water courses and their names; and other pertinent data.
E. 
All parcels of land to be dedicated for public use and the conditions of such dedication.
F. 
Topography at ten-foot interval, if deemed necessary.
G. 
Proposed connections with existing sanitary sewers and existing water supply or alternate means of sewage disposal and water supply. Location of the primary onsite wastewater treatment system and reserve drain field, if required, per the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations.
H. 
FEMA floodplain reference.
I. 
Subdivision agent approval block a minimum of four inches by four inches in size.
J. 
Location of Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, if any, per the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations.
K. 
Note indicating that the County of Mathews and the Virginia Department of Transportation are not responsible for and will not expend public funds for the maintenance of or improvement of proposed private roads per § 140-33 of this chapter, if applicable.
L. 
The following language shall be included on the preliminary plat to certify the presence of wetlands as defined in § 140-5 of this chapter:
"The areas demarcated within the boundary coordinates of this subdivision may contain jurisdictional waters/wetlands of the United States which have not been officially delineated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As the applicant for this development project, I understand that Mathews County approval does not exempt this project from obtaining permits and/or approvals which may be required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and/or the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality."
The designated agent shall discuss the preliminary plat with the subdivider in order to determine whether or not his preliminary plat generally conforms to the requirements of this chapter. The subdivider shall then be advised in writing within 45 days, by formal letter or by legible markings on his copy of the preliminary plat, of (1) additional data that may be required; (2) the character and extent of public improvements that will have to be made; (3) an estimate of the costs of construction or improvements; and (4) the amount of the performance bond, if considered necessary by agent, which will be required as a prerequisite to approval of the final subdivision plat. In determining the cost of required improvements and the amount of the performance bond, the agent may consult with a duly licensed engineer who shall prepare this data for the Board or preferably may require a bona fide estimate of the cost of improvements prepared by a duly licensed engineer and furnished the Board by the subdivider.
Approval of a preliminary plan shall provide vested rights under the regulations in effect at the time of such plan approval. Approval by the Board of the preliminary plat does not constitute a guarantee of approval of the final plat.
The subdivider shall have not more than 12 months after receiving official notification concerning the preliminary plat to file with the Board a final subdivision plat in accordance with this chapter. Failure to do so shall make preliminary approval null and void. The Board may, on written request of the subdivider grant an extension of this time limit.
The subdivision plats must be shown to be in accordance with the Mathews County Zoning Ordinance, the Mathews County Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance, the Mathews County Floodplain Management Ordinance, and, if applicable, the Mathews Court House Sanitary District Ordinance.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 175, Zoning, Ch. 50, Erosion and Sediment Control, Ch. 63, Floodplain Management, and Ch. 125, Sanitary District.
No subdivision plat will be approved until agreement has been reached between the subdivider and the utility companies providing the necessary services and until the easements and agreements are specified on the plat.
The subdivider shall present to the agent copies of the final plat for approval and subsequent recording. This final plat shall be clearly and legibly drawn in ink at a scale of not more than 100 feet to the inch on sheets having a maximum size of 16 inches by 22 inches. It should show the following information:
A. 
Names of subdivision, magisterial district, County, state, owner, North point, scale of drawing, and number of sheets. If shown on more than one sheet, matched lines shall clearly indicate where the several sheets join. A blank oblong space of four inches by four inches shall be reserved for the use of the approving authority.
B. 
Location of proposed subdivision by an insert map at a scale of not less than two inches equal one mile indicating adjoining roads, their names and numbers, towns, subdivisions, and other landmarks.
C. 
A boundary survey with an error of closure within the minimum state requirements and showing the location of all monuments and their type of material. The survey may be related to the U.S.C.G. state grid north if the coordinates of two adjacent corners of the subdivision are shown.
D. 
Certificates signed by the surveyor or engineer setting forth the source of title of the owners of the land subdivided and the place of record of the last instrument in the chain of title.
E. 
A statement to the effect that the subdivision as it appears on this plat is with the free consent and in accordance with the desires of the owners, proprietors, and trustees, if any, which shall be signed by the owners, proprietors, and trustees, if any, and shall be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take acknowledgments of deeds.
F. 
When the subdivision consists of land acquired from more than one source of title, the outlines of the various tracts shall be indicated by dash lines and identification of the respective tracts shall be placed on the plat.
G. 
The accurate location and dimensions by bearings and distances with all curve data on all lots, including acreage, and street lines and center lines of streets; boundaries of all proposed or existing easements, parks, school sites, or other public areas; the number and area of all building sites; all existing public and private streets, numbers and width; existing utilities and those to be provided, such as sanitary sewers, storm drains, water mains, manholes, and underground conduits, including their size and type; water courses and their names; names of owners and the property lines, both within the boundary of the subdivision and adjoining said boundaries.
H. 
All dimensions shown in feet and decimals of a foot to the closest 1/100 of a foot, all bearings in degrees, minutes, and seconds to the nearest second.
I. 
The data of all curves along the street frontages shall be shown in detail at the curve or in a curve data table containing the following: delta, radius, arc, tangent, chord, and chord bearings.
J. 
FEMA floodplain reference.
K. 
Location of Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas, if any, per the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations.
L. 
Location of the primary on site wastewater treatment system and reserve drain field, if required, per the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations.
M. 
Note indicating that the County of Mathews and the Virginia Department of Transportation are not responsible for and will not expend public funds for the maintenance of or improvement of proposed private roads per § 140-33 of this chapter, if applicable.
N. 
The following language shall be included on the final plat to certify the presence of wetlands as defined in § 140-5 of this chapter:
"The areas demarcated within the boundary coordinates of this subdivision may contain jurisdictional waters/wetlands of the United States which have not been officially delineated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As the applicant for this development project, I understand that Mathews County approval does not exempt this project from obtaining permits and/or approvals which may be required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and/or the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality."
Whenever part of a tract is proposed for platting and it is intended to subdivide additional parts in the future, a sketch of plans for the entire tract shall be submitted with the preliminary plat.
The plat shall not be approved until the subdivider has complied with the general requirements and minimum standards of design in accordance with this chapter and has made satisfactory arrangements for the performance bonds, cash, or cash bond to cover the cost of necessary improvements to the satisfaction of the agent, if bond is considered necessary. Approval of final plat shall be written on the face of the plat by the agent.
Before any final subdivision plat shall be approved by the agent, the subdivider shall provide an appropriate form of bond in accordance with § 140-5, Definitions, and § 140-18, Improvements and bonds, of this chapter.
No change, erasure, or revision shall be made on any preliminary or final plat, nor on accompanying data sheets after approval of the agent has been endorsed in writing on the plat or sheets, unless authorization for such changes has been granted in writing by the agent.
The subdivider shall provide a set of "as-built" drawings to the agent at the time of completion of easements, streets, and utilities provisions: The drawings shall show the exact location and dimensions of all easements, streets, utilities and rights-of-way.
The subdivider shall record the approved record plat in the clerk's office of the Circuit Court of the County within six months after approval thereof; otherwise, such approval shall become null and void. In cases where construction of facilities to be dedicated for public use has commenced pursuant to an approved plan or permit with surety approved by the governing body, or where the developer has furnished surety to the governing body in the amount of the estimated cost of construction of such facilities, the time limit for plat recordation shall be extended to one year after final approval or to a time limit specified in the surety agreement approved by the governing body, whichever is greater.