Definitions.
APPLICANT
A Person (as hereinafter defined) who applies for the approval
of a plan of a Subdivision or a Person who applies under Section III.
"Applicant" shall include an Owner, or their agent or representative,
or their assigns.
BASE FLOOD ELEVATION
The level of flooding having a 1% chance of being equaled
or exceeded in any given year, as designated on the most recent Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) maps, or, in the absence of such
designation, to be determined by the Designer per FEMA requirements,
based upon the best available information regarding flood hazards,
including any available United States Geologic Survey, Soil Conservation
Service, and Corps of Engineers studies.
BENCHMARK
A mark made in a durable object of known position and elevation
as a referenced point.
BIKEWAY
A Way designed to be used principally or exclusively by a
bicycle or similar unpowered vehicle.
BOARD
The Planning Board of the Town of Middleborough.
BRIDLE PATH
A Way designed to be used principally or exclusively for
equestrian purposes.
CERTIFIED BY
Certified by (or endorsed by) the Planning Board, as applied
to a plan or other instrument required or authorized by the Subdivision
Control Law to be Recorded, shall mean bearing a certification or
endorsement signed by a majority of the members of the Planning Board.
(See MGL c. 41, § 81L.)
CONSERVATION RESTRICTION
A right, either in perpetuity or for a specified number of
years, whether or not stated in the form of a restriction, Easement,
covenant or condition, in any deed, will or other instrument executed
by or on behalf of the Owner of the land or in any order of taking,
appropriate to retaining land or water areas predominantly in their
natural, scenic or open condition or in agricultural, farming or forest
use, to permit public recreational use, or to forbid or limit any
or all (a) construction or placing of buildings, roads, signs, billboards
or other advertising, utilities or other structures on or above the
ground; (b) dumping or placing of soil or other substance or material
as landfill, or dumping or placing of trash, waste or unsightly or
offensive materials; (c) removal or destruction of trees, shrubs or
other vegetation; (d) excavation, dredging or removal of loam, peat,
gravel, soil, rock or other mineral substance in such manner as to
affect the surface; (e) surface use except for agricultural, farming,
forest or outdoor recreational purposes or purposes permitting the
land or water area to remain predominantly in its natural condition;
(f) activities detrimental to drainage, flood control, water conservation,
erosion control or soil conservation; or (g) other acts or uses detrimental
to such retention of land or water areas. (See MGL c. 184, § 31.)
DESIGNER
A Professional Civil Engineer, Landscape Architect, or a
Land Surveyor registered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division
of Professional Licensure, and in good standing, to practice in Massachusetts,
or a Person working under the direct supervision of such aforementioned
professionals.
DEVELOP
To construct a street, install utilities, erect a house or
other structure, or in any way to substantially improve a Lot.
DEVELOPER
A Person (as hereinafter defined) who develops a Subdivision
under a plan of a Subdivision approved pursuant to Section III of
these Rules and Regulations.
EASEMENT
A right acquired by public authority or other Person to use
or control property for a utility or other designated public or private
purpose. Not a Conservation Restriction.
GENERAL LAWS
(Abbreviated MGL) The General Laws of Massachusetts, Tercentennial
Edition, and as the same may be amended.
LOT
An area of land in one ownership with definite boundaries
used, or available for use, as the site of one or more buildings.
(MGL c. 41, § 81L)
LOT AREA
The horizontal area of the Lot exclusive of any area in a
street or Recorded Way open or proposed to be open to public use.
MONUMENT
A permanent marker to indicate a boundary.
MUNICIPAL SERVICES
Public infrastructure, including, but not limited to, sewers,
water drains, water pipes, gas pipes, overhead and underground electrical
lines, fire alarm system, similar systems and their respective appurtenances.
OPEN SPACE
Land not covered by buildings, roads, driveways, sidewalks,
parking areas, loading areas, service yards or other improvements.
Open space shall include, without limitation,
1.
The buffer zones provided herein;
2.
Any wetlands, marshes, meadows, Swamps, creeks, streams and
ponds as defined in MGL c. 131, § 40 (provided that the
Applicant is not hereby prevented from doing any work in such areas
as is permitted by the Middleborough Conservation Commission pursuant
to said Act);
3.
Protected land under a Conservation Restriction, Preservation
Restriction, or Agricultural Preservation Restriction;
4.
Protected land under Article 97, owned by the Town under Conservation,
Non-Profit or State land protection entity, such as Department of
Conservation and Recreation or Department of Fish and Game, etc.;
5.
Land that is prioritized as potential Open Space protection
in the Open Space and Recreation Plan;
6.
Any other protected natural areas.
OWNER
As applied to real estate, the Person(s) holding the ultimate
fee-simple title to a parcel, tract or Lot of land, as shown by the
record in the Land Registration Office, Registry of Deeds or Registry
of Probate.
PERSON
An individual, or two or more individuals or a group or association
of individuals, a partnership, trust or corporation having common
or undivided interests in a tract of land.
PLAN, DEFINITIVE
The plan of a Subdivision as duly submitted with appropriate
application to the Board for approval, to be Recorded in the Registry
of Deeds or filed with the Land Court when approved by the Board,
and such plan when approved and Recorded; all as distinguished from
a Preliminary Plan.
PLAN, PRELIMINARY
A plan of a proposed Subdivision or a re-Subdivision of land
prepared in accordance with Section III.B to facilitate proper preparation
of a Definitive Plan.
PLANNING BOARD AGENT
Town employee or consultant authorized by the Board to review
Subdivisions and administer the regulations.
PRIVATE UTILITIES
This term shall include, but not be limited to, telephones
and cable television, whether installed on, above or beneath the surface
of the ground.
PUBLIC UTILITIES
This term shall include, but not be limited to, sanitary
sewers, surface water drains and water pipes and their appurtenances,
gas lines, overhead and underground electrical lines, and fire alarm
systems which may become the property or responsibility of the Town
and/or the Middleborough Gas and Electric Department.
RECORDED
Recorded in the Registry of Deeds of Plymouth County, except
that, as affecting registered land, it shall mean filed with the Recorder
of the Land Court. (MGL c. 41, § 81L)
ROADWAY
That portion of a Way which is designed and constructed for
vehicular travel.
SIDEWALK
A Way within the right-of-way of a street, normally parallel
to the street, designed for use by pedestrians.
STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS
"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Public
Works, Standard Specifications for Highways and Bridges," 1988 edition,
as amended by all supplemental specifications.
STREET, COLLECTOR
A street which carries traffic equivalent to that generated
by 25 dwelling units or more, or which serves property either used
or zoned for commerce or industry.
STREET, DEAD-END
Any street, group or extension of streets, which has only
one means of access and is serving no more than 12 Lots.
STREET, LANE
A street which carries traffic equivalent to that generated
by 10 or fewer dwelling units, which has no abutting property either
used or zoned for commerce or industry, and which is not capable of
extensions.
STREET, MINOR
A street which carries traffic equivalent to that generated
by more than 10 but fewer than 25 dwelling units, which has no abutting
property either used or zoned for commerce or industry, and which
is not capable of extension to serve more than 25 dwelling units.
SUBDIVISION
The division of a tract of land into two or more Lots and
shall include re-Subdivision, and, when appropriate to the context,
shall relate to the process of Subdivision of the land or territory
subdivided. Conveyances 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 February 17, 1966, into separate Lots on each of
which one of such buildings remains standing, shall not constitute
a Subdivision (MGL c. 41, § 81L); 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 a frontage on (a) a public Way, or a Way which
the Town Clerk of the Town of Middleborough 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 February 17, 1966, 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
as well as other dimensional requirements shall be of a least such
distance as is then required by the current Zoning By-law.
SUBDIVISION CONTROL
The power of regulating the Subdivision of land granted by
the Subdivision Control Law, Chapter 41, §§ 81A through
81GG, inclusive, as hereinafter amended.
SWAMP
See "Wetland Resource Area."
TOWN
Town of Middleborough.
WAY
A Way is synonymous with the terms "road," "street," "highway"
and "avenue" and shall denote any such line or route for passage,
whether public or private. The width of a Way shall be the width of
the strip of land laid out, designated, acquired and/or dedicated
for the use of such Way. Such width includes the spaces for vehicular
travel, sidewalks, edgestone and planting spaces where required.
WETLAND RESOURCE AREA
See MGL c. 131, § 40, of the Wetlands Protection
Act. Any natural or man-made stream, pond, lake, wetland, coastal
wetland, Swamp, or other body of water, and shall include wet meadows,
marshes, Swamps, bogs, and areas where groundwater, flowing or standing
surface water or ice provide a significant part of the supporting
substrate for a plant community for at least five months of the year.
Swamp shall mean areas where groundwater is at or near the surface
of the ground for a significant part of the growing season, of where
runoff water from surface drainage frequently collects above the soil
surface.