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Editor’s note–This chapter consists of the subdivision ordinance, Ordinance 83-95, adopted September 13, 1983, originally published as chapter 24 in the 1978 Code of Ordinances and as subsequently amended. Section numbers, style, capitalization and formatting have been changed to be consistent with the remainder of the Code of Ordinances, and this will be maintained in future amendments to this chapter. Changes in the names of state agencies have been incorporated without notation. The term “City of Beaumont” has been changed to “city” and the term “State of Texas” has been changed to “state.” Obviously misspelled words have been corrected without notation. Any other material added for purposes of clarification is enclosed in brackets.
This chapter shall be known, cited and referred to as the “Subdivision Regulations of the City of Beaumont, Texas.”
(Ordinance 83-95, sec. 2, adopted 9/13/83; 1978 Code, sec. 24-1)
The statutes of the state authorizing and empowering cities to regulate the platting and recording of subdivisions or additions situated within the corporate limits or within five (5) miles of the corporate limits of such city, the same being chapter 231, Acts of the Regular Session of the 40th Legislature of Texas, 1927, such statutes Texas Local Government Code, section 212.001 et seq. are hereby adopted for and on behalf of the city, and the city acting through its duly authorized officials shall have all the rights, powers, privileges and authority authorized and granted by and through such statutes.
(Ordinance 83-95, sec. 2, adopted 9/13/83; 1978 Code, sec. 24-2)
(a) 
The subdivision of land is the first step in the process of urban development. The arrangement of parcels in the community for residential, commercial and industrial uses and for streets, alleys, schools, parks and other public purposes will determine to a large degree the conditions of health, safety, economy and amenity that prevail in the urban area. The quality of these conditions is of public interest. These regulations and standards for the subdivision and improvement of land for urban use are to make provision for adequate light, air, open space, drainage, transportation, public utilities and other needs, to ensure the development and maintenance of a healthy, attractive, planned, orderly and efficient community pursuant to the official comprehensive plan for the city.
(b) 
The goals of these regulations are as follows:
(1) 
To protect and provide for the public health, safety, and general welfare of the municipality;
(2) 
To guide the future growth and development of the municipality, in accordance with the comprehensive plan;
(3) 
To provide for adequate light, air, and privacy, to secure safety from fire, flood, and other dangers, and to prevent overcrowding of the land and undue congestion of population;
(4) 
To protect the character and the social and economic stability of all parts of the municipality and to encourage the orderly and beneficial development and redevelopment of all parts of the municipality;
(5) 
To protect and conserve the value of land throughout the municipality and the value of buildings and improvements upon the land, and to minimize the conflicts among the uses of land and buildings;
(6) 
To guide public and private policy and action in order to provide adequate and efficient transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks, playgrounds, recreation, and other public requirements and facilities;
(7) 
To provide the most beneficial relationship between the uses of land and buildings and the circulation of traffic throughout the municipality, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and highways, and the pedestrian traffic movements appropriate to the various uses of land and buildings, and to provide for the proper location and width of streets and building lines;
(8) 
To establish reasonable standards of design and procedures for subdivisions and resubdivisions, in order to further the orderly layout and use of land; and to ensure proper legal descriptions and monumenting of subdivided land;
(9) 
To ensure that public facilities are available and will have a sufficient capacity to serve the proposed subdivision;
(10) 
To prevent the pollution of air, streams, and ponds; to assure the adequacy of drainage facilities; to safeguard the water table; and to encourage the wise use and management of natural resources throughout the municipality in order to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community and the value of the land;
(11) 
To preserve the natural beauty and take into account the topography of the municipality and to ensure appropriate development with regard to these natural features;
(12) 
To provide for open spaces through the most efficient design and layout of the land, including the use of average density in providing for minimum width and area of lots, while preserving the density of land as established in the zoning ordinance of the municipality;
(13) 
To provide that the cost of improvements which primarily benefit the tract of land being developed be borne by the owners or developers of the tract and that the cost of improvements which primarily benefit the whole community be done by the whole community;
(14) 
To ensure that street, utilities, and drainage improvements needed by the subdivision are actually installed.
(Ordinance 83-95, sec. 2, adopted 9/13/83; 1978 Code, sec. 24-3)
(a) 
Except as otherwise provided herein, every owner of land situated within the city, or within the extraterritorial jurisdiction thereof, who causes the division of such land into two (2) or more lots, building sites, parcels, units or fractional parts thereof, shall first prepare a plat in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The description of such lots, building sites, units or interests by metes and bounds or by other reference in an instrument of transfer shall not exempt the transaction from the provisions of this chapter. However, the addition of two (2) tracts or lots of land into one lot or parcel does not constitute a subdivision under these regulations.
(b) 
No building permit or certificate of occupancy shall be issued nor shall connection or service with any city utilities, such as water and sewers, be permitted for any lot, tract, parcel or premises which was created by subdivision after January 22, 1980, unless the subdivision was approved by the planning commission.
(c) 
No improvements shall be started until a preliminary plat has been approved by the planning commission, after which approval, improvements may be started in accordance with the preliminary plat and with the approval of the city engineer of the final construction plans.
(Ordinance 83-95, sec. 2, adopted 9/13/83; 1978 Code, sec. 24-4)
These regulations shall supplement and facilitate the enforcement of the provisions, standards, and specifications contained in the building and housing codes, zoning ordinance, comprehensive plan, official street and highway plan and other official plans of the city. Where any provision of this chapter imposes restrictions different from those imposed by any other provision of any other city ordinance, rule or regulation or any other provisions of law, the more restrictive shall control and be reflected in the plat. No plat showing a violation of a city ordinance, rule or regulation shall be approved.
(Ordinance 83-95, sec. 2, adopted 9/13/83; 1978 Code, sec. 24-5)
(a) 
Usage.
Words in the present tense include the future; words in the singular number include the plural number and words in the plural number include the singular number; the word “building” includes the word “structure”; the word “lot” includes the word “parcel,” “plot,” or “tract”; the word “shall” is mandatory and not discretionary.
(b) 
Definitions.
In the interpretation of this chapter, the following words and terms are to be used and interpreted as defined hereinafter:
Block.
A tract of land bounded by streets, or a combination of streets, public parks, railroad rights-ofway, shorelines of waterways or corporate limits.
Comprehensive plan.
Policies in graphic and textual form adopted by the city council to govern the future physical development of the city. Such plan may cover the entire city and all of its functions and services, or may consist of a combination of plans governing specific geographic areas which together cover the entire city and all of its functions and services.
Construction plans.
The maps or construction drawings accompanying a subdivision plat that show the specific location and design of all required or proposed improvements to be installed in the subdivision.
Cul-de-sac.
A local street with only one outlet having an appropriate terminal for the safe and convenient reversal of traffic movement.
Easement.
Authorization by a property owner for the use by another, and for a specified purpose, of any designated part of the area being subdivided.
Filed.
The day the application for the plan or plat is accepted as complete and placed on the planning and zoning commission agenda.
Final plat.
The map or drawing of a subdivision and any accompanying material, as described in these regulations, which, if approved by the planning commission, may be submitted to the county clerk for filing.
Frontage.
A property line abutting a public city, county, state or private street as defined and approved herein. Frontage along an easement is allowable for commercial lots that are within a planned commercial center where the easement is permanently accessible to the public and the design and construction of the access improvements are approved by the planning commission.
Lot.
An undivided tract, plot or parcel of land intended as a unit for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer or ownership or for building development.
Lot orientation.
The compass reading for a line drawn from a point midway between the side lot lines at the required front yard setback to a point midway between the side lot lines at the required rear yard setback.
Owner.
Any person, group of persons, firm or firms, corporation or corporations, or any other legal entity having legal title to or sufficient proprietary interest in the land sought to be subdivided under these regulations.
Planning area.
The planning area shall constitute an area beginning two (2) miles from corporate limits of the city and extending out an additional three (3) miles to the boundary of the five (5) mile extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Resubdivision.
A change in an approved or recorded subdivision plat if such change affects any street layout or area reserved thereon for public use, or any lot line.
Subdivider.
Any person who, having an interest in land, causes it, directly or indirectly, to be divided into a subdivision.
Subdivision.
Any land, vacant or improved, which is divided or proposed to be divided into two (2) or more lots, parcels, sites, units, plots, or interests for the purpose of offer, sale, lease, or development, either on the installment plan or upon any and all other plans, terms, and conditions, including resubdivision.
(Ordinance 83-95, sec. 2, adopted 9/13/83; 1978 Code, sec. 24-6; Ordinance 16-006, sec. 1, adopted 2/2/16; Ordinance 19-052, sec. 1, adopted 8/27/19)