The preliminary plat is intended to show all the planning factors necessary to enable the proper municipal approving authorities to determine whether the proposed plan for land development is satisfactory from the standpoint of public interest. The preliminary plat should be prepared by qualified professionals trained and experienced in subdivision design. The preliminary plat and the review thereof are intended to produce a subdivision design in which all planning factors have been recognized and reconciled, as distinguished from the final plat, in which the engineering factor of dimensional precision is the predominant objective.
(2005 Code, sec. 16.1.15)
The preliminary plat shall be drawn to a scale of 1" = 100' or 1" = 50' provided that under special conditions a smaller or larger scale may be accepted when prior approval of the city engineer has been obtained.
(2005 Code, sec. 16.1.16)
The preliminary plat shall contain the following information:
(1) 
Ownership and identification.
(A) 
Name of subdivider, record owner and volume and page of record ownership in the county deed records, and land planner, engineer or surveyor.
(B) 
Proposed name of the subdivision.
(C) 
Location of subdivision by city, county and state.
(D) 
Key map showing location of tract by reference to existing streets or highways.
(E) 
Date of preparation, scale of plat and north arrow.
(F) 
Subdivision boundary lines, indicated by heavy lines, and the computed acreage of the subdivision.
(G) 
Names of the owners of contiguous parcels of unsubdivided land, the names of contiguous subdivisions, and the lot patterns of these subdivisions shown by dotted or dashed lines.
(H) 
Location of the city limit lines, if they traverse the subdivision, or form part of the boundary of the subdivision, or are contiguous to such boundary.
(I) 
The street intersections on the perimeter of the subdivision.
(2) 
Existing conditions.
(A) 
The location, dimensions, name and description of all existing or recorded public and private right-of-way, including easements, within the subdivision as well as those intersecting or contiguous with its boundaries or forming such boundaries.
(B) 
The location, dimensions, identification or name of all existing or recorded residential lots, parks and public areas within the subdivision.
(C) 
Permanent structures and uses within the subdivision, including location of houses, barns, walls, wells, tanks, and other significant features that will remain.
(D) 
The location, dimensions, description, and flow line of existing drainage structures and the location, flow line and floodplain as defined by the appropriate U.S.C.E. study of existing watercourses within the subdivision.
(E) 
Utilities on the tract, specifying size of lines.
(F) 
Topography shown by contour lines on a basis of five feet vertical interval in terrain with a slope of two percent or more, and on a basis of two feet vertical interval in terrain with a slope of less than two percent; datum shall be that of the North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
(G) 
If there is no adjacent subdivision, a map on a small scale shall be included with the preliminary plat, and oriented the same way, to show the nearest subdivision in each direction; it shall show how the streets, alleys, or highways in the subdivision submitted may connect with those in the nearest subdivision, if it affects the subdivision design.
(3) 
Proposed layout.
(A) 
Any major proposed changes in topography shown by contour lines on a basis of five feet vertical interval in terrain with a slope of two percent or more, and on a basis of two feet vertical in terrain with a grade of less than five percent; datum shall be that of the North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
(B) 
The location, dimensions, description and purpose of all proposed alleys, drainageways, parks, open spaces, other public areas, easements, streets or other rights-of-way, blocks, lots and other sites within the subdivision.
(C) 
A number or letter to identify each lot or site and each block; and, the proposed name of each street in the subdivision.
(D) 
Data specifying the gross area of the subdivision, the proposed number of residential lots, the area of each lot, the area in residential use, the approximate area in parks, streets, and in other nonresidential uses.
(E) 
All building setback lines on all lots and tracts.
(F) 
Before consideration of a preliminary plat by the planning and zoning commission, owners of the tract or subdivision shall submit to the city engineer, for his approval, a map or plat showing the location of water and sanitary sewer mains which will be required to insure adequate service and fire protection to the lots specified in such proposed tract or subdivision.
(G) 
A “preliminary drainage study” shall be submitted to the city engineer concurrent with the submittal of any preliminary plat to the city.
(Ordinance 2020-09 adopted 10/15/20)
(a) 
Once a preliminary plat application is determined to be complete and is accepted by the city for processing, the plat administrator shall forward the application to the city engineer for review and shall check the information and documents submitted for conformity with this chapter and all other applicable ordinances and regulations.
(b) 
The city engineer shall return his findings on the application to the plat administrator with his suggestions as to modifications, additions or alterations of the proposed preliminary plat for streets, drainage, water and sewer plans. Upon receipt, the plat administrator shall determine whether the application conforms to this chapter and all other applicable ordinances and regulations, except for any variances requested by the applicant in writing. If the application is not in conformance to this chapter and all other applicable ordinances and regulations, the plat administrator shall provide review comments to the applicant. It is the applicant’s responsibility to revise the application to conform to this chapter and all other applicable ordinances and regulations. When the plat administrator determines that the application conforms to this chapter and all other applicable ordinances and regulations, the plat administrator shall notify the applicant in writing of this determination. The official filing date of the preliminary plat application pursuant to chapter 212, Texas Local Government Code, including any plans or other documents submitted with the application, shall be date that the plat administrator determines that the application is in conformance with this chapter and all other applicable ordinances and regulations, except for any variances requested by the applicant in writing.
(c) 
The commission shall recommend approval, conditional approval or disapproval of the preliminary plat application within thirty (30) days after the official filing date of the preliminary plat application. Failure of the commission to act within thirty (30) days shall be deemed a recommendation of approval of the preliminary plat application. If the applicant requests an extension in writing, the commission may extend the deadline for acting on a preliminary plat application for a period of up to thirty (30) days.
(d) 
The city council shall consider the preliminary plat application within thirty (30) days of the commission’s recommendation and shall approve, conditionally approve or disapprove the preliminary plat application. If the city council conditionally approves or disapproves the preliminary plat, the plat administrator shall provide the applicant a written statement of the conditions for the conditional approval or reasons for disapproval that clearly articulates each specific condition for the conditional approval or reason for disapproval, including a citation to the law that is the basis for the conditional approval or disapproval, if applicable. If the final plat application be not approved, conditionally approved, or disapproved by the city council within thirty (30) days from the recommendation by the commission, it shall be deemed to have been approved by the city council. If the applicant requests an extension in writing, the city council may extend the deadline for acting on the preliminary plat application for a period of up to thirty (30) days.
(e) 
If the city council conditionally approves or disapproves a preliminary plat application, the applicant may submit to the city a written response that satisfies each condition for the conditional approval or remedies each reason for disapproval provided to the applicant. There is no deadline for when the applicant may submit the response. If the applicant submits a response under this section, the response shall be reviewed by the city engineer and the plat administrator and forwarded to the city council for action within fifteen (15) days of the date the response is submitted. The city council shall take action to approve or disapprove of the applicant’s previously conditionally approved or disapproved preliminary plat application. The city council shall approve the preliminary plat application if the applicant’s response adequately addresses each condition of the conditional approval or each reason for disapproval. The city council shall disapprove the preliminary plat application if the applicant’s response fails to adequately address each condition of the conditional approval or each reason for the disapproval. The city council may only disapprove the preliminary plat application for a specific condition or reason previously provided to the applicant. If the city council disapproves the preliminary plat application, the plat administrator shall provide the applicant a written statement of the reasons for disapproval that clearly articulates each specific reason for disapproval, including a citation to the law that is the basis for the disapproval, if applicable. If the preliminary plat application is disapproved after the applicant files a response under this section, the disapproval is final.
(Ordinance 2020-09 adopted 10/15/20)
After final disapproval of a preliminary plat, the subdivider may at any time submit a new design for city approval following the same procedure as required for the original application.
(Ordinance 2020-09 adopted 10/15/20)
Approval of a preliminary plat by the city council shall be deemed an expression of approval of the layout submitted on the preliminary drawings as a guide to the installation of streets, water, sewer and other required improvements and utilities and to the preparation of the final plat. Approval of a preliminary plat by the city council shall also be deemed an approval of all preliminary planning information submitted along with the preliminary plat. Approval of a preliminary plat shall not constitute approval of the final plat.
(Ordinance 2020-09 adopted 10/15/20)
(a) 
If substantial changes are made to a preliminary plat in a response that is submitted to the city under section 10.02.094(e) and those substantial changes are not reasonably necessary in response to a condition of conditional approval or reason for disapproval of the preliminary plat, the submission shall be treated as the submission of a new application rather than a response under section 10.02.094(e).
(b) 
If substantial changes are made in a preliminary plat after its approval by the city, a revised preliminary plat shall be prepared and submitted for approval prior to the preparation of the final plat. The commission shall determine if such a substantial change in the preliminary plat has been made.
(Ordinance 2020-09 adopted 10/15/20)