Any office referred to in this Ordinance by title means the
person elected, employed, or appointed by the city in that position,
or his duly authorized representative.
Definitions not expressly prescribed herein are to be construed
in accordance with customary usage in municipal planning and engineering
practices.
When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present
tense include the future, words used in the singular number include
the plural; and words used in the plural number include the singular.
(Ordinance 756 adopted 11/13/18)
For the purposes of this Ordinance, the following terms, phrases,
words, and their derivations shall have the meaning ascribed to them
in this Section.
An “alley” is a minor public right-of-way which
provides a secondary means of vehicular access to abutting property
and which is used primarily for vehicular traffic to the rear or side
of properties which otherwise abut on a public street.
A “block” is a tract or parcel of land designated
as such on a duly recorded plat and may be entirely surrounded by
public streets or by a combination of public streets and public parks,
cemeteries, railroad rights-of-way, or natural or manmade physical
features than [that] disrupt what would otherwise be an unbroken landscape
(for example, ditches, gullies, ridges, et cetera).
A “building” is any structure which is built
for the support, shelter, or enclosure of persons, animals, chattels,
machinery, equipment or movable property of any kind.
The term “building line” or “building setback
line” shall refer to a line parallel to the street right-of-way
line and defines an area on the building lot between the street right-of-way
line and the building line within which no building shall be constructed.
The word “City” shall refer to the municipal
corporation, City of Jourdanton, Texas.
The words “City Attorney” shall mean the person
employed as City Attorney of the City of Jourdanton, Texas, and duly
appointed by the Council.
The words “City Engineer” shall mean the person
employed as City Engineer of the City of Jourdanton, Texas, duly appointed
by the City Manager with the approval of the Council.
The words “City Manager” shall mean the person
employed as the chief administrative officer of the City of Jourdanton,
Texas, and duly appointed by the Council.
The words “City Planner” shall mean the person
employed by the City, duly appointed by the City Manager with the
approval of the Council, and certified by the American Institute of
Certified Planners.
The word “Commission” shall mean the Planning
and Zoning Commission, a duly organized body of citizens of the City
of Jourdanton, Texas, and duly appointed by the Council.
The term “comprehensive plan” shall refer to
the most recently adopted plan for the future development of Jourdanton
and its ETJ, including any adaptations, amendments or supplements
thereto, which has or have been adopted in principle by the Commission
and Council.
The word “Council” shall mean the duly and constitutionally
elected governing body of the City of Jourdanton, Texas.
The word “county” shall refer to the county of
Atascosa, Texas.
The words “County Commission” or “Commissioner’s
Court” as generally termed, shall mean the duly and constitutionally
elected governing body of Atascosa County, Texas.
A public right-of-way between property lines which provides
pedestrian circulation.
A “double front lot” means a building lot, not
a corner lot, which has frontage on two streets.
The word “easement” means a strip of land reserved
for the use of the public by the grantor, usually at the rear or side
of lots or parcels of land, in which to install and maintain utility
lines, drainage ditches or channels, or for other city or public services;
the ownership or title to the land encompassed by the easement being
retained by the owner. In granting the easement, the grantor is in
effect vesting the public with authority to control the use of land
within the easement and, in exercising such control, the City may
specify that no building or part of a building or other permanent
structure of [or] fence, in case of a drainage easement, may be located
within the limits of the easement.
The word “engineer” means a person duly authorized
and licensed under the provisions of the Texas Engineering Registration
Act, as heretofore or hereinafter amended, to practice the profession
of engineering.
Within the terms of the Texas Municipal Annexation Act, the
term, ETJ means the unincorporated area, not a part of any other city,
which is contiguous to the corporate limits of the City of Jourdanton,
the outer boundaries of which are measured from the extremities of
the corporate limits of the City outward for such distances as may
be stipulated in the Texas Municipal Annexation Act in accordance
with the total population of the incorporated City of Jourdanton,
in which area, within the terms of the Act, the City may enjoin the
violation of its subdivision control ordinance.
The term “final plat” shall refer to the map
or plan of a proposed subdivision submitted to the city in accordance
with the procedures set forth by this Ordinance, for approval by the
Commission and Council, and said plat shall be prepared in accordance
with this Ordinance.
The term “front” or “frontage” shall
be that portion of a tract of land which abuts on a public street
to which it has direct access.
The word “lot” refers to a physically undivided
tract or parcel of land having frontage on a public street and which
is, or in the future may be, offered for sale, conveyance, transfer,
lease, or improvement, which is designated as a distinct and separate
tract and which is identified by a lot number or tract symbol on a
duly approved subdivision plat which has been properly recorded.
The “lot depth” is the length of a straight line
connecting the midpoint of the front and rear lot lines.
The “lot width” is the average length of the
front and rear property lines.
The term “master development plan” means the
first or introductory plat of a proposed subdivision where a subdivider
intends to submit, from time to time, fractional final plats.
The word “may” is permissive.
The term “person” means any individual, association,
firm, corporation, governmental agency, or political subdivision.
The term “plat” means a map, drawing, chart,
or plan showing the layout of a proposed subdivision into lots, blocks,
streets, parks, school sites, commercial or industrial sites, drainageways,
building lots, easements, alleys, or any similar type of plat, which
a subdivider submits for approval and a copy of which he intends to
record in final form.
The term “preliminary plat” means the first or
introductory plat of a proposed subdivision.
A “public easement” is a right granted or dedicated
to the public or governmental agency in, on, across, over or under
property for specified use or uses by an instrument or map duly recorded
in the records of the County Clerk of Atascosa County, Texas.
The word “reserve” shall refer to a tract, parcel,
or unit of land not physically divided, having frontage on a public
street, which is proposed and intended for other than single-family
residential use and which is, or in the future may be, offered for
sale, conveyance, transfer, lease, or improvement, and which is designated
as a distinct separate tract and which is identified by reserve symbol
on a duly approved subdivision plat which has been properly recorded
with the County Clerk of Atascosa County, Texas.
The word “shall” is always mandatory.
The word “street” means a public right-of-way,
however designated, which provides vehicular circulation and access
to adjacent property.
ARTERIAL:
A principal traffic artery or traffic way, usually of more
or less continuous routing over long distances, whose function is
to serve as a principal connecting street with State and Federal highways,
and shall include each street designated as a “major or minor
arterial” on the thoroughfare plan of the City or so designated
by the Commission and Council.
COLLECTOR:
A “collector street” means a street whose function
is to collect and distribute traffic between arterials and local streets,
is not necessarily of continuous routing for long distances, has intersections
at grades and provides direct access to abutting property, and shall
include each street designated as a “collector street”
on the thoroughfare plan or so designated by the Commission and Council.
CUL-DE-SAC:
A street having but one outlet to another street and terminated
on the opposite end by a vehicular turnaround.
DEAD-END STREET:
The term “dead-end street” means a street, other
than a cul-de-sac, with only one outlet.
LOCAL:
A “local street” means a street whose function
is to provide access to abutting residential property within neighborhoods,
with all intersections at grade, and not of continuous routing for
any great distance so as to discourage heavy, through traffic.
MAJOR THOROUGHFARE:
The term “major thoroughfare” shall refer to
arterials and collectors designed for and used for fast or heavy traffic,
or intended to serve as a major traffic way, of considerable continuity,
and designated as such upon the most recent thoroughfare plan of the
City of Jourdanton, Texas, as adopted by the Commission and Council.
PAVEMENT WIDTH:
The term “pavement width” means the portion of
the surface of a street available for vehicular traffic and, where
curbs are laid, it is the portion between the face of curbs.
SIDEWALK:
The word “sidewalk” means a walkway constructed
within the right-of-way of any public street and in accordance with
the provisions of this Ordinance.
The word “subdivider” shall mean any person or
persons, firm, or corporation subdividing a tract or parcel of land
to be sold or otherwise handled for their own personal gain or use.
A “subdivision” is any division of property for
which a plat is required to be approved and recorded under the provision
of Article 974a, Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes, Article 970a,
the Texas Municipal Annexation Act, and under this Ordinance. The
word “subdivision” shall mean any division of any tract
of land situated within the corporate limits of the City of Jourdanton,
Texas, or within its ETJ, into two (2) or more parts for the purpose
of laying out any subdivision of any tract of land or any addition
of the City of Jourdanton, or for laying out suburban lots or building
lots, or any lots, streets, alleys, or parts or other portions intended
for public use or the use of purchasers or owners of lots fronting
thereon or adjacent thereto. “Subdivision” shall include
resubdivision and, when in the context, shall relate to the process
of subdividing or to the land, area subdivided. Resubdivision shall
mean the division of an existing subdivision, together with any change
of lot size therein, or with the relocation of any street lines; however,
it does not include the division of land for agricultural purposes
in parcels or tracts of five (5) acres or more and not involving any
new street, alley or easement of access.
The term “surveyor” means a licensed State Land
Surveyor or a Registered Public Surveyor, as authorized by the Texas
Land Surveyors Registration Act.
The term “thoroughfare plan” shall mean the master
plan of major and secondary streets and highways as a part of the
City’s comprehensive plan and adaptations, amendments, or supplements
thereto as adopted by the Commission and the Council.
The word “unrestricted” shall be used to label
or designate land proposed to be used for a purpose not consistent
with the proposed use of the major portion of the subdivision.
(Ordinance 756 adopted 11/13/18)
