(a) 
These subdivision regulations of the city are designed and intended to achieve the following purposes and shall be administered so as to:
(1) 
Promote the health, safety and general welfare of the community and the safe, orderly and healthful development of the city;
(2) 
Establish adequate policies and procedures to guide development of the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction;
(3) 
Provide for the establishment of minimum specifications for construction and engineering design criteria for public infrastructure improvements to maintain land values, reduce inconveniences to residents of the area, and to reduce related unnecessary costs to the city for correction of inadequate facilities that are designed to serve the public;
(4) 
Ensure that development of land and subdivisions shall be of such nature, shape and location that utilization will not impair the general welfare;
(5) 
Ensure against the dangers of fires, floods, erosion, landslides, or other such menaces;
(6) 
Preserve the natural beauty and topography of the city and to ensure appropriate development with regard to these natural features;
(7) 
Realistically and harmoniously relate new development of adjacent properties;
(8) 
Provide the most beneficial circulation of traffic throughout the city, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and highways, and pedestrian traffic movements; and to provide for the proper location and width of streets;
(9) 
Ensure that public facilities for water supply, drainage, disposal of sanitary and industrial waste, whether liquid or solid, and parks are available for every building site and with adequate capacity to serve the proposed subdivision before issuance of a certificate of occupancy or release of utility connections or final inspection within the boundaries of the plat;
(10) 
Assure that new development adequately and fairly participates in the dedication and construction of public infrastructure improvements that are necessitated by or attributable to the development or that provide value or benefit that makes the development feasible;
(11) 
Help prevent pollution, assure the adequacy of drainage facilities, manage stormwater runoff, safeguard the water table, and encourage the wise use and management of natural resources throughout the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction in order to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community and the value of the land; and
(12) 
Provide for open spaces through the most efficient design and layout of the land, while preserving the land use intensity as established in the zoning regulations of the city.
(b) 
To carry out the purposes hereinabove stated, it is declared to be the policy of the city to guide and regulate the subdivision and development of land in such a manner as to promote orderly growth both within the city and where applicable, within its extraterritorial jurisdiction.
(c) 
Land must not be platted or developed until proper provision has been made for adequate public facilities for roadways, drainage, water, wastewater, public utilities, capital improvements, parks, recreation facilities, and rights-of-way for streets.
(d) 
Proposed plats or subdivisions which do not conform to the policies and regulations shall be denied, or, in lieu of denial, disapproved conditioned on conformance with conditions.
(e) 
There shall be an essential nexus between the requirement to dedicate rights-of-way and easements and/or to construct or pay for the construction of public infrastructure improvements in connection with a new subdivision and the need to offset the impacts on the city’s public facilities systems created by such new development.
(Ordinance 002-2013 adopted 2/19/13)
(a) 
Land proposed to be subdivided must be served adequately by essential public facilities and services, which may, depending on the circumstances, include water and wastewater facilities, roadway and pedestrian facilities, stormwater management and drainage facilities and park facilities. An application for a plat or development may be denied unless adequate public facilities necessary to support and serve the development exist or provision has been made for the facilities, whether the facilities are to be located within the property being developed or off site, taking into account existing public facilities and services.
(b) 
It is necessary and desirable to provide for dedication of rights-of-way and easements for public infrastructure improvements to support new development at the earliest stage of the development process.
(c) 
The city desires to assure both that impacts of new development are mitigated through contributions of rights-of-way, easements and construction of public infrastructure improvements, and that a new development be required to contribute not more than its proportionate share of such costs.
(d) 
Proposed public infrastructure improvements serving new development shall conform to and be properly related to the public facilities elements of the city’s adopted master plan; other adopted master plans for public facilities and services, and applicable capital improvements plans, and shall meet the service levels specified in such plans.
(Ordinance 002-2013 adopted 2/19/13)
(a) 
The standards established in this chapter for dedication and construction of public infrastructure improvements are based upon engineering studies and historical usages and demands by different categories of development. These regulations identify certain minimum requirements and sizes for utilities, roadways, parks and other facilities that the city council has determined to be necessary in order to provide the minimum level of service necessary to protect or promote the public health, safety, and welfare and to assure the quality of life currently enjoyed by the citizens of the city. It is the intent of these regulations that no development occur until and unless these minimum levels of service are met. Therefore, each subdivision in the city shall be required to dedicate, construct and/or upgrade required facilities and infrastructure to a capacity that meets these minimum levels.
(b) 
For each category of public infrastructure, a minimum standard of infrastructure, and in some cases, service level, has been developed based upon historic studies and construction projects of the city and other cities. These minimum standards take into consideration the soil conditions and topographic configuration of the city, the use and impact analyses of the North Central Texas Council of Governments in developing standard specifications for public infrastructure installation, and other historical use and performance experiences of the city that reflect the minimum level of facilities and services that must be built to meet the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the city.
(c) 
In order to maintain prescribed levels of public facilities and services for the health, safety and general welfare of its citizens, the city may require the dedication of easements and rights-of-way for and/or construction of on-site or off-site public infrastructure improvements for water, wastewater, road, drainage or park facilities to serve a proposed development, or require the payment of fees in lieu thereof. If adequate levels of public facilities and services cannot be provided concurrent with the schedule of development proposed, the city may deny the subdivision until the public facilities and services can be provided, or require that the development be phased so that the availability and delivery of facilities and services coincides with the demands for the facilities created by the development.
(d) 
Whenever the city council determines that levels of service in excess of those required to serve the proposed development are necessary in order to promote the orderly development of the city, the owner shall qualify for reimbursement for any costs in excess of the levels of service required for the proposed development through city participation, by a pro-rata reimbursement policy or other means adopted by the city.
(e) 
If the proposed development will utilize public facilities and services that were required to be constructed by a prior development in excess of the levels of service required for the prior development, the proposed development shall be required to reimburse its proportionate cost of the excess public facilities and services pursuant to a pro-rata reimbursement policy or other means adopted by the city.
(Ordinance 002-2013 adopted 2/19/13)
(a) 
All lots to be platted shall be connected to a public water system which has capacity to provide water for domestic use and emergency purposes, including adequate fire protection.
(b) 
All lots to be platted shall be served by an approved means of wastewater collection and treatment. The city engineer shall be responsible for determining the approved means of wastewater collection and treatment. The city may require the phasing of development and/or improvements in order to maintain adequate wastewater capacity.
(c) 
Proposed roads shall provide a safe, convenient and functional system for vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian circulation and shall be properly related to the applicable thoroughfare plan and any amendments thereto, and shall be appropriate for the particular traffic characteristics of each proposed subdivision or development. New subdivisions shall be supported by a thoroughfare network having adequate capacity, and safe and efficient traffic circulation. Each development shall have adequate access to the thoroughfare network.
(d) 
Stormwater management and drainage facility improvements serving new development shall be designed to prevent overloading the capacity of the downstream drainage system and to protect downstream facilities and properties from flood risk or environmental quality degradation and to maximize the preservation of natural floodplain features. The city may require the phasing of development, the use of control methods such as retention, detention, the construction of off-site drainage improvements, stormwater best management practices or drainage impact fees in order to mitigate the impacts of the proposed development.
(e) 
Dedication for parkland and open space shall be required as set forth in section 3.18 of the subdivision ordinance of the city.
(Ordinance 002-2013 adopted 2/19/13; Ordinance 026-2016, sec. 2, adopted 9/19/16)
In the case of existing adjacent or abutting roadways, the city may require that the entire right-of-way be dedicated and/or improved to the city’s design standards, based upon factors including the impact of the proposed development on the road, safety to the traveling public, geometric conflicts, capacity interruptions, current roadway conditions, structural capability of the current roadway, effects on life expectancy and maintenance requirements of the road which may result from the proposed uses, the impact of the proposed development on other roads, the timing of the proposed development in relation to the need for improving the road, and the impact of the traffic from the proposed development on the road and city’s roadway system as a whole.
(Ordinance 002-2013 adopted 2/19/13)
(a) 
The city shall require an initial demonstration that a proposed subdivision shall be adequately served by public facilities and services at the time for approval of the first development application that portrays a specific plan of development, including but not limited to an application to establish a planned development zoning district, or other overlay zoning district; a developer’s agreement; or an application for a preliminary or final plat.
(b) 
The obligation to dedicate rights-of-way for or to construct one or more public infrastructure improvements to serve a new subdivision may be deferred until approval of a subsequent phase of the subdivision, at the discretion of the city engineer, upon written request of the property owner, or at the city’s own initiative. As a condition of deferring the obligation, the city may require that the subdivider include provisions in the developer’s agreement, specifying the time for dedication of rights-of-way for or construction of public infrastructure improvements serving the subdivision.
(Ordinance 002-2013 adopted 2/19/13)