Administration of this title may be guided by the following principles when applicable:
(1) 
Build a network of streets that are sized for pedestrian use. There should be a hierarchy of streets that discourages through traffic in residential areas;
(2) 
Build a neighborhood that is served by interconnecting neighborhoods, parks, schools, and commercial areas;
(3) 
Build a neighborhood that emphasizes public safety, with sidewalks on all residential streets;
(4) 
Build a neighborhood that emphasizes ease of movement by motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists;
(5) 
Locate uses within the neighborhood that provide daily needs;
(6) 
One should be able to live in the neighborhood without a car;
(7) 
The formal and informal meeting of neighbors fosters the bonds of community as they walk in public;
(8) 
Locate public buildings at prominent sites on parks or squares.
(a) 
Public buildings promote civic identity and should be celebrated and architecturally distinctive;
(9) 
Provide neighborhood parks within neighborhoods.
(a) 
Children should have parks close to home, surrounded by streets and building fronts to be easily supervised, and protecting slopes and view corridors for all to enjoy;
(10) 
Building beautiful streets and squares as outdoor rooms.
(a) 
The same rules of proportion that apply to good building design apply to streets;
(11) 
Encourage harmonious architecture that belongs to the northwest region.
(a) 
Contribute to an authentic neighborhood, unique to the northwest,
(b) 
Encourage structures old and new that have character and diversity,
(c) 
Preserve and maintain natural features,
(d) 
Protect and enhance streams, rivers, and the habitats along them to foster the quality of surface and subsurface waters of the city, thereby sustaining the fish and wildlife populations of these riparian corridors.
(Ord. 1421, 2001; Ord. 1740 § 1 (Exh. A), 2013)
Where a proposed subdivision, short subdivision, or binding site plan contains common areas or common facilities including, but not limited to, storm sewers and stormwater facilities, drainage ways, open space, or other shared facilities to be maintained in common by the private property owners, the applicant shall ensure that adequate provisions have been made for continued maintenance of such common areas and common facilities.
(1) 
For subdivisions and binding site plans, protective covenants shall be contained in CC&Rs, easement, or other recorded document to provide for the establishment of a homeowners' association which shall be responsible for maintenance of all such common areas and common facilities.
(a) 
Such protective covenants shall be submitted to the department of community development for review and approval of common areas and common facilities for compliance with this section prior to approval of the final plat or final binding site plan.
(b) 
The covenants shall make provisions for the maintenance of all shared common areas or common facilities including, but not limited to, storm sewers and stormwater facilities, drainage ways, open space, and landscaping.
(c) 
The covenants shall be written to prohibit changes that would allow removal of these requirements.
(d) 
The covenants shall be recorded in connection with the plat.
(2) 
For short subdivisions, a shared maintenance agreement, CC&Rs, easement, or other recorded document, meeting the approval of the community development director and recorded against each lot, shall provide for the maintenance of all shared common areas, storm sewers and stormwater facilities, drainage ways, open space, and landscaping.
(Ord. 1821 § 1 (Att. A), 2016)
Before approval of the plat for a short subdivision, the community development director or, in the case of a subdivision, the hearing examiner shall see that appropriate provisions are made in the short subdivision or subdivision for adequate streets and other public ways, parks, playgrounds, sites for schools and schoolgrounds, and shall consider all other facts deemed by it relevant and designed to indicate whether or not the public interest will be served by the platting, subdividing or dedication.
(1) 
Due considerations shall be given by the subdivider to the allocation of suitable areas for schools, parks and playgrounds to be dedicated for public use.
(2) 
Where a proposed park, playground, school or other public use shown in the current comprehensive plan, including capital facility plans, is located in whole or in part in a subdivision, the hearing examiner may request the dedication or reservation of such area within the subdivision in those cases in which the hearing examiner deems or finds such requirements to be reasonable and proportional to the impact of the development.
(Ord. 324 § 15, 1965; Ord. 1179 § 1, 1995; Ord. 1421, 2001; Ord. 1495 § 1, 2004; Ord. 1613 § 1 (Exh. A), 2008)
The subdivision shall be in conformity with the comprehensive plan and shall take into consideration any preliminary studies thereof or applying thereto. The subdivision shall conform with the requirement of state laws and the standards established in this title.
For purposes of clarifying the full impact of adjacent parcel subdivision, a parcel of land or contiguous parcels under a single ownership shall not be partitioned for transfer of ownership or building development so as to conflict with applicable standards for subdivisions as set forth in this title.
(Ord. 324 § 11, 1965; Ord. 1118 § 1 (Exh. A), 1993; Ord. 1179 § 1, 1995; Ord. 1421, 2001)
The following requirements for survey monumentation and plat drawings for subdivisions and dedications within the city are adopted:
(1) 
Minimum plat scale of one inch equals 100 feet or, for areas over 100 acres, one inch equals 200 feet;
(2) 
Twenty-four by 36 inches plat dimension;
(3) 
All control and lot corner monuments set should be identified on the face of the plat by legend;
(4) 
All concrete monuments used must contain reinforcing steel or other magnetic materials, except those enclosed in monument cases;
(5) 
Control monuments on the exterior boundary line of the plat, not set in paved streets, should be concrete monuments;
(6) 
A minimum of two-inch iron pipe should be used for monuments in unpaved streets;
(7) 
Monument cases shall be used in paved streets. Minimum monument in cases should be two-inch concrete filled iron pipe.
(Ord. 460 § 2, 1971; Ord. 1179 § 1, 1995; Ord. 1421, 2001)
Administration of this title may be guided by the principles of low impact development as described in the Washougal Engineering Standards for Public Works Construction. Use of the planned unit development provisions in Chapter 18.64 WMC should be given consideration for the purposes of: (1) locating buildings, roads, parking, and other hard surfaces away from permeable native soils and stands of native trees, (2) minimizing site disturbance, (3) retaining and protecting open areas, (4) reducing the amount of hard and impervious cover over the landscape, and (5) prioritizing the location of stormwater management facilities.
(Ord. 1821 § 1 (Att. A), 2016)