In considering applications for subdivision of land, the Planning Board shall be guided by the standards set forth hereinafter. Said standards shall be considered to be minimum requirements and shall be waived by the Board only under circumstances set forth in Article
X herein.
Land to be subdivided shall be of such character
that it can be used safely for building purposes without danger to
health or peril from fire, flood or other menace.
Subdivisions shall conform to the Official Map
of the town and shall be in harmony with the Comprehensive Plan.
All required improvements shall be constructed
or installed to conform to the town specifications, which may be obtained
from the Town Engineer.
Existing features which would add value to residential
development, such as large trees, watercourses, historic spots and
similar irreplaceable assets, should be preserved, insofar as possible,
through harmonious design of the subdivision. Development shall cause
minimum disturbance to existing landscaping. Topsoil shall not be
removed from the site except with the approval of the Planning Board.
Where the subdivision borders an existing street
and the Official Map or Comprehensive Plan or Master Plan (if enacted)
indicates plans for realignment or widening of the streets that would
require reservation of some land of the subdivision, the Planning
Board may require that such areas be shown and marked on the plan
"reserved for street alignment (or widening) purposes."
Where topography or other conditions are such
as to make impractical the inclusion of utilities or drainage facilities
within street rights-of-way, perpetual unobstructed easements at least
20 feet in width for such utilities shall be provided across property
outside the street lines and with satisfactory access to the street.
The Planning Board may require, in order to
facilitate pedestrian access from street to schools, parks, playground
or other nearby streets, perpetual unobstructed easements at least
eight feet in width.
Drainage shall meet a ten-year- or twenty-five-year-storm
maximum velocity of water; maximum runoff cannot exceed predevelopment
stage.
A. General. A storm drainage plan must be approved by
the Planning Board encompassing all drainage elements for the drainage
of the subdivision, areas feeding the subdivision and areas downstream
from the subdivision. In designing for storm drainage, the Water Pollution
Control Federation Manual of Practice on Design and Construction of
Sanitary and Storm Sewers (MOP-9) shall be used as a guide. The procedures
of the manual are not binding, and other good engineering practices
may be accepted as approved by the Town Engineer.
B. Removal of spring and surface water. The subdivider
may be required by the Planning Board to carry away by pipe or open
ditch any spring or surface water that may exist either previous to
or as a result of the subdivision. Such drainage facilities shall
be located in the street right-of-way, where feasible, or in perpetual
unobstructed easements of appropriate width.
C. Drainage structure to accommodate potential development
upstream. A culvert or other drainage facility shall, in each case,
be large enough to accommodate potential runoff from its entire upstream
drainage area, whether inside or outside the subdivision. The Town
Engineer shall approve the design and size of facility based on anticipated
runoff from a ten-year storm under conditions of total potential development
permitted by the Zoning Ordinance in the watershed.
D. Responsibility from drainage downstream. The subdivider's
engineer may also study the effect of each subdivision on the existing
downstream drainage facilities outside the area of the subdivision;
this study shall be reviewed by the Town Engineer. Where it is anticipated
that the additional runoff incident to the development of the subdivision
will overload an existing downstream drainage facility during a five-year
storm, the Planning Board shall notify the Town Board of such potential
condition. In such case, the Planning Board shall not approve the
subdivision until provision has been made for the improvement of said
condition.
E. Land subject to flooding. Land subject to flooding
or land deemed by the Planning Board to be uninhabitable shall not
be platted for residential occupancy, nor for such other uses as may
increase danger to health, life or property or aggravate the flood
hazard, but such land within the plat shall be set aside for such
uses as shall not be endangered by periodic or occasional inundation
or improved in a manner satisfactory to the Planning Board to remedy
said hazardous conditions.
When the Planning Board renders final approval
of a subdivision, the Board shall issue a permit authorizing the subdivision
to undertake terms and conditions for control therein.
A landscape plan shall be prepared by a licensed
landscape architect for subdivisions of 20 lots or more. Such landscape
plan shall include:
A. The location and species of street trees, if retained
within the right-of-way or proposed to be planted by the subdivider.
B. Details of methods of tree protection and tree planting.
C. Plans and details of any site improvements related
to park or recreation planning, including layout, grading, planting
and details of any improvements.
D. Plans and details of any other public amenities provided
in the subdivision.
F. The title under which the proposed subdivision is
to be recorded with the names of the owner and landscape architect
who prepared the landscape plan; the license number and seal of the
landscape architect shall be affixed to the drawing.
In order to enable and encourage flexibility
of design and development of land in such a manner as to promote the
most appropriate use of land to facilitate the adequate and economic
use of streets and utilities and to preserve the natural and scenic
qualities of open lands, the following shall be the standards and
procedures:
A. Standards.
(1) No such modification by the Planning Board shall result
in a greater overall density of lots or dwelling units than is permitted
in the zoning district wherein such lands lie, as specified in the
Zoning Ordinance.
(2) The provisions of this section shall not be deemed
to authorize a change in the permissible use of such lands as provided
in the Zoning Ordinance.
(3) The minimum acreage to which this section may be applicable
shall be five times the minimum lot area for the zoning district involved.
(4) In the event that the utilization of this section
results in a plat showing lands available for park, recreation or
other municipal purposes directly related to the plat or in a plat
showing lands to be retained in open space in order to comply with
the average density of lots, the Planning Board may establish, in
the case of lands for park, recreation or other municipal purposes,
such conditions on the ownership, use and maintenance of such lands
as it deems necessary to assure the reservation of such lands for
their intended purposes, and, further, in the case of lands to be
retained in open space, it may require that such lands be restricted
by deed restriction, restrictive covenant, conveyance of a scenic
easement or other conservation restriction to the town, or other appropriate
means against development of land use inconsistent with their retention.
Ownership shall be clearly marked on the plat
for all reservations.