These rules and regulations governing the subdivision of land in the Town of Falmouth have been adopted pursuant to MGL C. 41, § 81Q, and are published to assist landowners, developers and landscape architects in complying with the provisions of the Subdivision Control Law (MGL C. 41, §§ 81K-81GG). Reference should be made to that statute, to the Zoning Act (MGL C. 40A) and to the Zoning Bylaw (Chapter 240) of the Town of Falmouth for applicable provisions not set out in these regulations. For the purpose of these regulations, a "subdivision" is the division of a tract of land into two or more lots, as defined in MGL C. 41, § 81L, of the Subdivision Control Law.
Regulation of subdivisions was started in Falmouth when the Town voted to adopt MGL C. 41, § 73, providing for a Board of Survey (1924 May Sp. 19). A Planning Board had been established a year earlier, but the Board of Survey continued to function until 1947 when the Town adopted MGL C. 41, §§ 81A-81J (1947 AN 97) which transferred subdivision control to the Planning Board. The first subdivision regulations were adopted in 1950; revisions were made in 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1971, 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1988. The present text reproduced herein was adopted on October 22, 1991.