Words used in the present tense include the
future; the singular number includes the plural number; the plural
number includes the singular number; and the word "shall" is mandatory.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
definitions shall apply:
APPROVING AGENCY
An agency empowered to approve a subdivision plat pursuant
to Ch. 236, Wis. Stats. This includes the Town of Vernon, Waukesha
County Department of Parks and Land Use, and any city or village having
extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction.
ARTERIAL STREET
A street used or intended to be used primarily for fast or
heavy through traffic. Arterial streets shall include freeways and
expressways as well as county trunk highways and state highways.
CASH ESCROW
A deposit of funds that is made to secure performance of
specified obligations pursuant to a written agreement with the Town
of Vernon, the form of the cash escrow account agreement being subject
to the approval of the Town Board in each case, with said agreement
having the following minimum requirements:
A.
The funds are deposited in the name of the Town
of Vernon;
B.
The Town of Vernon is granted the unrestricted
right to withdraw funds from the account in the event specified requirements
are not met; and
C.
Such other terms and conditions as may be noted
in the agreement.
COLLECTOR STREET
A street used or intended to be used to carry traffic from
minor streets to the major system of arterial streets.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The extensively developed plan, also called the "Town of
Vernon Master Plan," adopted by the Town Plan Commission and certified
to the Town Board pursuant to §§ 62.23, 61.35 and 60.22(3),
Wis. Stats., except that "Comprehensive Plan" shall mean the Comprehensive
Plan defined and described in § 66.1001, Wis. Stats., at
such time as such document is adopted by the Town Board. The Comprehensive
Plan may include detailed neighborhood plans, proposal for future
land use, transportation and public facilities. Devices for the implementation
of this plan, such as zoning, an official map, land division and building
ordinances and a capital improvements program, shall also be considered
a part of the Comprehensive Plan.
CONDOMINIUM
A building or a group of buildings in which units are owned
individually and the building's common areas and facilities are owned
by all owners on a proportional undivided basis. A condominium is
a legal form of ownership and not a specific building type or style.
COUNTY
The Waukesha County Department of Parks and Land Use.
CUL-DE-SAC
A local street with only one outlet having an appropriate
turnaround for the safe and convenient reversal of traffic.
DEVELOPER
Any person, firm or entity, or any agent thereof, owning,
dividing or proposing to divide land resulting in a subdivision, minor
subdivision, condominium plat or replat. For the purposes of this
chapter, lots and property shall be considered in the same ownership
when:
A.
Owned by the same individual or corporation,
an individual and another in joint tenancy, or as tenants in common,
and either of said joint or common tenants owns other lots individually
or as a joint tenant or tenant in common, together with another, an
individual, and other lots are owned by his spouse, parent, grandparents,
children, grandchildren, or a brother or sister or spouse of the brother
or sister of such person;
B.
Any of said lots are owned by an individual
and other lots are owned by a corporation (broadly interpreted to
include, but not limited to, business corporations, non-stock corporations,
service corporations and limited liability companies) in which said
individual is an officer or director or controlling stockholder;
C.
Any of said lots are owned by an individual
and other lots are owned by a partnership in which said individual
is a partner; and
D.
Any of said lots are owned by a group of individuals
who are acting in concert to divide and/or develop adjoining parcels
of property.
DEVELOPER'S AGREEMENT
An agreement by which the Town and the developer agree in
reasonable detail to all of those matters which the provisions of
these regulations permit to be covered by the developer's agreement.
The developer's agreement shall not take effect unless and until an
irrevocable letter of credit or other appropriate surety has been
issued to the Town.
EASEMENT
A right held by a person or persons or a company to make
use of the land of another. The right has to have been granted by
the owner(s) of the land over which the easement is placed. The use
of land may be for access, drainage, utility, preservation or other
lawful purposes.
ENVIRONMENTAL CORRIDOR
An elongated area usually located along streams, valleys
or other significant topographic features which may contain lakes,
rivers, floodlands, wetlands, woodlands, significant topography, wet
soils or significant wildlife habitat areas. Such areas are delineated
on the Town's Master Plan and the Waukesha County Park and Open Space
Plan.
EROSION
The detachment and movement of soil, sediment or rock fragments
by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL PLAN
A descriptive document approved by the Waukesha County Land
Resources Division specifying methods for controlling soil erosion,
surface water runoff, and sedimentation deposition caused by or resulting
from land disturbing activities.
FINAL PLAT
A map prepared in accordance with the requirements of Ch.
236, Wis. Stats., and this chapter for the purpose of dividing larger
parcels into lots and conveying these lots. The lines showing where
lots and other improvements are located are precise.
FINANCIAL GUARANTEE
A letter of credit, cash deposit, or certified check meeting
the approval of the Town Attorney.
FLOODLANDS
Those lands including the floodplains, floodways and channels
subject to inundation of the one-hundred-year recurrence interval
flood or, where such data is not available, the maximum flood of record.
FRONTAGE STREET
A minor street auxiliary to and located on the side of an
arterial street for control of access and for service to the abutting
development.
HIGH GROUNDWATER ELEVATION
The highest elevation to which subsurface water rises. This
may be evidenced by the actual presence of water during wet periods
of the year or by soils mottling during drier periods. Mottling is
a mixture or variation of soil colors and soils with restrictive internal
drainage; gray, yellow, red and brown colors are intermingled giving
a multicolored effect.
HIGH-WATER ELEVATION, ORDINARY
The average annual high-water elevation of a pond, stream,
lake, flood flowage or wetland referred to an established datum plane
or, where such elevation is not available, the elevation of the line
up to which the presence of water is so frequent as to leave a distinct
mark by erosion, changing or destruction of vegetation or other easily
recognizable topographic, geologic or vegetative characteristics.
IRREVOCABLE LETTER OF CREDIT
An agreement guaranteeing payment for subdivision or certified
survey map improvements, entered into by a bank, savings and loan
or other financial institution which is authorized to do business
in the State of Wisconsin and which has a financial standing acceptable
to the Town Board, and which is approved, as to form, by the Town
Attorney.
LOT, DOUBLE FRONTAGE
A lot other than a corner lot with frontage on more than
one street. Double frontage lots shall normally be deemed to have
two front yards and two side yards and no rear yard. Double frontage
lots shall not generally be permitted unless the lot abuts an arterial
or collector street. Double frontage lots abutting arterial or collector
highways should restrict direct access to the highway by means of
a planting buffer or some other acceptable access buffering measure.
LOT, FLAG
A lot that, although it may front upon a public road, has
frontage along a narrow strip of land or an easement.
MINIMUM AVERAGE WIDTH
The mean horizontal distance measured between side lot lines,
perpendicular to the lot depth and at a point in relation to the depth
where the product of the two would produce the minimum required lot
area.
MINOR LAND DIVISION
Any division of land less than 40 acres in size other than
a subdivision as defined herein.
NAVIGABLE WATER
All natural inland lakes within Wisconsin and all streams,
ponds, sloughs, flowages, and other waters within the territorial
limits of this state, including the Wisconsin portion of boundary
waters, which are navigable under the laws of this state.
OBJECTING AGENCY
An agency empowered to object to a subdivision plat pursuant
to Ch. 236, Wis. Stats. Objecting agencies include the Waukesha County
Department of Public Works where property division abuts a county
highway, the Wisconsin Department of Administration, the Wisconsin
Department of Transportation, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources.
OUTLOT
A parcel of land other than a lot or block so designated
on the plat but not of standard lot size or considered unbuildable
because of soils limitations.
PARKWAY
A continuous or semicontinuous park or drive usually along
a watercourse or park where the land is owned or reserved for public
or semipublic purposes and having access to it.
PRELIMINARY PLAT
A map showing the salient features of a proposed subdivision
submitted to an approving authority for purpose of preliminary considerations.
A preliminary plat precisely describes the location and exterior boundaries
of the parcel proposed to be divided and shows the approximate location
of the lots, the proposed public improvements, location of all soils
tests, the topography, floodplain, wetland and primary environmental
corridor.
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT
Any sanitary sewer or sewer facilities, storm sewer, open
channel, water main or water facilities, roadway, park, parkway, public
access, sidewalk, pedestrianway, planting strip or other facility
for which the Town may ultimately assume responsibility for maintenance
and operation.
RECORDING
The filing of the final plat, certified survey map, replat
or condominium with the County Register of Deeds.
REPLAT
The process of changing the map or plat that changes the
boundaries of a recorded subdivision plat, certified survey map or
part thereof. The division of a large block, lot or outlot within
a recorded subdivision plat or certified survey that changes the exterior
boundaries of said lot, block or outlot is a replat.
RESERVE STRIP
Any land which would prohibit or interfere with the orderly
extension of streets, roads, pedestrianways, sanitary sewer, water
mains, stormwater facilities or other utilities or other improvements
between two abutting properties.
RESTRICTIVE COVENANT
A restriction also known as a "deed restriction" on the use
of the land usually set forth in the deed. A restrictive covenant
usually runs with the land and is binding upon subsequent owners of
the property.
SHORELANDS
Those lands lying within the following distances: 1,000 feet
from the high-water elevation of navigable lakes, ponds and flowages
or 300 feet from the high-water elevation of navigable streams or
to the landward side of the floodplain, whichever is greater.
SUBDIVISION
The division of a lot, parcel, or tract of land, by the owner
thereof, or a developer, for the purpose of transfer of ownership
or building development where the division creates:
[Amended 12-9-2020 by Ord. No. V2020-05]
A.
Five or more parcels or building sites inclusive
of the original remnant parcel of 1 1/2 acres each or less in
area; or
B.
Five or more parcels or building sites inclusive
of the original remnant parcel of 1 1/2 acres each or less in
area by successive divisions or of any part of the original property
by any person within a period of five years; or
C.
Six or more parcels or building sites for residential
development inclusive of the original remnant parcel of any size by
successive divisions or of any part of the original property by any
person within a period of five years.
TOWN
The Town of Vernon, Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
TOWN BOARD
The Town of Vernon Board of Supervisors.
WETLAND
An area where water is at, near or above the land surface
long enough to be capable of supporting aquatic or hydrophytic vegetation
and which has soils indicative of wet conditions.