[Amended 6-24-2025]
A. 
An environmental inventory and impact statement shall be required for all subdivisions which contain 100 lots or more (including all sections if the subdivision is proposed to be developed in sections), and shall be submitted at the preliminary plat stage. In reviewing the proposed subdivision, the Administrator may waive the requirements of this section, in whole or in part, where it is determined that such requirements are not necessary because of the proposed use, size, density, location or site conditions and information provided by the preliminary plat.
B. 
The environmental inventory and impact statement shall be prepared by a certified engineer or other person qualified to perform such work. All costs for the preparation of the inventory and impact statement shall be borne by the subdivider.
C. 
The environmental inventory and impact statement shall include the following information:
(1) 
Inventory: existing characteristics and conditions of the environment, including but not limited to the following:
(a) 
Earth (mineral resources, soils, topography, geology, unique physical features).
(b) 
Water (surface, underground, springs).
(c) 
Atmosphere (quality as to gases and particulates).
(d) 
Natural processes (floods, erosion, precipitation, air movements).
(e) 
Flora (trees, shrubs, grass, crops, aquatic plants, endangered species).
(f) 
Fauna (birds, land animals including big game, small mammals and reptiles, fish, insects, endangered species).
(g) 
Land use (wilderness and open spaces, wildlife habitat, wetlands, forestry, grazing, agriculture, residential, commercial, industrial, mining and quarrying).
(h) 
Recreation (hunting, fishing, boating, swimming, camping, and hiking, picnicking, resorts).
(i) 
Aesthetics and human interest (scenic views and vistas, wilderness qualities, open space qualities, unique physical features, monuments, historical or archaeological sites and objects).
(j) 
Cultural status (cultural patterns and life-styles, health and safety, employment, population density).
(k) 
Man-made facilities and activities (structures, transportation facilities, including movement and access, utility network, waste disposal).
(2) 
Impact: impact upon the area by the proposed subdivision, including but not limited to the following:
(a) 
Modification of natural environment (introduction of exotic flora and fauna, modification of wildlife habitat, alteration of ground cover, alteration of groundwater hydrology, alteration of drainage, river and stream control and flow modification, canalization and irrigation).
(b) 
Land transformation and construction (urbanization, residential and vacation homes, industrial sites, commercial sites, airports, highways and bridges, roads and trails, railroads, transmission lines, pipelines, channel dredging and straightening, channel filling, canals, dams and impoundments, recreational structures, blasting and drilling, cut and fill, tunnels and underground structures).
(c) 
Resource extraction (blasting and drilling, surface excavation, subsurface excavation, well drilling and fluid removal, dredging, clear cutting and other lumbering, commercial fishing and hunting).
(d) 
Processing (farming, ranching and grazing, feedlots, dairying, energy generation, mineral processing, metallurgical industry, chemical industry, textile industry, oil refining, lumbering).
(e) 
Land alteration (erosion control and terracing, mine sealing and waste control, strip mining rehabilitation, landscaping, marsh fill and drainage).
(f) 
Resource renewal (reforestation, wildlife stocking and management, groundwater recharge, fertilization application, waste recycling).
(g) 
Changes in traffic (railway, automobile, trucking, shipping, aircraft, river and canal traffic, pleasure boating, trails).
(h) 
Waste storage and treatment (landfill, underground storage, junk disposal, liquid effluent discharge, stabilization and oxidation ponds, septic tanks, stack and exhaust emission).
(i) 
Chemical treatment (fertilization, chemical deicing of highways, chemical stabilization of soil, weed control, insect control with pesticides).
(j) 
Accidents (explosions, spills and leaks, construction accidents).
A. 
The subdivider shall only be required to survey the lot or lots to be conveyed or developed (whether such conveyance or development is immediate or future), and the remainder of the original parcel if such remainder is less than 10 acres in size.
B. 
The subdivider shall show by an appropriate sketch on the plat the approximate boundary and remaining acreage of any land not surveyed under this exemption.
C. 
All lots, including any which are not surveyed, shall meet all other applicable requirements of this chapter and of the Zoning Ordinance of Warren County,[1] except that lots not required to be surveyed under this section and not, in fact, surveyed shall not be required to comply with the dedication of right-of-way provisions contained in § 155-39E.
[Amended 9-21-1982]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 180, Zoning.
D. 
The purpose and intent of this section is to allow a person subdividing land to avoid the expense of surveying a large parcel which he plans to retain for his own use and has no intention of conveying to others. Such exemption shall not be used for the purpose of circumventing the purpose and intent of this section.
[Added 5-21-2013]
A. 
No land shall be subdivided within the boundaries of a dam break inundation zone unless such division complies with the provisions in § 10.1-606.3A of the Code of Virginia, as amended.
B. 
If a proposed subdivision that is wholly or partially within a dam break inundation zone would allow development of the three or more residential dwelling units, and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation determines that the proposed subdivision would change the spillway design flood standards of the impounding structure, the County shall not permit the subdivision unless:
(1) 
The subdivider shall change the proposed subdivision so that it does not alter the spillway design flood standards of the impounding structure; or
(2) 
The subdivider shall pay 50% of the contract-ready costs for necessary upgrades to an impounding structure attributable to the subdivision, along with administrative fees as required by § 15.2-2243.1 of the Code of Virginia, as amended.