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(a) No owner, or authorized agent, of any land located within a subdivision shall transfer, sell, or agree to sell any land by reference to, by exhibition of, or by the use of, a plan or plat of a subdivision, nor proceed with any construction work before such plan or plat has been approved and recorded in the manner prescribed in these regulations. Any sale or transfer contrary to the provisions of this section is void. The description of such lot or parcel by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other documents used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the transaction from the provisions of these regulations.
(b) The Code Administrator shall not issue zoning permits for any structure or activity on a lot in a subdivision for which a plat has not been approved and recorded in the manner prescribed in these regulations.
(Ord. 21-161, passed 12-13-2021)
(a) As part of any major subdivision, a subdivider will be required to enter into a subdivider’s agreement. Such agreement shall include, at a minimum:
(1) The timing of the construction of public improvements, including estimates for inspections;
(2) The approved subdivider agreement with Avon Lake Regional Water;
(3) Estimated costs and fees, as required by this code including, but not limited to, pavement guarantees, Street Tree Fund, inspection fees and recreation impact fees;
(4) Financial guarantee agreements, including the length of the pavement guarantee;
(5) Protection requirements for existing street, utilities and other installations;
(6) That the subdivider will hold the city free and harmless from any and all claims for damages of every nature arising or growing out of the construction of such improvements, and shall defend, at his or her cost and expense, any suit or action brought against the city by reason thereof, until the improvement has been accepted by the city;
(7) That in the event of any violation of or noncompliance with any of the provisions and stipulations of the agreement, the city may stop the work forthwith and complete or cause the completion of such improvements according to the approved plat and agreement, and that in such event, the owner shall reimburse the city for any and all expenses incurred thereby; and
(8) Any additional information or requirements as deemed necessary by the Code Administrator.
(b) The subdivider’s agreement shall be approved as to content and form by the city’s Law Director, with confirmation by the Code Administrator, prior to approval of the final plat.
(c) Installations in R-1A Districts.
(1) A subdivider who wishes to have public improvements, including streets, water, sanitary and storm sewers, and sidewalks, installed in a subdivision area in an R-1A District, shall enter into a subdivider’s agreement with the city to provide for preliminary engineering studies, the cost of which will be paid by such petitioner in accordance with R.C. §§ 727.01 through 727.49.
(2) Such agreement, a sample of which is attached to original Ordinance 49-79, passed April 23, 1979, is hereby approved and made a part of this section by reference.
(Ord. 21-161, passed 12-13-2021)
(a) Pavement guarantee.
(1) The subdivider shall, prior to the approval of the final plat, be required to post with the city a financial guarantee in an amount equal to 20% of the cost of pavement construction in the subdivision as computed by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city. Such financial guarantee shall be held by the city to ensure that the subdivider shall replace or repair, upon request of the city, any defective pavement areas which may appear during the time period of the guarantee.
(2) The pavement guarantee shall be for three years.
(3) The subdivider agreement shall also include timing for the developer to request, in writing, that the pavement be inspected and deficiencies noted for repairs.
(4) After repairs are made, pavement joints within the subdivision shall be cleaned and resealed with hot sealer if needed as directed by the City Engineer prior to final acceptance of pavement.
(b) Financial guarantees. The following are the types of financial guarantees allowed by the city. The standards for each type of guarantee shall apply to any situation where a financial guarantee is required, regardless if it is related to a subdivision application or not.
(1) Certified check, wire transfer, escrow or cash deposit. The following standards shall apply if a certified check, wire transfer, escrow, or cash deposit is utilized as a financial guarantee.
A. The subdivider shall provide a certified check, wire transfer, escrow to a third-party escrow account, or cash deposit for the amount of the guarantee, payable to the city.
B. If a third-party escrow account is to be established, the account shall be with a bank approved by the Law Director and shall be in an account set up for the sole ownership of the city.
C. When the public improvements are complete, the city shall issue a check for the released amount based on this division.
D. The city shall not be responsible for paying interest for the period of time the city retains the guarantee.
E. The subdivider’s agreement may provide for the making of payments from such funds from time to time, upon certification of City Council, provided that the balance remaining after such payments will, in his or her opinion, be adequate to pay the remaining costs of the improvements.
(2) Sidewalk bonds. If a subdivider intends to install sidewalks after the filing of the final plat, then the subdivider shall, prior to the approval of the final plat, file a financial guarantee without an expiration date, to secure the installation of the concrete sidewalks.
(3) Maintenance bonds. The following standards shall apply if a maintenance bond is utilized as a financial guarantee:
A. A bond in the amount determined in accordance with this section shall be filed with the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city.
B. The bond may be in the form of a maintenance bond or a cash bond of the kind approved by law for securing deposits of public money.
C. The bond shall be executed by the subdivider as principal, and if a maintenance bond, shall be executed by a corporation authorized to act as a the guarantor under the laws of the state.
(Ord. 21-161, passed 12-13-2021; Ord. 24-33, passed 3-25-2024)
(a) General suitability of land for development. If the Planning Commission and the City Council find that land proposed to be subdivided is unsuitable for subdivision development due to flooding, poor drainage, topography or inadequate water supply, wastewater treatment facilities, transportation facilities, or such other conditions as may endanger health, life or property, and if, from investigations conducted by the public agencies concerned, it is determined that, in the best interest of the public, the land should not be developed for the subdivision proposed, the Planning Commission and the City Council shall not approve the land for the purpose unless adequate methods are advanced by the subdivider for solving the problems that will be created by the development of the land.
(b) Projection of improvements. Where adjoining areas are not subdivided or developed, the arrangement of streets and utilities in new subdivisions shall make provision for the proper projection of streets (i.e., provide for temporary dead-end streets and utilities where street connections can be made to the adjacent land) as required by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city. Such arrangements shall be made to the subdivision boundary or up to the edge of the phase of buildable lots.
(c) Topography, floodplain areas, wetlands and natural areas.
(1) Natural amenities (including views, mature trees, creeks, riparian corridors, rock outcrops, and similar features) shall be preserved and incorporated into proposed development to the greatest extent feasible.
(2) All subdivisions of land and installation of public improvements involving areas subject to flooding, as defined by National Flood Insurance Program Maps and Data, shall conform to all applicable floodplain regulations and the requirements of adopted regulations involving the city’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
(3) Land which is determined by the Planning Commission to be unsuitable for subdivision or development due to flooding, the presence of federal jurisdiction wetlands, or other features which will reasonably be harmful to the safety, health and general welfare of the present or future inhabitants of the subdivision and/or its surrounding areas shall not be subdivided or developed unless methods adequate to resolve the problems are formulated by the developer and approved by Council, upon recommendation by the Planning Commission and upon advice of the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city.
(4) The natural topography shall be retained wherever possible in order to reduce excessive runoff onto adjoining property and to avoid extensive regrading of the site.
(d) Creeks, ditches and waterways.
(1) Where a major watercourse, as defined and mapped by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city, exists within a proposed subdivision, the developer thereof shall grant unto the city an easement for necessary maintenance and shall also grant unto the city an easement to provide access to the watercourse. The width of the dominant maintenance easement shall be determined by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city, and the width and precise location of the subservient access easement shall be determined by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city in consultation with the developer, with due regard for the preservation of natural features of such area.
(2) No permanently attached or unmovable fixture or structure, except for a footbridge or the like, as necessary to join sections of the same property, shall be permitted within the maintenance easement or access easement. A footbridge or similar structure shall be approved by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city and shall not be constructed and placed within said maintenance easement without the appropriate approval of the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city. Any construction in areas designated as floodways by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shall be subject to the regulations of that agency.
(3) In the event that there are special circumstances or conditions affecting a property owner which deprive the property owner of the use of that property pursuant to the factors as considered by the ZBA in the granting of an area variance, a property owner may appeal an administration decision denying the use of the property pursuant to an easement created by this chapter and request a hearing by the ZBA.
(e) Inspection fees. The subdivider shall provide all necessary engineering and surveying services for preparing the plat and improvement plans. The city will inspect the installation of improvements and private utilities. The developer shall reimburse the city the actual cost of these inspections before the plat is placed upon a Planning Commission agenda.
(f) Homeowners’ or property owners’ associations. See § 1230.06: Standards for Owners’ Associations for requirements for homeowners’ or property owners’ associations.
(g) Debris and waste. No cut trees, diseased trees, timber, debris, earth, rocks, stones, soil, junk, rubbish or other waste materials of any kind shall be buried in any land, or left or deposited on any lot or street at the time of the issuance of a zoning permit. No items and materials as described in the preceding sentence shall be left or deposited in any area of the subdivision at the time of dedication of public improvements.
(h) Monuments and markers.
(1) Monuments and monument boxes shall be installed at the intersection of all centerlines of all streets, points of curvature and points of tangency on all curves.
(2) Property pins shall be set at all lot corners, points of tangency and points of curvature.
(3) Steel rods shall be used for property pins permanently installed that comply with the state’s requirements.
(4) Monuments and lot corner markers shall be of a design approved by the City Engineer or engineering consultant(s) to the city and meeting State of Ohio Minimum Standards for Boundary Surveys.
(i) Street trees and Street Tree Fund.
(1) Trees planted within a street right-of-way shall conform to the city master tree plan. Prior to construction a planting plan shall be approved by the Urban Forester.
(2) All new subdivisions shall be required to contribute to the Street Tree Fund for the installation of trees in public rights-of-way. The fee shall be payable as a cash amount calculated by the Urban Forester and shall be paid prior to Final Plat approval. The fund shall be used by the city to install tree lawn trees within public rights-of-way of new subdivisions. The fund shall not apply to private streets. The cost for said fee shall be as set forth in Chapter 208 of this code of ordinances.
(Ord. 21-161, passed 12-13-2021; Ord. 24-33, passed 3-25-2024)
(a) The lot arrangement and design shall be such that all lots will provide satisfactory building sites that can accommodate a structure and required setbacks in the applicable zoning district.
(b) Lots shall also be arranged so that all lots will have frontage on a public street or road and will provide building sites properly related to topography and the character of surrounding development. Lots may have frontage on a private street only if approved as part of a PUD or RPD.
(c) The lots shall be more or less rectangular in form; triangular, elongated, or other shapes that restrict its use as a building site shall be avoided to the maximum extent feasible unless the applicant can demonstrate special circumstances requiring irregular lots to the Planning Commission.
(d) All side lot lines shall be at right angles to street lines and generally radial to curved street lines except where the Planning Commission determines that a variation to this rule will provide a better street and sublot layout.
(e) Corner lots shall be of sufficient width to permit the required building set-back line for each street the lot abuts.
(f) Flag (panhandle) lots or double frontage (through) lots shall be discouraged and may only be approved if necessitated by unique features or other special physical conditions as deemed necessary by the Planning Commission. These lots shall meet the requirements established for the applicable lot type in § 1226.01: Lot and Principal Building Regulations.
(g) Every lot shall have access to it that is sufficient to afford a reasonable means of ingress and egress for emergency vehicles as well as for all those likely to need or desire access to the property in its intended use.
(Ord. 21-161, passed 12-13-2021)
(a) The arrangement of blocks shall be such as to conform to the street planning criteria set forth in § 1238.12: Streets and Thoroughfares, and shall be arranged to accommodate lots and building sites of the size and character required for the zoning district as set forth in this code.
(b) Subdivisions shall be designed with blocks of sufficient width to permit two tiers of lots of appropriate depth, to the maximum extent feasible.
(c) Where a subdivision adjoins a major thoroughfare, the block shall be oriented so that there will be the fewest points of direct ingress and egress along such major thoroughfare as possible.
(d) Irregularly shaped blocks, those intended for cul-de-sac or loop streets, and those containing interior parks or playgrounds, may be approved if properly designed and located, and if the maintenance of interior public spaces is covered by agreements.
(Ord. 21-161, passed 12-13-2021)
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