(A) Before any owner of land divides property after July 1, 1989 to create an off conveyance lot, the owner shall:
(1) File an application to create an off conveyance lot with the Bureau; and
(2) Obtain the written approval of the Department to create the off conveyance lot.
(B) The Department shall act upon an application to create an off conveyance lot within a reasonable time from its filing.
(1) The application to create an off conveyance lot shall contain:
(a) The names of the people who own the property being divided;
(b) A copy of the legal instrument by which the owners acquired title;
(c) A certificate of title prepared and signed by an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Maryland and in a format approved by the county verifying that the owners hold good and merchantable title and describing any encumbrances or liens on the property or restrictions of title and including reference to the legal instrument which reflects the ownership of the property on April 23, 1963, and a copy of that document;
(d) A preliminary plan, showing the proposed off conveyance lot or lots and the remainder, in compliance with the off conveyance/accessory dwelling checklist;
(e) A statement identifying which property is intended to be an off conveyance lot and which a remainder;
(f) A certification from a professional engineer or licensed land surveyor certifying that the proposed entrances to publicly maintained roads meet AASHTO standards;
(g) A deed conveying all property of the owner between the centerline and 30 feet from the centerline of a publicly maintained road to the governmental entity which maintains the road for the full extent of the frontage of the off conveyance. Such description as provided herein may be by metes and bounds or may be by reference to the publicly maintained road and a parallel line which is 30 feet from the center. The conveyance need not convey any land which is within 15 feet of an existing building;
(h) An opinion to and for the benefit of the owner from an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Maryland on a form approved by the Department which states:
1. The type, status, or nature of right-of-way or other access to a publicly maintained road; the legal record, if any, of such access; and a statement as to what easements exist for utilities to serve the property or that none exist of record;
2. That the tract being divided has not been divided since April 23, 1963, or, if it has been so divided, a reference to that division and a statement that no property that resulted from that division as an off conveyance lot or remainder has been divided since then;
3. Whether the tract being divided is a tract, off conveyance lot, or remainder; and
4. If an off conveyance lot is being divided, the date on which the off conveyance lot was created and the recording reference to the instrument which created it;
(i) The opinion of an attorney provided by division (B)(1)(h) above does not imply that the Planning and Zoning Commission, county, or any of its departments have approved as adequate the access rights of the owner to a publicly maintained road; and
(j) The type, status, or nature of right-of-way or other access to a publicly maintained road and the legal record if any of such access shall be incorporated in the deed which creates the off conveyance.
(2) No off conveyance lot or remainder may be created after July 1, 1989, without a right-of-way of record or legal access to and from a publicly maintained road.
(3) No off conveyance lot may be created from within an off conveyance lot after July 1, 1989, unless the record title holder of the remainder from which an additional off conveyance could be created and the record title holder of the first off conveyance consent thereto by joining in and signing the application.
(4) The Director of the Department of Public Works, or its successor agency, may waive the requirement of division (B)(1)(f) of this section.
(5) Deeds which create off conveyance lots or remainders shall identify by title in the deed that it is a "deed of off conveyance" or "deed of remainder," respectively.
(6) No building permit may be issued for any off conveyance lot or remainder created after July 1, 1989, unless it was created pursuant to this chapter.
(C) An off conveyance lot shall be created by recordation of a deed within 180 days after the approval given pursuant to division (A)(2) above, unless otherwise extended in writing by the Department.
(D) For purposes of these regulations, where a tract, parcel, or remainder is crossed by a publicly maintained road, and the road is not owned in fee simple by a government agency, it shall be deemed that the road has divided the land into separate parcels. One parcel, as determined by the owner, may be conveyed without obtaining subdivision approval. The other parcel designated as a hangover parcel may also be separately conveyed, subject to the following requirements:
(1) If the hangover parcel is eligible for subdivision for the creation of two or more buildable lots as defined in § 155.005 under the current zoning regulations, it shall be treated as a tract or parcel described in a single deed existing prior to April 23, 1963, and shall not be eligible for any off conveyance lots unless the record title holder of the remaining land from which the off conveyance lots could be created expressly transfers the right to one or both off conveyance lots by an instrument recorded among the Land Records of Carroll County.
(2) If the hangover parcel is not eligible for subdivision for the creation of two or more buildable lots as defined in § 155.005 under the current zoning regulations, the hangover parcel shall be subject to regulation as an off conveyance lot as set forth in divisions (A) and (B) above, but not division (B)(1)(e).
(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in divisions (D)(1) and (2) above and to the extent eligible off conveyance lots, as determined from the original tract, cannot be created from the remaining land, these off conveyance lots may be created from the hangover parcel.
(4) The creation or conveyance of a hangover parcel shall not count against the number of off conveyance lots to which the tract from which it was derived is otherwise entitled. Neither the creation or conveyance of a hangover parcel, nor any later subdivision of the hangover parcel, shall in any way diminish the number of any off conveyance lots to which the tract from which it was derived was otherwise entitled.
(5) At the time of the first conveyance of the hangover parcel, the deed shall recite that the parcel being conveyed is a hangover parcel.
(E) It is the intent of this chapter to recognize the lawful creation of certain lots and remainders after April 23, 1963, based upon the regulations and laws in effect at the time the lots were created. It is also the intent of this chapter to prohibit the development of lots which were illegally created after April 23, 1963. Therefore, the subdivision regulations in existence at the time the lot was created shall control.
(Ord. 2022-19, passed 10-20-2022)