In addition to other standards set forth in this subchapter, in establishing and laying out a subdivision, the owner shall comply with those standards of development, principles, and requirements set forth in divisions (A) through (I) below.
(A) Plat conformance. In determining whether an application for approval shall be granted, the County Board of Commissioners, or the S.R.C., shall determine if the plat conforms to the principles and standards required in this subchapter.
(B) Streets.
(1) Each lot or parcel shall abut a dedicated public street or road.
(2) Each lot or parcel in a subdivision shall use a dedicated public right-of-way as its primary means of ingress and egress.
(3) Except as provided in division (B)(8) below, each street or road shall be constructed to the minimum design and width standards adopted for the county out of the INDOT standard specifications:
(a) All roads shall be 20 feet wide with two-foot gravel shoulders on each side, and with four feet of additional earth shoulder adjacent to each gravel shoulder, all to be centered within a 60-foot public right-of-way;
(b) The road shall have a minimum eight inches of compacted rock base, composed of not less than four inches of INDOT approved #2 rock and not less than four inches of INDOT approved #53 rock over the top; and
(c) The road surface shall be a minimum of double chip and seal, unless as otherwise directed by the County Board of Commissioners.
(4) Where appropriate to the design, proposed streets shall be continuous and in alignment with existing, planned, or platted roads, with which they are to connect.
(5) The owner may be required to extend a proposed road to the boundary line of the tract to be subdivided when, in the opinion of the County Board of Commissioners, such extension is desirable and in the best interest of the county highway system.
(6) Proposed roads shall intersect one another as nearly at right angles as topography, and other limiting factors of good design, permit, but not less than 70 degrees in any case.
(7) Wherever there exists, adjacent to the tract to be subdivided, a dedicated, or platted and recorded, half-width road, the other half-width of such road shall be included in the subject plat; otherwise, half-roads shall be prohibited.
(8) (a) Roads shall be completed as shown on the plat, as approved by the County Board of Commissioners, and shall be graded, surfaced with rock, and improved to the dimensions, and the work shall be performed in the manner prescribed by the then current county standards for the road constructions. Prior to the placement of road surfaces, adequate subsurface drainage for the road shall be provided by the subdivider. The person creating the subdivision shall be obligated to place a minimum of double chip and seal surface, or a surface as directed by the County Board of Commissioners, on any new road established on the plat when three, or more, of the lots bordering newly established road(s) have been conveyed. The covenants contained in the plat of said subdivision shall clearly indicate this obligation.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this division (B)(8), in the event of a single lot platted subdivision, or in the event of any subdivision having no lot containing less than three acres, access to such single lot (and solely to said lot), or to each such lot of three acres or greater, may be an unimproved road that satisfies dedication and easement requirements of this subchapter, but is not required to be improved to county standards. This unimproved road shall have its own original name approved by the County Surveyor, shall be able to handle all emergency vehicles, and shall have a maintenance agreement between the property owners in the platted subdivision, and with adjoining property owners, if the access to the property is by the platted roadway, stating how the road is to be maintained, and whose responsibility it is to maintain.
(9) Fences, hedges, retaining walls, lattice-work screens, trees, flowers, plants, permanent mail boxes, nameplates, lamp posts, bird baths, bird houses, benches, and landscaping of a like nature are permitted in any required front, side, or rear yard, provided they are not located on a public right-of-way. However, on any corner tract, nothing shall be erected, placed, or planted in such a manner as to materially impede vision between a height of two and a half and ten feet above the centerline grades of the intersecting streets, in the area bounded by the street right-of-way lines of the corner tract, and a line joining two points on the street right-of-way lines 35 feet from the point of their intersection. Except for mail boxes constructed on breakaway posts and government road signs, no signs, or other structure, shall be placed on, or project over, a public right-of-way.
(10) If sidewalks are desired to be located within the public right-of-way by the developer, then they are to be constructed by the developer, and maintained by the property owner per § 150.01.
(C) Lots or parcels.
(1) The size, shape, and orientation of lots shall be appropriate for the location of the proposed subdivision, and for the type of development contemplated.
(2) Each lot or parcel shall abut on a dedicated public street or road.
(3) The minimum lot size shall be able to fit all of the minimum standards set forth in this subchapter, with a minimum road frontage of 60 feet at the road right-of-way, and a front yard minimum width of 115 feet at the building setback line; provided, however, that should a lot be served by a public sanitary sewer system, the minimum size shall be 10,000 square feet with a minimum front width of 80 feet. A lot not served by a public sanitary sewer system, while complying with this subchapter, may not comply with the minimum requirements of state and/or county statutes, ordinances, or regulations for private sanitary system requirements, and therefore may not be acceptable for certain buildings or use purposes.
(D) Easements.
(1) Where alleys are not provided, easements for utilities shall be provided. Such easements, when not located adjacent to a public road, shall have minimum widths of 20 feet; and when located adjacent to a public road, shall have a minimum combined width of 20 feet along said road. Where located between adjacent lots, half the 20-foot width may be taken from each lot.
(2) Where a subdivision is traversed by a watercourse, drainage way, channel, or stream, adequate areas for storm water, or drainage easements, shall be allocated for the purpose of widening, deepening, sloping, improving, or protecting said watercourses, in accordance with the requirements of the County Drainage Board.
(3) Where a new public road is being proposed as part of a subdivision, a utility easement having a minimum width of ten feet shall be located adjacent to each side of that public road, but if said new road is on the perimeter of a subdivision, and no easement is possible on both sides thereof, then the minimum easement width shall be 20 feet on the subdivision side of said road.
(E) Building setback lines.
(1) Building setback lines, as to any lot or parcel, shall be set forth on the plat, and shall have the following minimum distance from the lot line:
(a) Front yard: 35 feet from the right-of-way line;
(b) Side yard: ten feet on each side; and
(c) Rear yard: 20 feet from rear line.
(2) Corner lots shall have the front yard setback lines specified on all sides fronting a dedicated right-of-way.
(F) Air, stream pollution. Due consideration shall be given to the prevention of air and stream pollution, proper treatment, and disposal of refuse and other waste, and the elimination of other blighting characteristics, including the following elements:
(1) No use shall produce erosion, or other pollutants, in such quantity as to be detrimental to adjacent properties, and conflict with water pollution standards established by the public agencies;
(2) No use shall accumulate within the property, or discharge beyond the property lines, any waste matter, whether liquid or solid, in violation of applicable public health, safety, and welfare standards and regulations;
(3) All tracts not connected to, or served by, a public or private water system already approved by a state, county, or city health authority shall have written approval from the County Health Department, or the State Board of Health, before construction thereon of any structure requiring water; and
(4) All tracts not connected to, or served by, a public or private sanitary sewer system already approved by a state, county, or city health authority shall have written approval from the County Health Department, or the State Board of Health, before construction thereon of any structure requiring sewage disposal.
(G) Subdivision layout. The subdivision layout shall be of such a character that it protects the health, safety, and general welfare of the county and its citizens.
(H) Exceptions, modification. In any particular case where the subdivider can show that, by reason of exceptional topographic or other physical conditions, or because of an unusually large or small subdivision, or when made for industrial or commercial purposes, strict compliance with any requirement of these regulations would cause practical difficulty, or exceptional or undue hardship, the County Board of Commissioners may relax such requirement to the extent deemed just and proper, so as to relieve such difficulty or hardship, provided such relief may be granted without detriment to the public good, and without impairing the intent, and purpose, of these regulations, or the desirable general development of the neighborhood and the community. Any modification thus granted shall be entered in the minutes of the County Board of Commissioners, setting forth the reasons which, in the opinion of the Board, justified the modification.
(I) Mobile home park. Any mobile home park which holds a license issued by the State Board of Health under I.C. 16-41-27-18 shall be exempt from the provisions of this section.
(Ord. 2018-03, passed 7-2-2018) Penalty, see § 151.99