As used in these Subdivision Regulations, unless otherwise specifically stated:
(1) "Alley" means a public or private right of way shown on a plat which provides secondary access to a lot, block or parcel of land.
(2) "As-built plans" means revised construction plans in accordance with all approved field changes.
(3) "Block" means an area of land within a subdivision that is entirely bounded by streets, highways or other ways except alleys, exterior boundaries of the subdivision, streams or rivers, railroad rights of way or combinations thereof.
(4) "Building line" or "setback line" means a line parallel to a street right-of-way line, a shore of a lake, or edge of a stream or river bank, established on a parcel of land or on a lot for the purpose of prohibiting construction of a building between such line and a right of way, other public area, shore of a lake or edge of a stream or river bank.
(5) "Caption" means the name by which a plat is legally and commonly known.
(6) "City Manager" means the City Manager of Howell or his or her designate.
(7) "Commercial development" means a planned commercial center providing building areas, parking areas, service areas, screen planting and widening, turning movement and safety lane roadway improvements.
(8) "Comprehensive Development Plan" or "Master Plan" means a unified document of text, charts, graphics or maps, or any combination thereof, designed to portray general long-range proposals for the arrangement of land uses, which document is intended primarily to guide government policy toward achieving orderly and coordinated development of the entire community, including a unit or part of, or amendment to, such Plan.
(9) "Construction standards" or "specifications" means the detailed engineering requirements for the design, construction and installations of improvements, which may be obtained from the office of the City Manager.
(10) "County Drain Commissioner" means the Livingston County Drain Commissioner.
(11) "County Health Department" means the Livingston County Health Department.
(12) "County Plat Board" means the Livingston County Plat Board.
(13) "County Road Commission" means the Livingston County Road Commission.
(14) "Crosswalkway" ("pedestrian walkway") means a right of way, dedicated to public use, which crosses a block to facilitate pedestrian access to adjacent streets and properties.
(15) "Dedication" means the intentional appropriation of land by the owners to public use.
(16) "Filing date" means the date of the Planning Commission meeting at which the Commission receives the application for approval of a proposed plat from the City Clerk.
(17) "Floodplain" means that area of land adjoining the channel of a river, stream, watercourse, lake or other similar body of water which will be inundated by a flood which can reasonably be expected for that region.
(18) "Government survey" means land surveyed, subdivided and monumented by the United States public land survey.
(19) "Greenbelts or buffer parks" means a strip or parcel of land, privately restricted or publicly dedicated as open space located between incompatible uses for the purpose of protecting and enhancing the residential environment.
(20) "Improvements" means any structure incident to servicing or furnishing facilities for a subdivision, such as grading, street surfacing, curb and gutter, driveway approaches, sidewalks, crosswalks, water mains and lines, sanitary sewers, culverts, bridges, utilities, lagoons, slips, waterways, lakes, bays, canals and other appropriate items, with appurtenant construction.
(21) "Industrial development" means a planned industrial area designed specifically for industrial use and providing screened buffers, wider streets and turning movement and safety lane roadway improvements, where necessary.
(22) "Lot" means a measured portion of a parcel or tract of land, which is described and fixed in a recorded plat.
A. "Lot area" means the total area within the lot lines of the lot.
B. "Lot depth" means the horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines, measured along the median between the side lot lines.
C. "Lot width" means the horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at the set-back line and at right angles to the lot depth. In case of lots on the inside of the curve of a street, the lot width shall be the distance between side lot lines measured at the rear line of the dwelling or thirty feet behind the front building line parallel to the street or street chord. However, no lot on a cul-de-sac street or on the inside curve of a street shall have a frontage, measured on the chord of the curves, of less than forty feet.
D. "Lot coverage" means the part or percent of the lot occupied by buildings or structures including accessory buildings or structures.
(23) "Outlot", when included within the boundary of a recorded plat, means a lot set aside for purposes other than a building site, park or other land dedicated to public use or reserved to private use.
(24) "Parcel" or "tract" means a continuous area or acreage of land which can be described as provided for in the Subdivision Control Act.
(25) "Planning Commission" means the Planning Commission of the City as established under Act 285 of the Public Acts of 1931, as amended.
(26) "Planned unit development" means a land area which has both individual building sites and common property, such as a park, and which is designated and developed under one owner or organized group as a separate neighborhood or community unit.
(27) "Plat" means a map or chart of a subdivision of land.
A. "Prepreliminary plat" means an informal plan or sketch drawn to scale and in pencil, if desired, showing the existing features of a site and its surroundings and the general layout of a proposed subdivision.
B. "Preliminary plat" means a map showing the salient features of a proposed subdivision of land submitted to an approving authority for purposes of preliminary consideration.
C. "Final plat" means a map of a subdivision of land made up on final form ready for approval and recording.
(28) "Proprietor" means any person or government agency, or a combination thereof, which may hold any ownership interest in land, whether recorded or not. The proprietor is also commonly referred to as the subdivider, developer or owner.
(29) "Public open space" means land dedicated or reserved for use by the general public. It includes parks, parkways, recreation areas, school sites, community or public building sites, streets and highways and public parking spaces.
(30) "Public sewer" means the sewerage system, as defined in Act 98 of the Public Acts of 1913, as amended, being Sections 325.201 to 325.214 of the Compiled Laws of 1948, as amended.
(31) "Public utility" means all persons or municipal or other public authorities providing gas, gas pipeline, cable television, electricity, water, steam, telephone, telegraph, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, transportation or other services of a similar nature.
(32) "Public water" means the water works system, as defined in Act 320 of the Public Acts of 1927, as amended, being Sections 123.241 et seq. of the Michigan Compiled Laws of 1948, as amended.
(33) "Replat" means the process of changing, or the map or plat which changes, the boundaries of a recorded subdivision plat or part thereof. The legal dividing of an outlot within a recorded subdivision plat without changing the exterior boundaries of the outlot is not a replat.
(34) "Right of way" means land reserved, used or to be used for a street, alley, walkway or other public purpose.
(35) "Sidewalk" means a public way or right of way dedicated to public use, provided for pedestrian traffic and located adjacent to streets and properties.
(36) "Sight distance" means the minimum extent of unobstructed vision on a horizontal plane along a street from a point four feet above the centerline of a street.
(37) "Sketch plan" means a pre-preliminary plat.
(38) "Street" means a right of way which provides for vehicular and pedestrian access to abutting properties.
A. "Freeway" means those streets designed for high speed, high volume through traffic, with completely controlled access, no grade crossings and no private driveway connections.
B. "Expressway" means those streets designed for high speed, high volume traffic, with full or partially controlled access, some grade crossings but no driveway connections.
C. "Parkway" means a street designed for noncommercial, pleasure oriented traffic moving at moderate speeds, between and through scenic areas and parks.
D. "Arterial street" means those streets of considerable continuity which are used or may be used primarily for fast or heavy traffic, commonly referred to as major streets.
E. "Collector street" means those streets used to carry traffic from minor streets to arterial streets, including principal entrance streets to large residential developments, commonly referred to as local streets.
F. "Cul-de-sac" means a minor or local street of short length having one end terminated by a vehicular turn-around.
G. "Boulevard street" means those streets of two one-way pavements of two or more lanes each, separated by a grassed island.
H. "Marginal access street" means a minor or local street which is parallel and adjacent to arterial streets and which provides access to abutting properties and protection from through traffic.
I. "Minor or local street" means a street which is intended primarily for access to abutting properties.
J. "Street width" means the shortest distance between the lines delineating the right of way of streets.
(39) "Structure" means any object constructed, erected or placed with a fixed location on the surface of the ground or affixed to something having a fixed location on the surface of the ground.
(40) "Subdivider," "proprietor" or "developer" means a person or combination of persons which may hold any recorded or unrecorded ownership interest in land. The proprietor is also commonly referred to as the owner.
(41) "Subdivision Control Act" means Act 288 of the Public Acts of 1967, as amended.
(42) "Subdivision" or "subdivide" means the partitioning or dividing of a parcel or tract of land by the proprietor thereof or by his or her heirs, executors, administrators, legal representatives, successors or assigns for the purpose of sale, or lease of more than one year, or of building development, where the act of division creates:
A. Five or more parcels of land each of which is ten acres or less in area;
B. Five or more parcels of land each of which is ten acres or less in area by successive divisions within a period of ten years; or
C. Two, three or four parcels of land involving the dedication of a new street.
(43) "Subdivision Regulations" means Ordinance 421, passed June 1, 1982, as amended, codified herein as Title Four of Part Twelve - the Planning and Zoning Code.
(44) "Surveyor" means either a land surveyor who is registered in this State as a registered land surveyor, or a civil engineer who is registered in the State as a registered professional engineer.
(45) "Topographical map" means a map showing existing physical characteristics, with contour lines at sufficient intervals to permit determination of proposed grades and drainage.
(46) "Water Resources Commission" means the Water Resources Commission of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
(Ord. 421. Passed 6-1-82.)