(A) The public health, safety, comfort, and welfare require that the development of land be conducted in a harmonious, orderly, and progressive fashion within the corporate limits of the city. Once the subdivision of land has been shaped into building lots, blocks, and streets, the correction of defects is costly and difficult. Substantial public responsibility is created by each new subdivision, involving the maintenance of streets and drainage facilities, and the provision of additional public services. As the general welfare, health, safety, and convenience of the community are thereby directly affected by the use of land as a subdivision, it is in the direct interest of the public that subdivisions be conceived, designed, and developed in accordance with sound rules and proper minimum standards. Consideration shall be given to the character of an area and the availability of public facilities to ensure the compatibility and coordination of land uses and facilities within a given geographic unit.
(B) The purpose and intent, therefore, of this chapter is to serve as one of the several instruments of land use control authorized by the state legislature for the city, and to secure:
(1) The establishment of standards of subdivision design which will encourage the development of sound and stable areas within the corporate limits of the city.
(2) Installation to prescribed standards by the land developer of those required improvements which ought not become a charge on the citizens and taxpayers of already existing areas.
(3) The adequate and efficient supply of utilities, streets, and services to new land developments.
(4) The prevention of haphazard, premature, or scattered land development.
(5) The prevention of traffic hazards and congestion which result from narrow or poorly aligned streets, and from excessive ingress and egress points along major traffic arteries; and the provision of safe and convenient traffic circulation, both vehicular and pedestrian, in new land development.
(6) Safety from fire, panic, and other dangers, to promote health and the general welfare.
(7) Protection from flooding hazards, and to ensure proper water management.
(8) The provision of public open spaces in new land developments through the dedication or reservation of land for recreational, educational, and other public purposes.
(9) Coordination of land development in accordance with orderly physical patterns and general plans and policies adopted by the City Commission, in particular the city comprehensive land use plan.
(10) Protection of the natural and scenic resources of the city, including surface waters and groundwater recharge areas.
(Ord. 241, passed 11-27-85)