(A) Improvements listed and described. Public improvements shall be made in every plat and the subdivider shall have agreed in the manner set forth below to the following improvements and those additional improvements required by the resolution granting approval of the preliminary plat.
(1) Survey monuments. All subdivision boundary corners, block, and lot corners, road intersection corners and points of tangency and curvature shall be marked with durable iron or steel monuments meeting the minimum requirements of state law. Permanent monuments shall be marked with durable iron or steel monuments meeting the minimum requirements of state law. Permanent monuments shall be at all quarter-quarter section points within the subdivision plat or on its perimeter. At all sections, quarter sections, meander or witness corners of the government survey within the subdivision on its perimeter or otherwise shown on the face of the plat, a county cast iron monument shall be placed and a certificate of location of a government corner shall be filed with the Office of the County Recorder. The notation of “Rice County Monument” shall be placed on the face of the plat by each monument so shown. In addition, a “Rice County Monument” shall be placed and a certificate filed for each government survey corner necessary to survey the boundaries of the plat if the monument has not already been set and a certificate filed. All U.S., state, county and other official benchmark monuments or triangulation station in or adjacent to the property shall be preserved in position unless a relocation is approved by the controlling agency. The City Council may, when a subdivision is essentially complete, require a development to have the plat restaked to replace the original monuments destroyed or obliterated during the construction process.
(2) All streets shall be graded and surfaced in accordance with applicable standard specifications of the city, and subject to inspection and approval by the City Engineer
(3) Concrete curbs, gutters, drainage, and drainage structures in accordance with standards of the city, and subject to the inspection and approval of the City Engineer.
(4) Drain tiles placed behind the curb for all lots to provide adequate sump pump access to homes.
(5) Street identification signs at all street intersections within or abutting the subdivision of a type approved by the city and placed in accordance with the standards of the city. The city may elect to order and place the street signs and charge the purchase and installation costs to developer.
(6) Water mains and service connections, sufficient to serve all lots in the subdivision must be stubbed to the property line.
(7) Each lot must be connected to public sanitary sewer subject to the approval of the City Engineer.
(8) Sanitary sewer and water mains must be installed including extension of both to the boundaries of the property being platted.
(9) Provisions shall be made for the proper drainage of all streets through the installation of adequately designed culverts, storm sewers, retention ponds and the like, and the installation thereof shall be considered part of the essential street construction requirements. The developer will be responsible for the first cleaning of the stormwater ponds, which will not be maintained by the city until approved by the City Engineer and Public Works Superintendent.
(10) Provisions shall be made for the installation of sidewalks or trails at locations designated by the city.
(11) Decorative street lighting with underground wiring in accordance with the city specifications.
(12) Plans for final grading and planting of appropriate ground cover on vacant lots may be required of the subdivider as a condition of city acceptance of the public improvements identified in this section.
(13) Franchised and public utilities including telephone, cable TV, electric, and gas service lines are to be placed underground. Conduits, pipes, or cable shall be placed within easements or in right-of-ways adjacent to streets in such a manner as not to conflict with other underground services. All utilities within the right-of-ways shall comply with the city's right-of-way management ordinance, §§ 92.15 through 92.36, as amended, whichever is applicable.
(14) Every buildable lot shall be identified by a sign that indicates the lot and block number, and address, if available, which is approved by city staff issuing any building permits. These signs can be removed as lots are developed.
(15) Developer shall pay a civil defense siren fee as set by City Council for newly developed land outside of the original plat of the city.
(16) Planting, gateways, entrance areas shall be improved with weed free sod or the area shall be controlled with hay bales or riprap to avoid erosion as approved by the City Engineer. Planting trees, including the type and spacing of the trees on public property, will be subject to the regulations of the City Council. No planting, gateways, entrances, and similar improvements may be made on public property except with permission and approval of the Council.
(B) Participation of the city. The city may elect to install any, all, or none of the required improvements pursuant to a cash escrow agreement or other financial arrangement with the subdivider. The terms of these arrangements shall be specified in the subdivision contract.
(C) Subdivision contract. In order to effectuate the provisions of this chapter and before the final plat is signed by the city, the owner and subdivider shall enter into a subdivision contract with the city providing for the installation of the required improvements and shall pay all applicable fees and any required cash payment.
(1) Subdivider's expense. The subdivision contract shall require the subdivider to furnish and construct such improvements at the subdivider's sole cost and in accordance with plans and specifications prepared at the subdivider's expense by a professional engineer who is registered in the state and who shall certify the plans. Such plans and a listing of the quantities of construction items shall be submitted to the City Engineer for approval and for estimate of the total cost of the required improvements. Upon approval, such plans shall become a part of the required subdivision contract. The tracing of the plans approved by the Engineer, plus two prints, shall be furnished to the city.
(2) Inspection. All required improvements shall be inspected by the City Engineer during construction at the expense of the subdivider. The subdivision contract shall contain a provision for supervision of details of construction by the City Engineer and shall grant to the Engineer the authority to correlate the work to be done under such contract by any subcontractor authorized to proceed thereunder with any other work being done or contracted by the city in the vicinity.
(3) Schedule. The subdivision contract shall include the time schedule for completion of the work. The schedule shall be reasonable with relation to the work to be done, the seasons of the year, and proper correlation with construction activities in the subdivision. In all cases installation of improvements shall be completed within three years unless an extension is granted by the city.
(4) Park dedication. The subdivision contract shall contain provisions for the park dedication/cash payment.
(5) Financial guarantees. The subdivision contract shall require the subdivider to provide a financial guarantee to assure installation of all required improvements. In such event the amount of the guarantee may be reduced by a sum equal to the estimated cost of the improvements that have been completed and accepted by the city. The financial guarantee required as part of the contract shall be one of the following:
(a) Escrow deposit. A cash escrow may be deposited with the City Treasurer in a sum equal to 105% of the City Engineer's estimate of the total cost of all the improvements to be furnished and installed by the subdivider pursuant to the contract. The total cost shall include costs of inspection by the City Engineer and staff. The city shall be entitled to reimburse itself out of such deposit for any cost or expense incurred by the city for completion of the work in case of default of the subdivider under such contract and for any damages sustained on account of any breach thereof.
(b) Letter of credit. The subdivider may deposit with the city, from a bank or other reputable institution or individual subject to the approval of the city, a letter of credit which shall certify:
1. That the creditor does guarantee funds in an amount equal to 105% of the City Engineer's estimate of the total cost of completing all required improvements;
2. That the creditor, in the case of failure on the part of the subdivider to complete the specified improvements within the required time period, shall, upon written notification by the city, immediately and without further action pay to the city such funds as are necessary to finance the completion of those improvements, up to the limit of credit stated in the letter.
3. That this letter of credit shall not be withdrawn, reduced in amount, revised or amended in its terms until approved by the Council.
4. That this letter of credit shall automatically renew for one year after its initial term.
(6) Other fees.
(a) Fees and charges, as well as expenses incurred by the city for engineering, planning, legal, and other services related to the processing of applications under this chapter shall be established by the Council and collected by the City Administrator for deposit in the city's accounts. Fees shall be established for the processing of requests for platting, major and minor subdivisions, review of plans, and such other subdivision related procedures as the Council may from time to time establish. The Council may also establish charges for public hearings, special meetings, or other such Council actions as are necessary to process applications.
(b) Such fees, charges and estimated expenses (as well as a deposit or escrow, if so required by city policy) shall be collected prior to city action on any application. All such applications shall be accompanied by a written statement between the city and the applicant/landowner whereby the applicant/landowner agrees to pay all applicable fees, charges and expenses as set by Council resolution, and which allows the city to assess the above fees, charges and expenses against the landowner if such monies are not paid within 30 days after a bill is sent to the applicant/landowner. When the applicant is not the same person or entity as the landowner, both the landowner and the applicant must sign the agreement.
(c) These fees shall be in addition to building permit fees, inspection fees, trunk water, trunk sanitary sewer, trunk storm water facility costs, zoning fees, charges, expenses and other such fees, charges and expenses currently required by the city or which may be established in the future.
(d) If applicable, the city shall require the subdivider to deposit in escrow an amount to assure that landscaping is completed satisfactorily. The city shall administer the landscaping deposit according to standard city procedures as stated in § 153.065, tree and woodland preservation as amended, whichever is applicable or § 153.062, landscaping and turf establishment as amended, whichever is applicable.
(7) As-built drawings. Upon completion of the project, as-built drawings of all improvements shall be filed with the Public Works Superintendent. Such as-built drawings shall show the date of construction and shall be drawn in such a manner and on such materials to meet the standards of the city. As-built drawings must be completed and filed with the Public Works Superintendent within 120 days of the completion of such improvements. If as-built drawings are not filed within the time period specified, the City Council may authorize the City Engineer to conduct surveys and complete drawings, with all of the costs pursuant thereto to be paid by the owner, and the City Council may elect to withhold building permits for construction within the subdivision.
(Ord. 78A, passed 8-22-1985; Am. Ord. 2006-193, passed 4-27-2006) Penalty, see § 152.99