(A) This chapter shall be known as the “Subdivision Code” and may be cited as such, and may be referred to herein as “chapter” or “Code.” The city has adopted this Code in accordance with the provisions of Iowa Code Chapters 18B and 354 and amendatory acts thereto, governing the subdivision of all lands within the corporate limits of the city.
(B) The purpose and intent of this Code is to establish minimum standards for the design and construction of all subdivisions within the City of Urbandale (herein “city”), and an area of review within the nearby unincorporated territory, to provide for:
(1) Accurate, clear and concise legal descriptions of real estate in order to prevent land boundary disputes or real estate title problems, wherever possible;
(2) A balance between the land use rights of individual landowners and the economic, social and environmental concerns of the public while enforcing land use regulations;
(3) Uniform procedures and standards for subdivisions while allowing the widest possible latitude for the establishment and enforcement of regulations pertaining to subdivisions within the scope of Iowa Code Chapters 18B, 331, 354, 364 and 414;
(4) Control of subdivision design so as to encourage orderly community development that is consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan; and
(5) Regulation and control of the improvement of land and the extension of public improvements, services and utilities.
(C) The City Council finds that the parcel and street patterns that result from subdivisions substantially impact the city’s ability to implement its Comprehensive Plan and planning for orderly and rational growth. Therefore, in accordance with the purpose and intent of this Code, subdivisions shall be designed and developed in a manner that protects the public health, safety and general welfare, and that preserves property values, by following sound, professional design practices and developers shall provide adequate and quality infrastructure to fully mitigate all of the impacts created by each and every subdivision to the fullest extent allowed and authorized by Iowa Code Chapters 18B and 354, and all other relevant codes, ordinances and regulations.
(D) The City Council finds that full mitigation of all impacts created by new subdivisions includes the developer’s provision of or funding for certain infrastructure that may be located outside of the boundaries of a subdivision, or the reservation of a site or space within a subdivision that may serve new subdivisions in addition to the subdivision in which it is located, to the extent that the requirements for providing or funding for off-site infrastructure, or reserving a site or space, are rational and do not exceed the proportionality of the new impacts created by each individual subdivision, and to the extent that the requirements are allowed by the Code of Iowa, whether expressly or by application of unreserved powers that may be commonly referred to as “home rule.”
(E) Such off-site mitigation requirements may include, but are not limited to, sewage treatment plants and sanitary sewer trunks; water treatment plants and supply storage; parks and open space; schools; fire stations and firefighting equipment; and similar infrastructure or equipment that cannot be reasonably provided within or by a single subdivision, whether by reason of:
(1) Incremental nature of an impact, such as additional traffic capacity within the arterial street system that is made necessary by the cumulative additional traffic generated by a number of subdivisions;
(2) Specific characteristics that need to be present in order for a site or parcel to be an appropriate location for any given type of new infrastructure whose need is created or increased by new subdivisions, such as slope gradients for athletic recreational facilities or soil types and other environmental considerations for a solid waste disposal facility;
(3) Cost-effectiveness for the public and collective subdivisions that new infrastructure serves; or
(4) Other reasons that may be found in the city’s Comprehensive Plan, or that are consistent with sound fiscal planning and management, and professional practices.
(Title VII, Ch. 3, § 1.1)