A.

The subdivision of land is the first step in the process of urban development. The regulation of land subdividing within a formalized procedure provides for the evolution of a contract between the landowner (developer) and governmental entity acting in behalf of the public and for the benefit of subsequent individual owners and/or tenants. Precise commitments concerning a described geographic area of proposed urban development are specifically set forth in relation to and in accord with graphic and written documentation as filed of record.

B.

The arrangement of land parcels in the community for residential, commercial and industrial uses and for streets, alleys, schools, parks and other public purposes, will determine to a large degree the conditions of the health, safety, economy and amenity that prevail in the urban area. The quality of these conditions is of public interest. These regulations and standards for the subdivision and improvement of land for urban use are to make provisions for adequate light, air, open spaces, drainage, transportation, public utilities and other needs, to ensure the development and maintenance of a healthy, attractive and efficient community that provides for the conservation and protection of its human and natural resources.

C.

In construing this chapter, it is intended that these provisions be administered so as to create an environment which will provide the setting for the accomplishment of the best possible quality of life for all of the citizens of the City and in a manner that will ensure the minimum adverse effect to the environment.

D.

This chapter is designed, intended and should be administered in a manner to:

1.

Implement the future Noble General Plan in relation to:

a.

The use of land and land use relationships;

b.

The transportation system including but not limited to highways, streets, alleys, bicycle paths, bicycle lanes, sidewalks;

c.

Community facilities including recreational and educational facilities, fire stations, etc.;

d.

The extension or expansion of the sanitary sewer system including adequate easements to accommodate lines and facilities;

e.

The extension or expansion of the water distribution system and the provision of fire hydrants including adequate easements to accommodate lines and facilities;

f.

The appropriate disposition of surface runoff water; and

g.

The accommodation of all other utilities within adequate easements.

2.

Provide neighborhood conservation and prevent the development of slums and blight;

3.

Harmoniously relate the development of the various tracts of land to existing urban development and facilitate the future development of adjoining tracts;

4.

Provide that the cost of improvements which primarily benefit the tract of land being developed be borne by the owners or developers of the tract;

5.

Provide the best possible design for the tract;

6.

Resolve any differences of interest;

7.

Establish adequate, accurate and accessible public records of land subdivision; and

8.

Ensure a maximum effort for the protection of the environment and to encourage, in the development of land, the minimum adverse effect thereto.

E.

This chapter intends to require that all land located in the City be platted in conformance with these provisions prior to the actual accomplishment of urban and suburban development and that an approved final plat shall be filed of record prior to the issuance of a required building permit for the development of any and all institutional, industrial, commercial and urban and suburban residential uses.

In order to promote the health, safety and general welfare of present and future residents, and to bring about the coordinated, efficient and economic development of the City, the following regulations for the subdividing and developing of land within its corporate limits are adopted pursuant to all of the powers and authority derived from the constitution and statutes of the state.

This chapter shall apply to the following forms of subdividing and/or developing of land within the corporate limits of the City:

1.

The dividing of land into two (2) or more tracts, lots, sites or parcels, any part of which, when subdivided, shall contain less than ten (10) acres in area;

2.

The redividing of previously platted land in tracts, lots, sites or parcels, any part of which, when redivided, shall contain less than ten (10) acres in area;

3.

The dedicating, vacating or reserving of any public or private easement through any tract of land regardless of the area involved, including those for use of public and private utility companies;

4.

The dedicating or reserving of any street or alley or any part thereof through any tract of land regardless of the area involved;

5.

Planned unit development as defined in this code;

6.

The development of any parcel of land classified by zoning district as multifamily;

7.

Any commercial or industrial development regardless of the size of the lots; and

8.

Any tract, lot, site or parcel of land, regardless of size, which is to be developed and on which exists or will exist, because of such contemplated development, any topographic feature of improvement requiring the dedication or reservation of any easement, public or private, under the provisions of this chapter.

The following words and phrases when used in this chapter, shall for the purposes of this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this article, except where the context otherwise requires:

"Abutting unplatted property" means land which is not within the legal description of a subdivision plat on file in the office of the County Clerk (and which is not within the plat proposed by the subdivision under consideration) and which property may, in the future, be subdivided and may feasibly be served by the off-site improvements constructed for the proposed subdivision;

"Alley" means a minor right-of-way dedicated to public use, which gives a secondary means of vehicular access to the back or side of properties otherwise abutting a street, and which may be used for public utility purposes;

"Bicycle lane" means that portion of a roadway set aside and appropriately designated for the use of bicycles;

"Bicycle path" means a paved facility physically separating the bicycle from motor vehicle traffic;

"Block" means a parcel of land, intended to be used for urban purposes, which is entirely surrounded by public streets, highways, railroad rights-of-way, public walks, parks or green strips, rural land or drainage channels or a combination thereof;

"Building line" means a line or lines designating the area outside of which buildings may not be erected;

"Development" means the erection or construction of buildings; or the erection or construction of any additions to existing buildings where outer walls are added or altered as to location, but not including alterations or remodeling of buildings where the outer walls are not added or altered as to location;

"Easement" means a grant by the property owner to the public, a corporation or persons, of the use of an area of land for specific purposes;

"General plan" means the comprehensive development plan for the City which may be officially adopted to provide long-range development policies for the area subject to urbanization in the foreseeable future and which includes, among other things, the plan for land use, land subdivision, traffic circulation and community facilities, utilities and drainage facilities;

"Lot" means a subdivision of a block or other parcel intended as a unit for the transfer of ownership or for development;

"Lot, corner" means a lot located at the intersection of and abutting on two (2) or more streets;

"Lot, depth" means the average distance from the street line of the lot to its rear line, measured in the general direction of the lines of the lot;

"Lot, double frontage" means a lot which runs through a block from street to street and which has frontage on two (2) or more streets, but not including a corner lot;

"Lot, reverse frontage" means a corner lot of such size and shape that a building erected on it might logically be designed to face on either adjoining street, thus causing the building to rear on the side line of any abutting lot;

"Lot, townhouse" means a lot shown on a townhouse plat and intended as the site of a single attached dwelling unit;

"Lot line adjustment" means a relocation of the lot lines of two (2) or more lots included in a plat which is filed of record, for the purpose of making necessary adjustments to building sites;

"Off-site improvements" means any utility, structure or modification of topography which is, or will be, located within, under or over a right-of-way or easement of record and which is, or will be, owned and/or maintained by other than the individual owner(s) of developed real estate;

"Planning Commission" means the Planning Commission of the City of Noble;

"Plat, final" means a mop of a land subdivision giving, in form suitable for filing in the office of the County Clerk, necessary affidavits, dedications and acceptances, and delineating the layout of such subdivision as required herein;

"Plat, preliminary" means a map of a proposed subdivision showing the character and proposed layout of the tract in sufficient detail to indicate the relationship of the proposed development to topography, existing streets, drainage facilities and utilities, existing urban development and zoning, and to indicate the nature of the land planning design;

"Reserve strip" means a strip of land located adjacent to a public easement or right-of-way which has the effect of denying access to adjacent property owners to the public easement or right-of-way;

"Rural and suburban area" means all that part of the incorporated area of the City of Noble which is not classified on the Noble General Plan for urbanization;

"Setback line" means a line or lines designating the outer limits of street and highway right-of-way requirements;

"Site development plan" means a plan drawn at a scale of not less than fifty (50) feet equal one inch which shows the topographic characteristics of the site at a contour interval of not less than one foot; the location and dimensions of buildings, yards, courts, landscape, pedestrian and vehicular circulation and parking, fences and screening; service areas and service courts and other features; the use of each building and area; the height of buildings; adjacent streets, alleys, utility, drainage and other easements; and the relationship of the development to adjacent areas which it may affect;

"Street" means any public or private right-of-way which affords the primary means of access to abutting property;

"Street, collector" means a minor street collecting traffic from other minor streets and serving as the most direct route to a major street or community facility;

"Street, cul-de-sac" means a local street having one end closed and terminated by a turn-around;

"Street, estate type" means a local street in a residential estate or agricultural zone or district;

"Street, frontage or service" means a minor street located adjacent and parallel to a major street for land service to abutting properties and access to adjacent areas and for allowing control of access to the major street;

"Street, local" means a minor street which collects and distributes traffic between parcels of land and collector or arterial street, with the principal purpose to provide access to abutting property;

"Street, major" means a freeway, primary arterial or secondary arterial designated on the Major Streets and Highways Plan of the City (anticipated to be adopted);

"Street, minor" means any street other than one designated as a freeway, primary arterial, or secondary arterial on the adopted Major Streets and Highways Plan of the City (anticipated to be adopted), but not including alleys;

"Street, public" means any preexisting county road heretofore annexed by the City and which forms a part of the City by reason of such annexation, or any street or road granted or dedicated to the City and accepted by the City;

"Subdivider (developer)" means any person or persons who propose to subdivide or develop land within the limits of the City and, if the person or persons include a corporation, then "subdivider" shall include each of the individual stockholders of the corporation and each of the principal officers and manager of the corporation;

"Subdivision" means the division, re-division or delineation of land by lots, tracts, sites or parcels for the purpose of transfer of ownership, or for urban development, or for the dedication or vacation of a public or private right-of-way or easement;

"Suburban development" means any residential development with a density of greater than one dwelling unit per five (5) acres but not greater than one dwelling unit per two (2) acres;

"Townhouse" means one of a series of two (2) or more attached dwelling units, separated from one another by continuous, vertical party walls without openings from basement floor to the roof deck and tight against same or through the roof and which are intended to have ownership transferred in conjunction with a platted lot;

"Urban area" means all that part of the incorporated are of the City of Noble which is designated on the Noble General Plan for urbanization, including any subdivision with a density greater than one house for each two (2) acres; and

"Way" means any street, avenue, parkway, highway, boulevard, rood, alley, bicycle path or pedestrian walkway reserved and/or dedicated for public or private use chiefly by vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Its width shall be established as the shortest horizontal distance measured between lines delineating the right-of-way.