SB 479

This bill makes various changes to the process that a city, town, village, or county must use for approving subdivisions of land and imposing conditions on that approval.

Under the bill, a city, town, or county must provide a subdivider the opportunity to meet informally with a representative of the city, town, or county before the subdivider submits a preliminary plat, or final plat if a preliminary plat is not submitted, for approval. The purpose of meeting informally is for the representative to provide a conceptual review of the proposed subdivision and the representative’s opinions regarding whether the subdivision complies with the requirements and conditions for approving plats of the city, town, or county. Conceptual reviews and opinions provided through this informal meeting are not binding on the parties.

The bill also allows a subdivider to submit preliminary, as opposed to final, infrastructure plans with a preliminary plat. If a subdivider submits preliminary infrastructure plans with a preliminary plat, the bill prohibits an approving authority from rejecting the preliminary plat because the infrastructure plans are preliminary, but the bill does allow an approving authority to approve the preliminary plat subject to conditions, including the condition that final infrastructure plans be submitted to the local governmental unit.

Under current law, a city, town, or village may approve a plat on the condition that the subdivider 1) makes and installs necessary public improvements or 2) provides security to ensure that necessary public improvements will be made within a reasonable time. Under the bill, the condition for approval is that the subdivider 1) agrees to install necessary public improvements and 2) provides financial security to ensure that necessary public improvements will be made within a reasonable time after the approval. Further, under the bill, a city, town, or village may not require that necessary public improvements be installed or approved as a condition of submitting, reviewing, approving, or recording a preliminary or final plat. Put another way, under the bill, a city, town, or village may condition approval of a plat on necessary public improvements being completed within a reasonable time after approval of the plat, but may not require that necessary public improvements be installed or accepted before the plat is approved.

Under current law, a subdivider must record a final plat with the register of deeds for the county in which the approved subdivision is located. The bill requires that the clerk of the city, town, village, or county authorized to approve the final plat certify that the plat is eligible for recording within 10 days of receiving a request for certification from the subdivider.

Finally, the bill makes changes to legislative purpose statements related to state and local regulation of the subdivision of land.