Subdivision and Land Development Information

Subdivision and Land Development Information Flyer

So you have decided to Subdivide and/or Develop your land.  What is in store?  Some things to note are it can take multiple Licensed and Non-Licensed individuals to complete your project.  Most Projects will at a minimum need a Licensed Engineer and a Licensed Surveyor.  However, 80% of the people actually performing this type of work are under the supervision of a Licensed Professional.  These individuals are drafters, designers, surveyors, planners, etc.  These all are skilled individuals that play a key role in your planning project.  More difficult projects will require numerous types of engineers, lawyers, surveyor, scientists, etc. and will require many more review agency approvals.

Subdivision

Let’s first talk about subdividing a property.  Subdividing a property requires a Professional Land Surveyor aka PLS who will provide oversight over a number of steps/tasks including but not limited to the following:

·         Researching the property and the surrounding properties deeds, existing features and other pertinent information.  From this research, the PLS, will generate a number of plans.  Some plans could be Zoning, Existing Conditions, Boundary, Record, etc.

·         Apply Zoning Laws to the Subdivision and layout the subdivision.

·         Create Deed Descriptions

·         Meetings

The easiest way to subdivide a property is to complete the project within the Zoning requirements.  This would be called a By-Right Project.  By-Right Projects are the fastest projects that gain approval as the owner has all legal rights to complete the project.  More difficult projects contain Conditional Use, Variances, Waivers, Multiple agency approvals, etc.

Land Development

So you have or are developing a property.  Developing a property could be just moving earth to a multi-faceted facility being constructed.  You could be constructing an addition or an accessory use to the primary use of the property.  Each type of project will have a reason and the Land Development process is very important.

Some things that make a project more difficult are highways, streams, wetlands, steep slopes, flatness, woodlands, neighbors, utilities, soils, geology, etc.  Ultimately, there are a number of factors that can and will affect your site.  Some of these factors will not be seen until your project is underway.  Thereby, creating additionally unforeseen costs.  A good Land Developer always plans on additional costs but realizes that it will pay off with ROI.  As typically, Location is what drive development and not the site specifics.  The Subdivisions and Land Development process is about mitigating those site specific issues.