Agenda - Planning Commission - 07/05/1995

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THE ZONING REPORT Page Four To enforce parcelization statutes~ county ordi- nances, as authorized or required by these new state statutes, might require the county re- corder to notify zoning officers in localities with their own zoning code of all land divisions aad conveyances that have been recorded or offered to be recorded. If a division or convey- ance was improperly or illegally done, not meeting local land division regulations and pro- cedures or not meeting the requirements of the zone district in which it is located, it can be voided as a violation of the zoning code. Similarly, the tax assessor must notify the zoning officer of all new tax lots, tracts and parcels that are created and additional ta× account numbers assigned to existing tax lots. This enables the zoning officer to uncover con- veyances and land divisions attempted not throu'gh recordation but through assignment of property taxes payable by new owners, perhaps under contracts for sale that are not recorded or .deliberately not recorded, to create a de- facto land division. These, too, are voidable by law. A second set of definitions of tract and parcel regulates the number of main buildings allowed on a lot of record or a zoning lot. Many zoning' codes define either the lot of record or the zoning lot or both as containing only one prin- cipal or main building plus the open space re- quired around the building. Developments al- lowed with more than one main building on the lot are defined as a tract or parcel, or in some codes, as a 'planned development.' In planned zones, development on a tract is approved as a special or conditional use by the elected board as a planned shopping center, single-site multi-family project, PUD or cluster project. The project must meet zoning stan- dards for the type of planned development pro- posed--for maximum FAR or dwelling unit den- sity, tract peripheral zone yards, common open space, and layout of the site and its internal circulation. In some zoning codes, multi-build- ing development is allowed by right in speci- fied intensive large-lot open type commercial and industrial zones. If the zoning code defines zoning lot as con- taining one main building, then the tract (or parcel) is an additional defined unit of zoning regulation. If the code defines lot of record as containing one main building, tract is an addi- tional unit of ownership. If both zoning lot and lot of record can contain only one main build- ing, tract is defined as an additional unit of zoning regulation and ownership. A tract (or parcel), as a specially defined land unit, can possibly contain zoning lots and lots of record within it as individual building sites. These building sites are platted within a tract in an approved planned development. As zoning lots, these building sites might have special zoning standards not applying to con- ventional lots in underlying zone districts in conventional subdivisions. The special standards allow design of building sites for townhouse units, cluster dwellings, attached single family dweIlings, apartment buildings and office- commercial buildings in single-site integrated complexes. As lots of record, these building sites are recorded but only within the context of the approved and recorded final develop- ment plan and plat for the tract. This context requires conformance by each building site to approved restrictions and covenants,' which are recorded with its plat, that assure a unitary ownership and maintenance control structure for the overall tract development. The third set of definitions of the terms tract and parcel (and lot) is by informal usage by persons involved in planning-zoning activities. A tract, through informal usage, is a piece of land under one ownership, usually vacant as large acreage in rural and urban fringe areas, either intended to be divided into lots or to be developed as a single-site or a sing]e-use proj- ect for commercial or multi-family uses. A par- cel is a piece of land under one ownership or c~ntrol, usually developed, of any size but usu- ally of small size in urban areas, that is devot- ed to a single land use. A lot is a small land parcel designed for or containing a single main building; all subdivision platted lots, through this usage, are lots. June 23, 1995 issue