§ 4463. Subdivision review

(a) Approval of plats. Before a plat for a major subdivision is approved, a public hearing on the plat shall be held by the appropriate municipal panel after public notice. A bylaw may provide for the administrative officer to approve minor subdivisions. A copy of the notice shall be sent to the clerk of an adjacent municipality, in the case of a plat located within 500 feet of a municipal boundary, at least 15 days prior to the public hearing.

(b) Plat; record. The approval of the appropriate municipal panel or administrative officer, if the bylaws provide for their approval of minor subdivisions, shall expire 180 days from that approval or certification unless, within that 180-day period, that plat shall have been duly filed or recorded in the office of the clerk of the municipality. After an approved plat or certification by the clerk is filed, no expiration of that approval or certification shall be applicable.

(1) The bylaw may allow the administrative officer to extend the date for filing the plat by an additional 90 days if final local or State permits or approvals are still pending.

(2) No plat showing a new street or highway may be filed or recorded in the office of the clerk of the municipality until it has been approved by the appropriate municipal panel, or administrative officer if allowed under the bylaws, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, and that approval is endorsed in writing on the plat, or the certificate of the clerk of the municipality showing the failure of the appropriate municipal panel to take action within the 45-day period is attached to the plat and filed or recorded with the plat. After that filing or recording, the plat shall be a part of the official map of the municipality.

(c) Acceptance of streets; improvements. Every street or highway shown on a plat filed or recorded as provided in this chapter shall be deemed to be a private street or highway until it has been formally accepted by the municipality as a public street or highway by ordinance or resolution of the legislative body of the municipality. No public municipal street, utility, or improvement may be constructed by the municipality in or on any street or highway until it has become a public street or highway as provided in this section. The legislative body shall have authority after a public hearing on the subject to name and rename all public streets and to number and renumber lots so as to provide for existing as well as future structures.

(d) Beginning October 1, 2010, any application for an approval and any approval issued under this section shall include a statement, in content and form approved by the Secretary of Natural Resources, that State permits may be required and that the permittee should contact State agencies to determine what permits must be obtained before any construction may commence.

(e) Whenever a proposed subdivision is adjacent to a State highway, the application for subdivision approval shall include a letter from the Agency of Transportation confirming that the Agency has reviewed the proposed subdivision and determined whether a permit is required under 19 V.S.A. § 1111. If the Agency determines that a permit for the proposed subdivision is required under 19 V.S.A. § 1111, then the letter from the Agency shall set out any conditions that the Agency proposes to attach to the permit required under 19 V.S.A. § 1111. (Added 2003, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 104; amended 2009, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § F28; 2021, No. 55, § 37; 2023, No. 47, § 7, eff. July 1, 2023.)