§ 6.1. General Improvements
6.1.1 Conformance to Applicable Rules and Regulations . In addition to the requirements established in these regulations, all subdivision plats shall comply with the following laws, rules, and regulations:
A. All applicable statutory provisions.
B. The City of Santa Fe zoning ordinance, building and housing codes, and all other applicable laws of the appropriate jurisdictions.
C. The Official Comprehensive Plan, and Capital Improvements Program of the City of Santa Fe, including all streets, drainage systems, and parks shown on the Comprehensive Plan as adopted.
D. The special requirements of these regulations and any rules of the Galveston County Health Department and/or appropriate state or sub-state agencies.
E. The rules of the Texas Department of Transportation if the subdivision or any lot contained therein abuts a state highway or connecting street.
F. The standards and regulations adopted by the City of Santa Fe Development Officer and all boards, commissions, agencies, and officials of the City of Santa Fe.
G. All pertinent standards contained within the planning guides published by the applicable regional or metropolitan planning commission or Metropolitan Council of Governments.
H. Plat approval may be withheld if a subdivision is not in conformity with the above laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies as well as the purposes of these regulations.
I. The Subdivider shall bear the cost of all engineering review, approval and consulting fees associated with the subdivision approval process. An estimate of such costs will be provided to the Subdivider prior to application acceptance. Costs accrued, exceeding this estimate, shall be payable before acceptance of the improvements by the City. Unused funds will be returned to the subdivider within 60 days of a final accounting of cost; no interest on unused funds shall be paid during this period. No construction permits shall be issued for any improvements of property within the subdivision until all accounts have been settled to the satisfaction of the City. Accounts that cannot be reasonably settled because of unforeseen events or conditions may be presented to City Council; Council may defer payment, cancel the debt or make such other arrangement that it deems to be in the public interest.
6.1.2 Adequate Public Facilities . No preliminary plat shall be approved unless the Planning Commission determines that public facilities will be adequate to support and service the area of the proposed subdivision. The applicant shall, at the request of the Planning Commission, submit sufficient information and data on the proposed subdivision to demonstrate the expected impact on and use of public facilities by possible uses of said subdivision. Public facilities and services to be examined for adequacy will include streets, sewerage, and water service.
A. Periodically the City Council will establish by resolution, after public hearing, guidelines for the determination of the adequacy of public facilities and services. To provide the basis for the guidelines, the Planning Commission must prepare an analysis of current growth and the amount of additional growth that can be accommodated by future public facilities and services. The Planning Commission must also recommend any changes in preliminary plat approval criteria it finds appropriate in the light of its experience in administering these regulations.
B. The applicant for a preliminary plat must, at the request of the Planning Commission, submit sufficient information and data on the proposed subdivision to demonstrate the expected impact on and use of public facilities and services by possible uses of said subdivision.
C. Comprehensive Plan Consistency Required . Proposed public improvements shall conform to and be properly related to the City of Santa Fe comprehensive plan and all applicable capital improvements plans.
D. Water . All habitable buildings and buildable lots shall be connected to a public water system capable of providing water for health and emergency purposes, including adequate fire protection. Exception: see Section 6.5, Water Facilities.
E. Wastewater . All habitable buildings and buildable lots shall be served by an approved means of wastewater collection and treatment. Exception: see Section 6.6, Sewerage Facilities.
F. Storm-water Management . Drainage improvements shall accommodate potential runoff from the entire upstream drainage area and shall be designed to prevent increases in downstream flooding. The City of Santa Fe may require the use of control methods such as retention or detention, and/or the construction of off-site drainage improvements to mitigate the impacts of the proposed developments.
G. Streets . Proposed streets shall provide a safe, convenient, and functional system for vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle circulation; shall be property related to the comprehensive plan; and shall be appropriate for the particular traffic characteristics of each proposed development.
H. Extension Policies . All public improvements and required easements shall be extended through the parcel on which new development is proposed. Streets, water lines, wastewater systems, drainage facilities, electric lines, and telecommunications lines shall be constructed through new development to promote the logical extension of public infrastructure. The City of Santa Fe may require the applicant of a subdivision to extend off-site improvements to reach the subdivision or oversize required public facilities to serve anticipated future development as a condition of plat approval.
I. Future Utility Easements . When the provisions of this ordinance do not require the connection of the subdivision to existing utility systems the subdivider shall, in any event, create accommodations for future utilities as follows:
1. Provide dedicated utility easements for the installation of domestic water, sanitary sewer, storm water, gas, power, communications and other services similarly distributed to the community. Such easements shall be coordinated with dedicated streets, lot configurations, reserves, drainage and other significant site features to permit installation of such utilities at a future date. Special emphasis shall be given to connecting links with anticipated utility systems external to the subdivision, provisions for looping and double feed, lift and pumping stations sites, access by heavy equipment, and service connections to property beyond the current subdivision.
2. No engineering is required to be performed by the subdivider but the city may reserve a reasonable time to plan and engineer the easements parameters. The city shall submit an easement plan to the subdivider within 90 days of the rejection of the plat submittal if such rejection is based on this paragraph.
3. The plat shall clearly state that permanent structures are prohibited in utility easements except surface parking lots, drives and non-permanent landscaping. The minimum easement width shall be ten (10) feet except that an easement may lie astride and parallel to a property line in which event the minimum easement on each adjoining lot shall be not less than eight (8) feet. Where easements are placed in mandatory yard set backs, (re: Zoning Ordinance), and such minimum yards are less than the above utility easement widths, such utility easements may be reduced to the mandatory yard width.
6.1.3 Self-imposed Restrictions . If the owner places restrictions on any of the land contained in the subdivision greater than those required by the Zoning Ordinance or these regulations, such restrictions or reference to those restrictions may be required to be indicated on the subdivision plat, or the Planning Commission may require that restrictive covenants be recorded with the County Recorder of Deeds in a form to be approved by the City Attorney.
6.1.4 Plats Straddling Municipal Boundaries . Whenever access to the subdivision is required across land in another city, the Planning Commission may request assurance from the City of Santa Fe Attorney that access is legally established, and from Development Officer that the access street is adequately improved, or that a guarantee has been duly executed and is sufficient in amount to assure the construction of the access street. In general, lot lines should be laid out so as not to cross municipal boundary lines.
6.1.5 Monuments . The applicant shall place permanent reference monuments in the subdivision as required in these regulations and as approved by a registered land surveyor.
A. Monuments shall be located on street right-of-way lines, at street intersections, angle points of curve and block corners. They shall be spaced so as to be within sight of each other, the sight lines being contained wholly within the street limits.
B. The external boundaries of a subdivision shall be recorded in the field by monuments of stone or concrete, not less than thirty (30) inches in length, not less than four (4) inches square or five (5) inches in diameter, and marked on top with a cross, brass plug, iron rod, or other durable material securely embedded; or by iron rods or pipes at least thirty (30) inches long and two (2) inches in diameter. These monuments shall be placed not more than 1,400 feet apart in any straight line and at all corners, at each end of all curves, at the point where a curve changes its radius, at all angle points in any line, and at all angle points along the meander line, those points to be not less than twenty (20) feet back from the bank of any river or stream, except that when such corners or points fall within a street, or proposed future street, the monuments shall be placed in the side line of the street.
C. All internal boundaries and those corners and points not referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be recorded in the field by like monuments as described above. These monuments shall be placed at all block corners, at each end of all curves, at a point where a curve changes its radius, and at all angle points in any line.
D. The lines of lots that extend to rivers or streams shall be recorded in the field by iron pipes at least thirty (30) inches long and seven-eighths ( 7/8 ) inch in diameter or by round or square iron bars at least thirty (30) inches long. These monuments shall be placed at the point of intersection of the river or stream lot line, with a meander line established not less than twenty (20) feet back from the bank of the river or stream.
E. All monuments required by these regulations shall be set flush with the ground and planted in such a manner that they will not be removed by frost.
F. All monuments shall be properly set in the ground and approved by a registered land surveyor prior to the time the Planning Commission recommends approval of the final plat.
6.1.6 Character of the Land . Land that the Planning Commission finds to be unsuitable for subdivision or development due to flooding, improper drainage, steep slopes, adverse earth formations or topography, utility easements, or other features that will reasonably be harmful to the safety, health, and general welfare of the present or future inhabitants of the subdivision and/or its surrounding areas, shall not be subdivided or developed unless adequate methods are formulated by the developer and approved by the Planning Commission, upon recommendation of the Development Officer, to solve the problems created by the unsuitable land conditions. Such land shall be set aside for uses as shall not involve any danger to public health, safety, and welfare.
6.1.7 Subdivision Name . The proposed name of the subdivision shall not duplicate, or too closely approximate phonetically, the name of any other subdivision in the area covered by these regulations. The Planning Commission shall have final authority to designate the name of the subdivision, which shall be determined during sketch plat approval.
(Ordinance No. 02-2010 of April 8, 2010, Sec. 19)