Chapter 16.40
BINDING SITE PLANS

Sections:

16.40.010    Applicability of provisions.

16.40.020    Purpose.

16.40.030    Authority to approve and procedure.

16.40.040    Submittal requirements.

16.40.050    Community and economic development and public works directors approval criteria.

16.40.060    Design of binding site plans – Standards.

16.40.070    Minimum improvements required.

16.40.080    Approval effective on filing when.

16.40.090    Authentication.

16.40.100    Effective period of preliminary binding site plan approval.

16.40.110    Modification of a preliminary or final binding site plan.

16.40.120    Violations – Penalties.

16.40.130    Enforcement.

16.40.140    Repealed.

16.40.150    Repealed.

16.40.010 Applicability of provisions.

The following types of development may be subject to the provisions of this chapter for binding site plans:

A. Divisions of land into lots or tracts classified for industrial or commercial use when the city has approved a binding site plan for the use of the land in accordance with the provisions of MVMC 16.40.050. (Ord. 3428 § 75, 2008).

16.40.020 Purpose.

The purpose of this chapter is to regulate the subdivision of land classified to industrial and commercial use through a binding site plan and to promote the public health, safety and general welfare; to lessen congestion in the streets and highways; to provide for adequate light and air; to enhance the aesthetic qualities of life; to facilitate adequate provision for water, sewage and other public requirements; to provide for proper ingress and egress; and to require uniform monumenting of land subdivisions and conveyancing by accurate legal description. (Ord. 3428 § 76, 2008).

16.40.030 Authority to approve and procedure.

A. The community and economic development and public works departments are delegated and assigned the administrative and coordinating responsibilities contained in this chapter and, pursuant to Chapter 58.17 RCW, shall have authority to approve, disapprove or modify any binding site plan. Preliminary binding site plans are processed as a Type II permit pursuant to Chapter 14.05 MVMC, with community and economic development and public works directors making a final decision after public notice but without a public hearing.

Following are the procedural steps required for the city to process a preliminary binding site plan:

1. A pre-application meeting is required per MVMC 14.05.110(B).

2. After the pre-application requirement is satisfied an applicant must submit all of the items listed within MVMC 16.40.040 to the community and economic development department.

3. The community and economic development department will initiate and complete the project review procedures and noticing requirements within MVMC 14.05.060 through 14.05.150; and the SEPA process outlined within Chapter 15.06 MVMC.

4. After the project review, noticing and SEPA requirements have been satisfied; and after the applicant has shown that after receiving preliminary binding site plan approval the final binding site plan will be able to meet all applicable federal, state and local requirements, the community and economic development and public works directors shall either approve, disapprove or approve with conditions the binding site plan.

5. Approval of the preliminary binding site plan shall constitute approval for the applicant to develop construction plans and specifications for facilities and improvements, as required, in strict conformance with the approved preliminary binding site plan, street and utility standards and any special conditions required by the directors; and to begin preparation of a final binding site plan. Permission shall not be granted for installation of required improvements until the binding site plan has been approved by the directors and all construction plans and specifications have been approved in writing by the community and economic development and public works directors.

B. After the community and economic development and public works directors approve the preliminary binding site plan through the process outlined in subsection A of this section, an applicant can proceed with completing the final binding site plan process. The community and economic development and public works departments, shall have authority to approve, disapprove or modify final binding site plans. Final binding site plans are processed as a Type I permit pursuant to Chapter 14.05 MVMC, with community and economic development and public works directors making a final decision without public notice or a public hearing.

1. Following approval of the preliminary binding site plan, the applicant, if they wish to proceed with the binding site plan, shall submit to the community and economic development department complete sets of construction plans and specifications showing all improvements as required in the conditions of approval for the binding site plan. The construction plans and specifications shall be submitted to the community and economic development department accompanied by a construction plan check fee in the amount specified within the city’s current fee schedule. All construction plans and specifications shall be in conformance with the city’s street and utility standards.

2. Before the construction plans receive final approval, the community and economic development department shall complete and/or receive a construction inspection.

3. After the community and economic development department has approved the construction plans and specifications, the subdivider may then proceed to construct and/or install all of the improvements they were required to per the preliminary binding site plan approval. After the required improvements are constructed and/or installed the applicant may proceed as follows:

a. Prior to the submission of a final binding site plan for approval the applicant shall schedule a pre-application meeting with the community and economic development department per MVMC 14.05.110(B). At this meeting a checklist of information required for the submission of a final binding site plan will be prepared and provided to the applicant. Prior to the submission of a final binding site plan for approval all streets, alleys, sidewalks, storm drainage, utilities, monumentation, street lights, trees, other landscaping, park improvements, critical area mitigation, and any other improvements specified within the preliminary binding site plan approval shall be installed and completed by the subdivider to the satisfaction of the community and economic development and public works directors. Such improvements shall meet the standards specified in the Mount Vernon Municipal Code, the adopted engineering and community and economic development and city standards and policies. The applicant’s engineer shall be responsible for inspection and “as-built” drawings of all city-maintained utility improvements related to the subdivision.

b. A performance bond or cash security in the amount of 150 percent of the cost to construct required but uninstalled improvements may be posted in lieu of installation of improvements; provided, that such bond is recommended by the community and economic development and public works directors. Bonding or providing a cash security is approved only in circumstances that restrict the installation of improvements such as extreme weather or construction conflicts with other required improvements, etc.

c. The performance bond or cash security shall specify exactly what improvements are included and the community and economic development director will establish the timeline in which the improvements will have to be completed.

d. Prior to acceptance of public improvements, the applicant shall submit to the community and economic development department the original mylar construction drawings corrected to as-built information and a maintenance bond in the amount determined by the community and economic development department. In no case shall such bond be less than 10 percent of the total cost of the public improvements.

e. The subdivider shall promptly proceed with the completion of the bonded improvements. If, in the opinion of the community and economic development director, the subdivider has not proceeded toward the prompt completion of the bonded improvements, he/she may cause the bond to be updated with new estimates of cost on all incomplete improvements and all increased cost estimates shall be passed on to the bond. If these increased costs are not accepted by the surety, then the city shall foreclose on the bond. If all improvements are not completed promptly, the bond shall be forfeited and the city will undertake the installation and completion of all improvements with the forfeited bond money. (Ord. 3428 § 77, 2008).

16.40.040 Submittal requirements.

A subdivider seeking approval of a binding site plan shall submit to the community and economic development department the following items:

A. A map prepared by a state of Washington registered land surveyor, fully dimensioned, drawn at a scale approved by the director.The size of the map shall be 18-inches by 24-inches with a minimum two-inch border on the left edge and one-half-inch border on all other sides. Before recording the original shall be in black ink on stabilized drafting film. The desired scale shall be one inch equals 50 feet unless otherwise approved by the director. The map shall contain all of the items stipulated within WAC 332-130-050 as it is currently written or as it may be amended in the future; along with the following information:

1. A title block shall be located in the lower right corner of the map;

2. The name of the proposed BSP, city land use number, and the location of the BSP shall be shown in the title block;

3. All plans shall show the name, address and telephone number of the surveyor/ engineer and the name and address of the applicant;

4. An accurate and complete legal description of the area to be incorporated within the BSP, written or verified by a licensed land surveyor;

5. The names, addresses, and tax identification numbers of the owners of record of property contiguous to the proposed BSP; however, the final recorded BSP shall only contain the tax identification numbers of the owners or record of property contiguous to the proposed BSP;

6. The number, area (in square feet and acres) and the dimensions of all proposed lots including the bearing of all lines;

7. Date, scale and north arrow;

8. Existing zoning boundary lines, if any, indicating proposed uses of the property;

9.  Certificates, approvals and dedications, the exact wording of which shall be approved by the CEDD and may be obtained at said office, for the following:

a. County auditor certificate;

b. Owner(s) dedication, including signature space for all legal owners, mortgage or lien holders;

c. Acknowledgements for all owner(s) signatures;

d. CEDD and public works directors approvals;

e. Mayoral approval with attest from finance director;

f. City finance director certificate;

g. County treasurer certificate;

h. Surveyor certificate;

i. Easement dedication; and

j. Certification showing that streets, rights-of-way and all sites for public use have been dedicated;

10. The location, width, and names of all existing or platted streets or other public ways within or adjacent to the proposed development together with all easements both public and private;

11. Contours and elevations at two-foot vertical intervals minimum to the extent necessary to accurately predict drainage characteristics of the property and extending at least 100 feet beyond the boundaries of the proposed BSP. The off site surveying requirement can be satisfied with topographic mapping from the city or other mapping resources that are approved by the director. In addition, where slopes are in excess of 20 percent five-foot contours or greater can be approved by the director;

12. A statement and acknowledgment for dedication for all parcels of land intended to be dedicated or temporarily reserved for public use or reserved in deeds for the common use of property owners of the BSP and clearly indicating the purpose, condition, or limitation of such reservation;

13. The source of water supply and all other utilities;

14. The location of the nearest sewer mains shall be shown or the method of sanitary control indicated;

15. The location of all wells and septic systems located on or near the project site;

16. Location of regulated critical areas and their buffers, such as, wetlands, steep slopes, watercourse or floodplains on or adjacent to the site;

17. The BSP shall contain inscriptions or attachments setting forth such appropriate limitations and conditions for the use of the land as are established by the city engineer or city council;

18. The BSP shall contain a provision requiring that any development of the subject property be in conformance with the BSP;

19. All existing buildings on the property must be accurately illustrated on the drawing;

20. Utility easements stipulated by the CEDD adjacent to the right-of-way line fronting on all streets;

21. A statement for dedication of land for the public use and acknowledgment;

22. Interior permanent control monuments located per state surveying standards; and

23. The surveyor’s seal shall appear on every page.

B. All other materials required to process a binding site plan shall be submitted as outlined within MVMC 14.05.210(B).

C. The application for a binding site plan shall be accompanied by a fee as outlined within the city’s fee schedule found within Chapter 14.15 MVMC. (Ord. 3428 § 78, 2008).

16.40.050 Community and economic development and public works directors approval criteria.

The community and economic development and public works directors shall determine if appropriate provisions have been included in the preliminary binding site plan for, but not limited to, the public health, safety and general welfare, open spaces, drainage ways, critical areas, streets, alleys, other public ways, water supplies, sanitary wastes, parks, playgrounds and sites for schools.

A. If the community and economic development and public works directors find that the public use and interest will be served by the binding site plan, then the directors shall recommend approval. If the directors find that the preliminary binding site plan does not make such appropriate provisions or that the public use and interest will not be served, then the directors may recommend disapproval of the preliminary binding site plan.

B. Dedication of land to any public body; and/or dedication of easements to abutting property owners may be required as a condition of approval and shall be clearly shown on the final binding site plan. The directors shall not require, as a condition of the approval of any plat, that a release of liability be procured from other property owners. (Ord. 3428 § 79, 2008).

16.40.060 Design of binding site plans – Standards.

The following minimum standards shall apply to the design of binding site plans:

A. Lots, parcels, or tracts created through the binding site plan procedure shall be legal lots of record. The number of lots, tracts, parcels, sites or divisions shall not exceed the number of lots allowed by the local zoning ordinances, and lots shall adhere to the dimensional area standards of the zoning ordinance and shall comply with the comprehensive plan.

B. Unless otherwise approved, all lots shall provide ingress and egress over a public street or an easement 30 feet in width.

C. Where dedicated rights-of-way or easements are required for the public health, safety and general welfare, they shall be dedicated and improved by the subdivider.

D. All public streets shall comply with Chapter 16.16 MVMC.

1. In the event an existing abutting street does not meet these minimum width standards, additional right-of-way shall be required prior to approval of a binding site plan, provided, that this requirement may be waived if, in the opinion of the city engineer, such additional right-of-way will not be necessary for the future traffic circulation of the city.

2. Where other lands are required or proposed for dedication, such as the development of internal access roads, the subdivider shall provide a dedication statement and acknowledgment on the binding site plan.

3. Binding site plans that contain a dedication of land to the public shall have been surveyed and monumented and recorded with the county auditor. The monumentation requirement may be waived if the centerline of the right-of-way is already monumented.

E. Where approval of the binding site plan is conditioned upon construction of improvements, the construction plans shall be submitted to the community and economic development department accompanied by a fee set forth in the city’s fee schedule found within Chapter 14.15 MVMC.

F. Land which the community and economic development department has found to be unsuitable due to flooding, bad drainage or swamp conditions, and which it considers inappropriate for development, shall not be subdivided unless adequate means of control or abatement have been formulated by the subdivider and approved by the community and economic development and public works departments.

G. In the event the land to be subdivided has a slope or slopes of more than 20 percent and/or rock or unstable soil conditions, the subdivider shall furnish soil data to the community and economic development department. If conditions warrant control measures to correct slide, erosion or other similar problems, the subdivider shall be responsible for the design, installation and expense of any device or corrective measure, subject to approval by the community and economic development and public works departments.

H. Where approval of the binding site plan is conditioned upon construction of improvements, prior to the construction plans receiving final approval, the engineering department shall receive a construction inspection fee as outlined within the city’s fee schedule found within Chapter 14.15 MVMC. (Ord. 3428 § 80, 2008).

16.40.070 Minimum improvements required.

Prior to granting approval for any binding site plans, the community and economic development department shall ascertain that the following improvements have been made or installed along with the requirements outlined within Chapter 16.20 MVMC for each parcel created by the division of land:

A. Water supply per recommended state standards; adequate fire protection with review by the city of Mount Vernon fire department;

B. Sanitary sewer;

C. Underground power, telephone, television cable and all other necessary utilities (including undergrounding existing facilities);

D. If the principal frontage street providing access to the parcel to be subdivided is below the standard for its classification, installation of an improved street shall be required prior to approval of the binding site plan. Those improvements shall be constructed on the frontage of the parcel to be subdivided, and may be extended further to connect with existing improvements or to provide adequate pedestrian and traffic safety or assure safe walking conditions for students who walk to and from school, at the discretion of the city engineer. At no time shall the minimum traveled way brought to line and grade be less than 20 feet wide with four-foot shoulders on the unimproved side of the roadway. The road surface shall be at least of asphaltic concrete quality. Provisions shall be made for storm drainage;

E. Appropriate dedications of easements if required;

F. Performance bonds may be accepted in lieu of installation of the required improvements; provided, that such bond is recommended by the community and economic development and public works departments;

G. The requirement for installation of minimum improvements may be waived by the community and economic development and public works departments only with concurrence of the city council. (Ord. 3428 § 81, 2008).

16.40.080 Approval effective on filing when.

If the community and economic development department or hearing examiner, on appeal, approves the proposed binding site plan, the community and economic development department shall obtain the signature of the county treasurer on the original binding site plan. After the remaining signatures are placed on the map, the community and economic development department shall file the map for record at the office of the county auditor.

The filing of the binding site plan shall constitute an acceptance by the public of the dedication of any street or other proposed public way or space. (Ord. 3428 § 82, 2008).

16.40.090 Authentication.

As a condition to recording a binding site plan approved by the community and economic development department, it shall first be submitted to the mayor for authentication, and to the finance director for attestation. (Ord. 2372 § 16, 1990).

16.40.100 Effective period of preliminary binding site plan approval.

The approval of a preliminary binding site plan shall be effective as follows:

A. Except as provided by subsection of this section, a final binding site plan meeting all requirements of the preliminary binding site plan, this chapter, and the Mount Vernon Municipal Code where applicable shall be submitted to the community and economic development and public works directors for approval within the same time frames outlined in RCW 58.17.140 for preliminary plats, as it is currently written or as it may be amended in the future.

Failure to submit a final binding site plan meeting all the requirements of the preliminary binding site plan, this chapter, and the Mount Vernon Municipal Code where applicable within this period shall result in expiration of preliminary binding site plan approval.

B. If the developer fails to receive final approval within the time frames outlined within subsection A of this section the preliminary binding site plan approval shall expire unless the following request is submitted to the CEDD and approved by the city council through a Type V process.

1. An applicant who files a written request before the date the preliminary binding site plan would otherwise expire to the office of the community and economic development department may be granted a one-year extension upon a showing that they have attempted in good faith to submit the final binding site plan within the required period. There shall be allowed only one such extension. In granting an extension the council can require that a development comply with any of the development regulations in effect at the time the extension is requested should these regulations be different than the ones the development is vested to. (Ord. 3825 § 32, 2021).

16.40.110 Modification of a preliminary or final binding site plan.

A. Modifications to a preliminary or final binding site plan shall be classified as either a minor or major modification. If the modification can be classified as a minor modification according to the criteria outlined below, the modification shall be approved by the community and economic development director subject to the provisions for Process II decisions in Chapter 14.05 MVMC. If the modification to a preliminary or final binding site plan can not be classified as a minor modification and is instead a major modification, the modification shall be processed as a new permit and/or action with one-half of the original permit fees having to be paid again if a notice of application has been routed per MVMC 14.05.150(A)(3).

B. Modifications to a preliminary or final binding site plan can be classified as minor modifications and approved by the community and economic development director subject to the provisions for Process II decisions in Chapter 14.05 MVMC as long as the following requirements are met:

1. None of the conditions of approval of the original binding site plan are violated;

2. The proposed modification meets all of the current Mount Vernon Municipal Code requirements, i.e., zoning, critical area requirements, etc.;

3. The applicant completes a boundary line adjustment per Chapter 16.36 MVMC if their modification is changing the boundaries of the subject property. In addition, the director may require that maps be re-recorded to reflect the changes to a binding site plan due to a minor modification.

C. Proposed modifications to a preliminary or final binding site plan that can not comply with the conditions outlined above in subsections (B)(1) through (3) of this section shall be processed as a new permit and/or action with new fees according to the fee schedule outlined within Chapter 14.15 MVMC. (Ord. 3428 § 85, 2008).

16.40.120 Violations – Penalties.

Any person violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions contained in this title shall be subject to the enforcement provisions contained in MVMC Title 19, Code Enforcement. Furthermore, the city may, in addition to the above penalty, initiate an action in the superior court, enjoining the transfer, sale or option to sell any portion of the binding site plan. (Ord. 3440 § 23, 2008).

16.40.130 Enforcement.

All provisions, conditions, and requirements of the binding site plan shall run with the land and shall be legally enforceable against and binding upon any other person acquiring any interest in the property or any lot, parcel, or tracts created pursuant to the binding site plan. Any sale, transfer, or lease of any lot, tract, or parcel created pursuant to the binding site plan that does not conform to the requirements of the binding site plan or without binding site plan approval shall be considered a violation of Chapter 58.17 RCW and this chapter, and may be restrained by injunctive action as provided in Chapter 58.17 RCW. (Ord. 3428 § 87, 2008).

16.40.140 Violation – Penalty – City actions authorized when.

Repealed by Ord. 3428. (Ord. 2372 § 18, 1990).

16.40.150 Enforcement.

Repealed by Ord. 3428. (Ord. 2372 § 19, 1990).