Commission amends code to make plat approvals administrative, preserving public subdivision review

The commission adopted Ordinance 2025‑16 to amend the land‑development code so that plats (the final recorded maps for subdivisions) are processed administratively, in line with a recent change in state law that took effect July 1. The ordinance separates the plat recording step from the public subdivision review so the public process for deciding whether a subdivision is appropriate remains intact.The city attorney explained the state legislature has required plat approvals to be administrative because the act of recording a plat is a technical, checklist‑driven step; the city’s ordinance extracts the platting step from the public subdivision review and keeps substantive subdivision decisions subject to public hearings and review.The commission also asked staff to create a formal checklist and public posting process so that administrative plat approvals include clear engineering and conformance review steps and to make sure the community’s planning objective and design intent are preserved even though the final plat review will be administrative.