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A. Lot Standards.

1. All lots shall meet the site requirements of the zoning district in which they are located and shall be of sufficient size, dimension, design, and configuration so as to permit development of the lot without variance from the applicable zoning requirements.

2. Building Setback Lines. Where watercourses, topography, geology and soils, vegetation, utilities, lot configuration, or other unique circumstances dictate a different building envelope than that set forth in the site requirements for the zoning district in which the lot is located, building setback lines may be required to be shown on the land division instrument and observed in the development of the lot.

3. Future Subdivision of Lots. Where the subdivision or short subdivision will result in a lot one-half acre or larger in size which is likely to be further divided in the future, it may be required that the location of lot lines and other details of layout be such that future division may readily be made without violating the requirements of this section and without interfering with orderly extension and connection of adjacent streets.

B. Exceptions to Lot Standards.

1. Green Building and Green Infrastructure Incentive Program (GBP). The relaxation of certain development requirements may be authorized for a residential development proposed in compliance with RZC 21.67, Green Building and Green Infrastructure Incentive Program (GBP). The proposal must be consistent with the purpose and criteria set forth in RZC 21.74.010.A, Purpose, and 21.74.030.B, Decision Criteria for Approval of Short Subdivisions, Binding Site Plans, Unit Lot Subdivisions, and Preliminary Subdivisions, of this chapter respectively.

2. Government Action. Parcels smaller than otherwise permitted by the Zoning Code may be created through the action of governmental agencies, including eminent domain and the splitting of a parcel by dedicated right-of-way. Wherever possible, such parcels shall be merged in title with adjacent lots to create lots in compliance with adjacent lots to create lots in compliance with the Zoning Code.

3. Lots for Building Pads. In industrial, business park, mixed-use, and multifamily residential zones, lots with boundaries coterminous or nearly so with building walls may be created. The standards that normally would apply to such lots shall apply instead to the project tract of which such lots are a part.

C. Easements.

1. Public and private easements for the construction and maintenance of water, sewer, storm drainage, and other utilities and public and private facilities shall be granted to provide and maintain adequate utility service to each lot and adjacent lands. Public easements shall be a minimum of 20 feet in width unless the City determines a smaller or larger width is appropriate based on site conditions. Private utility easements shall be a minimum of 10 feet in width unless the City determines a smaller or larger width is appropriate based on site conditions.

2. Whenever possible, public utility easements shall be located along the centerlines of the utilities or facilities and shall be combined with driveways, pedestrian accessways, and other utility easements, and shall connect with off-site easements on adjacent lands. The City may impose restrictions on the grantor’s retained use of any public utility or facility easement in order to ensure that the public use is not unreasonably interfered with.

3. When there is a need for stormwater conveyance via any waterway, public improvement, and maintenance easements shall be provided, and shall extend 25 feet in each direction from the waterway centerline or 10 feet from the top of a recognizable bank, whichever is greater. Such easements shall be of a width sufficient to allow both initial improvements and future maintenance operations. Larger widths may be required when necessary.

4. Native Growth Protection Areas (NGPAs) shall be granted where the preservation of native vegetation is reasonably necessary to control surface water and erosion, maintain slope stability, provide visual and aural buffering, protect plant and animal habitat, or otherwise protect critical areas as described in RZC 21.64.010.R, General Critical Area Protective Measures. The NGPE shall require all present and future owners of the easement area to leave undisturbed all trees and other vegetation within the easement without the express permission of the City of Redmond.

5. Easements required by this section shall be granted by the terms and conditions of such easements being shown on the face of the land division instrument approved for recording under this chapter or by separate instrument.

D. Water, Sewer, and Storm Drainage Systems. All lots shall be served by adequate public water, sanitary sewer, and storm drainage systems approved by the City and meeting the design and construction requirements of the City’s Technical Design and Construction Manuals. The City may approve alternate sanitary sewage disposal systems where necessary to meet unique circumstances where compliance with the City’s requirements is not feasible. All public water, sanitary sewer, and storm drainage systems shall be placed underground in appropriate public easements or tracts and dedicated to the City, provided that those portions of stormwater systems that are required to be above ground in order to function; i.e., stormwater ponds, drainage swales, and similar facilities, may be installed above ground. Where a public street is to be dedicated or where a public street is widened or structurally altered by an applicant as a condition of land division approval, the applicant shall provide and dedicate any required storm drainage system.

E. Watercourses. Buffers required by RZC 21.64, Critical Areas Regulations, shall apply to all critical areas within land divided under this chapter. When required by the City in order to mitigate or avoid impacts from the development, the developer of a land division shall enhance a stream which traverses or abuts the land division in accordance with the mitigation requirements of RZC 21.64.010.L, Mitigation Standards, Criteria, and Plan Requirements. Any required watercourse easements shall be dedicated as provided in RZC 21.74.020.C, Easements, of this chapter.

F. Underground Utilities. All permanent utility service to lots shall be provided from underground facilities as set forth in RZC 21.17.020, Electrical Equipment and Wiring. The applicant shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of this section and shall make all necessary arrangements with the utility companies and any other persons or corporations affected by installation of such underground facilities in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

G. Street Standards. All street improvements, grades, widths, construction, and design shall comply with the standards and specifications as set forth in the City’s Technical Design and Construction Manuals. Additional right-of-way width may be required where future conditions and development impacts warrant, or where topographical requirements necessitate cuts or fills for proper grading of the streets. Street lights and pedestrian-scale lighting, including underground electrical service, light standards, wiring, and lamps, shall be installed by the developer in accordance with the City’s Technical Design and Construction Manuals.

H. Monuments.

1. Permanent survey control monuments shall be provided for all land divisions at:

a. All controlling corners on the boundaries of the land division;

b. The intersection of centerline of roads within the land division; and

c. The beginning and ends of curves on centerlines or points of intersections on tangents.

2. Permanent survey control monuments shall be set in two-inch pipe, 24 inches long, filled with concrete, or shall be constructed of an approved equivalent. Permanent survey control monuments within a street shall be set after the street is paved. Every lot corner shall be marked by a three-quarter-inch galvanized iron pipe or approved equivalent, driven into the ground. If any land in a land division is contiguous to a meandered body of water, the meander line shall be reestablished and shown on the final plat, short plat, or other recorded land division instrument.

I. Public Nonmotorized Accessways.

1. The developer shall improve and dedicate to the public nonmotorized access ways to connect to cul-de-sac streets or street ends, to pass through blocks at regular intervals, to provide for networks of public paths creating access to the surrounding pedestrian network and destinations including neighborhoods, schools, parks, shopping centers, mass transportation stops, or other community services.

2. The access way shall be of such design, width, and location as reasonably may be required to facilitate public use, and shall comply with RZC 21.52, Transportation Standards, as well as the specifications and standards of the Director of Public Works. Where possible, said dedications may also accommodate utility easements and facilities.

J. Clearing and Grading. All clearing and grading shall be conducted in compliance with the provisions set forth in RMC Chapter 15.24, Clearing, Grading, and Stormwater Management.

K. Survey Required. The survey of every proposed land division shall be made by or under the supervision of a registered land surveyor. All surveys shall conform to standard practices and principles of land surveying as set forth in the laws of the State of Washington. Primary survey control points shall be referenced to section corners and monuments.

L. Improvements, Completion, or Guarantee.

1. Land Divisions. For all land divisions, the applicant shall either complete the required improvements before the land division is finally approved or the applicant shall financially guarantee installation of the same pursuant to the provisions set forth in RZC 21.76.090.F, Performance Assurance.

M. Transfer and Development of Lots Not Divided According to This Chapter.

1. Legal Lot Criteria for Building or Transfer of Ownership. A lot is considered a lot of record if it meets any one of the criteria listed below. Lots of record may be transferred and developed as separate legal lots even though such lots may not have been created according to this chapter. Even though a lot may be deemed legal, development on said lot shall be subject to all applicable sections of the RZC.

a. Lots of record include:

i. Any lot, the legal description of which has been recorded in a plat or short subdivision filed with the County Auditor after June 9, 1937;

ii. Any lot created and separately developed before June 9, 1937;

iii. Any lot, the legal description of which is on file with the County Auditor in an assessor’s plat recorded in accordance with RCW Chapter 58.18;

iv. Lots created by court order for adverse possessions or divorces;

v. Lots exempted under section M.1 above and lots transferred to a bona fide innocent purchaser for value in accordance with this chapter; and

vi. Any lot created prior to October 21, 1979, and not otherwise meeting the criteria set forth above, provided that there must be no adjoining lots of record of contiguous boundary in the same ownership to which the substandard lot can be merged in title or with which the lot lines can be adjusted to create lots of record that would comply with this chapter.

2. Innocent Purchaser and Public Interest.

a. Innocent Purchasers. The Administrator shall determine that parcels that meet the following criteria are lots of record, for purposes of section M.1 above:

i. Zoning and Public Health. The parcel meets minimum zoning and dimensional requirements, including lot size, dimensions, and frontage width, which are currently in effect or in effect at the time the parcel was created; and

ii. Status. The current property owner purchased the property for value and in good faith, and did not have knowledge of the fact that the property acquired was divided from a larger parcel in violation of the state and county regulations listed under “lots of record” in section M.1.a above;

iii. Permits. A building permit or septic tank permit was issued for the parcel prior to July 26, 1999.

b. Public Interest, Mandatory. The Administrator shall determine that parcels, which meet both of the following criteria, are lots of record:

i. Zoning and Public Health. The parcel meets minimum zoning and public health dimensional requirements currently in effect, including lot size, dimensions, and frontage width; and

ii. Status.

A. The property owner completes conditions of approval which the Administrator determines would otherwise be imposed if the parcel had been established through platting under current standards; or

B. The Administrator determines that improvements or conditions of approval, which would have been imposed if the parcel had been established through platting, are already present and completed.

c. Public Interest, Discretionary. The Administrator may, but is not obligated to determine that parcels meeting the following criteria are lots of record:

i. Zoning and Public Health. The parcel lacks sufficient area or dimension to meet current zoning and public health requirements, but meets minimum zoning dimensional requirements and health requirements, including lot size, dimensions, and frontage width, in effect at the time the parcel was created; and

ii. Status.

A. The property owner completes conditions of approval which the Administrator determines would otherwise be imposed if the parcel had been established through platting under current standards, or

B. The Administrator determines that conditions of approval which would have been imposed if the parcel been established through platting under current standards are already present on the land;

iii. The Administrator shall consider the following factors as favoring a lot of record determination under the discretionary public interest exception, although no one factor is determinative:

A. The parcel size is consistent with surrounding lots of record.

B. Presence of an existing residence on the parcel.

C. Recognition of the parcel does not adversely impact public health or safety, or interfere with the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan.

D. The parcel purchase value and subsequent tax assessments are consistent with a buildable lot of record. (Ord. 2642; Ord. 2803; Ord. 2978)

Effective on: 11/30/2019