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PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT Regular Agenda -- Public Hearing Item |
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ITEM NO. 6: TEXT AMENDMENT TO CHAPTER 20 DEVELOPMENT CODE (JCR)
TA-05-09-08: Consider amendments to Chapter 20, Article 8 of Lawrence City Code and Chapter XI of Douglas County Code (Subdivision Regulations) that require the submittal of a certificate that all taxes or special assessments due and payable have been paid for properties included in Certificates of Survey requests. Initiated by County Commission April 14, 2008.
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RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Planning Commission forward a recommendation for approval of the proposed amendments [TA-05-09-08 to Chapter 20, Article 8 of Lawrence City Code and Chapter XI of Douglas County Code (Subdivision Regulations)] to the Lawrence City Commission and the Douglas County Board of County Commissioners.
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Reason for Request: |
The Douglas County Board of County Commissioners initiated this amendment at its April 14, 2008 meeting. The amendment proposes the codification of a standard practice of requiring proof that all taxes due and payable have been paid before a property division is recorded at the Douglas County Register of Deeds.
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RELEVANT GOLDEN FACTOR: · Conformance with the Comprehensive Land Use Plan is the relevant factor that applies to this request. Adoption of new regulatory tools, one of which is the Subdivision Regulations, is an implementation step in Chapter 13 of HORIZON 2020, the City/County Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
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PUBLIC COMMENT RECEIVED PRIOR TO PRINTING · None. |
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KEY POINTS · The Subdivision Regulations require applications for property divisions in Urban Growth Areas and applications for minor subdivisions and major subdivisions require submission of a document showing proof of no unpaid taxes at time of application. The intent is that the planner will present the document to the Register of Deeds at the time the property division application is recorded. · Other property division applications (property divisions outside UGA’s) do not have the same regulatory requirement though it has been standard practice that such be required. · Land divisions that result in a change of ownership when taxes are past due create tracking problems for Appraiser’s office, County Clerk ’s office and Register of Deeds office. · A new property owner of a land division can be unaware that back taxes are owed or a lien can be placed on their property for the back taxes owed by a previous land owner.
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OVERVIEW OF REVISIONS PROPOSED The County Commission has initiated a text amendment to the Subdivision Regulations that propose amending the regulations to add language stating that proof of paid property taxes is required (usually through the provision of a property tax certificate). This requirement is currently and has been standard practice for some time. The Register of Deeds office will not record a property division (plat or certificate of survey) if a certificate showing that property taxes have been paid is not provided. The Subdivision Regulations already require this for some property division applications, but not all. Staff believes this was an unintentional error resulting in a code inconsistency. The proposed amendment will codify this practice for property divisions in the rural area. The regulations for all other property divisions include a code requirement that proof of property taxes paid be required.
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CONFORMANCE WITH HORIZON 2020 Horizon 2020 does not contain policy language regarding proof that property taxes are paid prior to recording of a property division.
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CRITERIA FOR REVIEW & DECISION-MAKING Section 20-1302(f) provides review and decision-making criteria on proposed text amendments. It states that review bodies shall consider at least the following factors: 1) Whether the proposed text amendment corrects an error or inconsistency in the Development Code or meets the challenge of a changing condition; and The proposed amendment corrects an inconsistency in the Subdivision Regulations. 2) Whether the proposed text amendment is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and the stated purpose of this Development Code (Sec. 20-104). Horizon 2020 does not contain policy language regarding proof that property taxes are paid prior to recording of a property division. The proposed amendment reflects codification of a standard administrative practice, as required by the Register of Deeds.
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PROPOSED LANGUAGE (see attachment) Section 20-806, Property Divisions in the Rural Area and Section 20-807, Certificate of Survey, Administrative Review Procedures are proposed to be amended. No language is proposed to be deleted. The language proposed to be added to these sections is identified by bold italic typeface. Please find the proposed language as attached.
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