Opinion ID: 2277215
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Effect of the Subdivision Application

Text: The Rockland subdivision ordinance provides that no one shall develop or build upon any land in a subdivision which has not been finally approved and signed by the Planning Commission, certified by the City Clerk and recorded in the Knox County Registry of Deeds. Section 16-106. It also provides that no building shall be erected or other improvements made to any lot in the subdivision for which a Final Plan has not been approved. Id. Rockland argues that, as a result of this provision, once a property owner files an application for subdivision approval it is precluded from any development of its land until approval is granted or denied or the application withdrawn. The ordinance's limitations on development and building, however, apply only to land or a lot in a subdivision. Paladac's land has not yet been subdivided. Paladac's action in placing one manufactured housing unit on its property did not create a subdivision. Under statutory definitions, incorporated by reference in Rockland Zoning Ordinance § 16-103, three or more lots must be created before a subdivision results. 30 M.R.S.A. § 4956(1) (Pamph.1988). Paladac's action may certainly damage its application for subdivision approval and may well require amendment of its application, but since the property is not yet a subdivision the ordinance does not prevent uses otherwise permissible under the law. Until Paladac actually creates a subdivision, the fact that it has filed an application for approval does not halt its freedom to pursue other legal uses of the land as well.