Final plat
A final plat is the approved plat of a subdivision that is filed for recording, prepared by a certified professional engineer or land surveyor who certifies the owner's source of title. No clerk of court may record a subdivision plat that must be approved until the locality's designated agent has approved it.
Final approval is where both clocks start
The designated agent approves the final plat, and from that date two periods begin to run: a short one to get the plat to the clerk, and a longer one that protects the approved development once it is recorded.
By the time approval arrives the drawing has already passed through several hands: the engineer or surveyor who prepared and certified it, and in a county such as Carroll, the agencies whose approvals must come before the Administrator's. The layout that came before it is the preliminary plat, and whether an old survey can serve for the new drawing is taken up in whether you need a new survey to subdivide.
The agent's own review runs on clocks in Va. Code 15.2-2259: 60 days from official submission except where the section provides otherwise, with separate periods for a resubmitted plat and for plats solely involving commercial or residential real estate, and more time where a state agency must approve a feature. The full sequence from first sketch to recording is set out in how to subdivide land in Virginia.
Six months to reach the clerk, unless the time is longer
An approved plat that sits in a drawer does not stay approved. Va. Code 15.2-2241 makes every subdivision ordinance carry the rule:
8. That unless a plat is filed for recordation within six months after final approval thereof or such longer period as may be approved by the governing body, such approval shall be withdrawn and the plat marked void and returned to the approving official
Va. Code 15.2-2241
The same item stretches the window where public facilities are involved. Where construction of facilities to be dedicated for public use has commenced under an approved plan or permit with surety approved by the designated agent, or the developer has furnished surety in the amount of the estimated cost of construction of those facilities, the time for recordation is extended to one year after final approval, or to the time limit in the approved surety agreement.
Recording is the clerk's step, and it follows the agent's: Va. Code 15.2-2254 says no clerk of any court shall file or record a required subdivision plat until it has been approved.
Five years of protection from later rule changes, with written exceptions
Once recorded, the plat gains a period of protection under Va. Code 15.2-2261.
An approved final subdivision plat which has been recorded or an approved final site plan, hereinafter referred to as "recorded plat or final site plan," shall be valid for a period of not less than five years from the date of approval thereof
Va. Code 15.2-2261
For those five years, no later change to a local ordinance, map, resolution, rule, regulation, policy or plan may adversely affect the right to commence and complete the approved development under the plat's lawful terms. The protection has written exceptions: a change "required to comply with state law", or "a mistake, fraud or a change in circumstances substantially affecting the public health, safety or welfare". Five years is not a guarantee against every change.
How an approved plat fits among the other approvals that can vest a project is argued in what entitlements on land are. The recorded drawing itself, and how it differs from a boundary survey, is explained in what a plat is and in the glossary entry for a plat of subdivision.
Holding a final plat that is approved but not yet recorded?
Tell Lowell where the tract is and where the plat stands, and he will talk through what an approved or recorded plat means for marketing the lots. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions about this term
Who prepares the final plat in Carroll County?
Carroll County's posted subdivision ordinance says the final plat shall be prepared by a land surveyor licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Statewide, Va. Code 15.2-2262 requires every subdivision plat intended for recording to be prepared by a certified professional engineer or land surveyor who certifies the owner's source of title.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 15.2-2241: mandatory provisions of a subdivision ordinance, item 8 Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2254: approval before recordation Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2259: deadlines for the designated agent to act on plats Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2261: recorded plats valid for not less than five years Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2262: preparation of plats Code of Virginia
- Subdivision Ordinance of Carroll County, Virginia (posted text amended through April 14, 2014) Carroll County, Virginia