Preliminary plat
A preliminary plat is the proposed layout of a subdivision, submitted to the locality's designated agent for tentative approval before a final plat is prepared. Va. Code 15.2-2262 does not prohibit the owner, planners, architects, landscape architects or others with subdivision planning training or experience from preparing it.
Who draws each plat, and where each one goes after review
The Code does not bar the owner or a planner from drawing a preliminary plat, and if it is approved after review, the approval is tentative and points toward a final plat. A final plat is drawn by a certified professional engineer or land surveyor, and after approval it goes to the clerk to be recorded.
Both are a plat in the statute's sense, the schematic representation of land divided or to be divided. What separates them is the job each one does, and Va. Code 15.2-2262, after requiring an engineer or surveyor for any plat intended for recording, draws the line in one sentence:
However, nothing herein shall be deemed to prohibit the preparation of preliminary studies, plans or plats of a proposed subdivision by the owner of the land, city planners, land planners, architects, landscape architects or others having training or experience in subdivision planning or design.
Va. Code 15.2-2262
| Point of comparison | Preliminary plat | Final plat |
|---|---|---|
| Preparer under Va. Code 15.2-2262 | Not prohibited: the owner, city planners, land planners, architects, landscape architects or others with subdivision training or experience | A certified professional engineer or land surveyor, who certifies the owner's source of title |
| Carroll County's posted ordinance | Nothing precludes preparation by an architect, landscape architect, engineer or land planner | Prepared by a land surveyor licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia |
| What happens after review | Tentative approval; the subdivider moves on to a final plat | Approval, then recording; no clerk may record a required plat before it is approved |
One approval need not carry the other: Carroll County's posted ordinance says approval of a preliminary plat does not guarantee approval of a final plat for recordation. What the recorded drawing does next is covered under final plat.
The review a preliminary plat gets, statute and county side by side
The state sets the outer clocks. Under Va. Code 15.2-2260 the designated agent must complete action on a preliminary subdivision plat within 45 days of submission, and all actions, including any state agencies, within a total of 90 days.
Counties publish their own procedure on top of that, and in this footprint Carroll's and Floyd's published procedures read differently from each other and from the statute.
The statute itself lets a locality make preliminary plats mandatory for plats of more than 50 lots, provided a landowner may still submit one by choice for 50 or fewer. How those county procedures compare, whether a given county requires one for a small division, and what an approval holds in place, belong to what a preliminary plat is.
Sketching a preliminary plat for a tract you plan to divide?
Send Lowell the county, the acreage and the lot layout you have in mind, and he will pull what is recorded on the tract and name who draws the plat and who reviews it. No cost, no obligation.
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Questions about this term
Can a landowner draw a preliminary plat without hiring a surveyor?
Va. Code 15.2-2262 does not prohibit the owner of the land from preparing preliminary studies, plans or plats of a proposed subdivision. A plat intended for recording is different: it must be prepared by a certified professional engineer or land surveyor. Whether a county accepts an owner-drawn preliminary plat under its own ordinance is a question for that county's subdivision agent.
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 15.2-2260: preliminary subdivision plats Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2262: preparation of plats Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2254: plat approval before recordation Code of Virginia
- Va. Code 15.2-2201: definitions, including plat Code of Virginia
- Subdivision Ordinance of Carroll County, Virginia (posted text amended through April 14, 2014) Carroll County, Virginia
- Land Division Ordinance, adopted November 18, 2025, effective January 1, 2026 Floyd County, Virginia