AS Title 40, Chapter 15: Subdivisions and Dedications

Chapter 15. Subdivisions and Dedications. Article 1. Recording of Plats. Sec. 40.15.010. Approval, filing, and recording of subdivisions. Before the lots or tracts of any subdivision or dedication may be sold or offered for sale, the subdivision or dedication shall be approved by the authority having jurisdiction, as prescribed in this chapter and shall be filed and recorded in the office of the recorder. The recorder may not accept a subdivision or dedication for filing and recording unless it shows this approval. However, the recorder may accept for filing and recording a division of a tract or parcel of land approved under AS 29.40.080 (c). Sec. 40.15.020. Plats to be acknowledged and contain certificate that taxes and assessments are paid. Every plat shall be acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgment of deeds. A certificate of acknowledgment shall be endorsed on or annexed to the plat and recorded with it. A person filing and recording a plat, map, subdivision, or replat of property, or vacating the whole or any portion of an existing plat, map, subdivision, or replat shall file and record with it a certificate from the tax-collecting official or officials of the area in which the land is located that all taxes levied against the property at that date are paid. Sec. 40.15.030. Dedication of streets, alleys, and thoroughfares. When an area is subdivided and a plat of the subdivision is approved, filed, and recorded, all streets, alleys, thoroughfares, parks and other public areas shown on the plat are considered to be dedicated to public use. Sec. 40.15.040. Certified copy of plat as evidence. A copy of a plat certified by the recorder of the recording district in which it is filed or recorded as a true and complete copy of the original filed or recorded in the recording office for the district is admissible in evidence in all courts in the state with the same effect as the original. Sec. 40.15.050. Plats legalized. All plats filed or recorded with the recorder before March 30, 1953, whether executed and acknowledged in accordance with this chapter or not, are validated and all streets, alleys, or public thoroughfares shown on these plats are considered to be dedicated to public use. The last plat of the area of record on March 30, 1953, is the official plat of the area as of that date, and the streets, alleys, or thoroughfares shown on it are considered to be dedicated to public use. The streets, alleys, or thoroughfares shown on an earlier plat of the same area, or any part of it, that are in conflict with those shown on the official plat are considered to be abandoned and vacated. Sec. 40.15.060. Missing plats. When a filed or recorded plat is missing and a present record is not available except by reference to the missing plat, a counterpart copy approved by the platting authority may be filed and recorded as of the original date of the missing plat and after filing and recording has the same legal effect and notice as the original missing plat. Article 2. Control of Plats, Subdivisions, and Dedications. Sec. 40.15.070. Platting authority. (a) If land proposed to be subdivided or dedicated is situated within a municipality that has the power of land use regulation and that is exercising platting authority, the proposed subdivision or dedication shall be submitted to the municipal platting authority for approval. A subdivision may not be filed and recorded until it is approved by the platting authority. (b) The Department of Natural Resources is the platting authority in the areas of the state not described in (a) of this section. Sec. 40.15.075. Authority in the unorganized borough and third class boroughs. [Repealed, § 12 ch 40 SLA 1998.] Secs. 40.15.080 , 40.15.090. Procedure on plats; waiver. [Repealed, § 69 ch 69 SLA 1970.] Secs. 40.15.100 — 40.15.180. Information required; penalties; vacation and change of plats and streets. [Repealed, § 1 ch 118 SLA 1972.] Article 3. Applicability. Sec. 40.15.190. [Renumbered as AS 40.15.290 .] Sec. 40.15.200. Application to state and political subdivisions. All subdivisions of land made by the state, its agencies, instrumentalities, and political subdivisions are subject to the provisions of AS 40.15.010 — 40.15.200 and AS 29.40.070 — 29.40.160, or home rule ordinances or regulations governing subdivisions, and shall comply with ordinances and other local regulations adopted under AS 40.15.010 — 40.15.200 and AS 29.40.070 — 29.40.160 or former AS 29.33.150 — 29.33.240, or under home rule authority, in the same manner and to the same extent as subdivisions made by other landowners. Sec. 40.15.290. Definitions. [Repealed, § 12 ch 40 SLA 1998.] Article 4. Platting in Areas Outside Certain Municipalities. Sec. 40.15.300. Purposes of AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380. The purposes of AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380 are to provide the public with an improved mechanism for the recording of plats for subdivisions in areas of the state identified in AS 40.15.305 (a) and to ensure that provision has been made for access to those subdivisions. AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380 are not intended to provide the state with any authority to establish engineering or other standards for subdivisions beyond those expressly set out in AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380. Sec. 40.15.305. Examination of plats before recording. (a) The commissioner shall exercise the platting authority for the state except within a municipality that has the power of land use regulation and that is exercising platting authority. (b) The commissioner shall review and approve each plat under AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380 before the plat is recorded under AS 40.17 . The approval by the commissioner shall be affixed to the plat in the form of the following statement: PLAT APPROVAL This plat is approved by the commissioner of natural resources, or the commissioner's designee, in accordance with AS 40.15 . Commissioner Date (c) The recorder may not accept for filing and recording a plat for which the commissioner's approval is required under this section without the approval of the commissioner endorsed on the plat. (d) Within 45 days after a plat is filed, the commissioner shall approve the plat or return it to the applicant for modification or correction. Unless the applicant for plat approval consents to an extension of time, the plat is approved and a certificate of approval shall be issued by the commissioner if the commissioner fails to act within that period. The commissioner shall state in writing reasons for disapproval of a plat. (e) A recorded plat may not be altered or replatted except on petition of the state, a municipality, a public utility, or the owner of a majority of the land affected by the proposed alteration or replat. The petition shall be filed with the commissioner and shall be accompanied by a copy of the existing plat showing the proposed alteration or replat. The provisions of AS 29.40.130 and 29.40.140(a) apply to an alteration or replat submitted under this subsection. The provisions of (d) of this section do not apply to an alteration or replat petition, but the commissioner shall state in writing reasons for disapproval of the petition. (f) In the case of a vacation of a street, right-of-way, or other public area, the provisions of AS 29.40.140 (b) and 29.40.160(a) and (b) apply. When applying these provisions to land outside a municipality, the word “municipality” should be read as “state” when the context requires. (g) Notwithstanding another provision of AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380, the commissioner shall approve, without review under AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380, a plat under AS 38.04.045 that consists solely of land owned by the state. The commissioner may not charge a fee for the approval under this subsection. Sec. 40.15.310. Requirements for plat approval. (a) Each plat must show on its face a certificate of ownership, with the names and addresses of each owner listed. Each owner of record shall sign the certificate, and the signatures shall be acknowledged. (b) The surveyor preparing the plat shall sign and affix the seal of the surveyor. Sec. 40.15.320. Monuments. (a) In a subdivision with five or fewer lots, the existence of at least a 5/8 inch by 24 inch rebar and cap monument at controlling exterior corners of the subdivision shall be established by the surveyor. (b) In a subdivision of more than five lots, each interior corner shall be monumented with at least a 5/8 inch by 24 inch rebar and cap. (c) If a monument of record does not lie on the parcel or tract boundary, the plat shall reflect a boundary survey and tie to a monument of record. Sec. 40.15.330. Plat standards. The commissioner shall establish plat standards by regulation. Sec. 40.15.340. Engineering standards. Except for subdivisions of state land, the commissioner may not establish engineering standards for subdivisions. Sec. 40.15.350. Certified copy of plat as evidence. A copy of a plat certified by the recorder of the recording district in which it is filed or recorded as a true and complete copy of the original filed or recorded in the recording office for the district is admissible in evidence in all courts in the state with the same effect as the original. Sec. 40.15.360. Applicability. The provisions of AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380 do not apply to maps, site plans, or other graphic representations prepared for (1) the purpose of transferring a leasehold interest; the extraction of natural resources; or solely for the issuance of licenses or permits; or (2) disposing of land by aliquot part descriptions of 40 acres or more within surveyed sections provided that the least aliquot part unit shall be not less than a 1/4 1/4 section. Sec. 40.15.370. Regulations. The commissioner may adopt regulations to implement the provisions of AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380, but only those that are necessary and that are in accordance with the purposes stated in AS 40.15.300 . Sec. 40.15.380. Applicability to governmental bodies; right-of-way acquisition plats. (a) Except as provided in this section and AS 40.15.305 (g), AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380 apply to the state, its agencies, instrumentalities, and political subdivisions in the same manner and to the same extent that they apply to other landowners. (b) A plat for a subdivision created by the acquisition by the state, its agencies, instrumentalities, or political subdivisions, of a right-of-way, airport parcel, or land for a similar public purpose in an area outside a municipality that has the power of land use regulation and that is exercising platting authority, is subject only to the approval provisions of this section and any provision of AS 40.15.300 — 40.15.380 not in conflict with this section. (c) A right-of-way acquisition plat must contain the (1) location and name of the acquisition project; (2) approximate timetable for the acquisition and construction; (3) dimensions and area of the proposed tract, parcel, or parcels to be acquired and the remainder of the parcel or parcels; (4) name of the record owner or owners of the subject parcels; (5) signature and seal of the surveyor preparing the plat. (d) The commissioner shall review each right-of-way acquisition plat for compliance with this section. If the plat does not meet the requirements of this section, it shall be returned to the submitting agency with an explanation of the deficiencies. A plat for which the commissioner's approval is required under AS 40.15.305 may not be recorded under AS 40.17 without the commissioner's approval endorsed on the plat. (e) After approval by the commissioner, the original plat shall be filed with the appropriate district recorder within 30 days by the submitting agency. (f) The minimum monumentation requirements for (1) right-of-way acquisition subdivisions are a 5/8 inch by 24 inch reinforcement bar with appropriate identification cap set points from which the right-of-way may be defined, not exceeding 1,320 feet or, when line of sight permits, 2,640 feet; all recovered monumented property corners of records, the lines of which are intersected by a right-of-way acquisition, shall be monumented as part of the right-of-way plat, either on the right-of-way line or at the original monument position; (2) an airport parcel and land for a similar public purpose subdivision not defined by centerline shall be as provided in AS 40.15.320 . (g) If construction of improvements is scheduled to follow the right-of-way acquisition, the placement of the centerline monuments may be delayed until the improvements have been completed, in which case a statement designating the schedule for placing the monuments must be included on the plat. (h) The state, its agencies, instrumentalities, or political subdivisions may acquire or obtain conveyances, including dedication of lots or tracts of a right-of-way acquisition plat, before submittal of a right-of-way acquisition plat for approval by the commissioner. A right-of-way acquisition conveyance may be recorded before approval and recording of the right-of-way acquisition plat. Article 5. General Provisions. Sec. 40.15.900. Definitions. In this chapter, (1) “commissioner” means the commissioner of natural resources; (2) “monument” means a fixed physical object marking a point on the surface of the earth used to commence or control a survey or to establish a lot corner; (3) “plat” means a map or delineated representation of a tract or parcel of land showing the subdivision of land into lots, blocks, streets, or other divisions; (4) “street” means an access way in common use including all of the land lying within a dedicated right-of-way as delineated on a plat showing streets, whether improved or unimproved; (5) “subdivision” (A) means the division of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots by the landowner or by the creation of public access, excluding common carrier and public utility access; (B) does not include cadastral plats or cadastral control plats created by or on behalf of the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, regardless of whether these plats include easements or other public dedications; (6) “surveyor” means an individual licensed to practice land surveying in the state under AS 08.48 .