Subdivision Name Reservation and Approval
Subdivision names are not considered “taken” until the plat is recorded. However, to insure that the plat name is consistent through the entire development process, a particular owner (or his agent) reserves the name for a particular project in a particular location. The name reservation is honored only as long as that particular plat is still going through the approval process. Once the plat is recorded, the owner as shown in the Certificate of Owners has what amounts to a copyright on the subdivision name. Any additional use of that name must be by the record owner of the first phase, and must be adjacent to the original development, or have a common, adjacent corner that was part of the original parcel.
If the honor system of reserving subdivision names in process is abused, more requirements may be imposed.
Contact the Ada County Surveyor (Jerry Hastings at 287-7912) to reserve a subdivision name. Please note the example below for required elements.
Review
The following information is checked:
· Is the name of the Subdivision on the submitted plat in the online Reserved Subdivision Name database? If there is any question, we go back to our hardcopy of the name reservation request and the approval letter.
· Does the name of the person that reserved the name, match the name of the person or firm that signed the Certificate of Owners? If it does not, is there any indication that it was reserved for this project? This is where an identification of the owner, or a better description of the location of a project in a reservation request letter would be a good idea.
Occasionally a plat will come through that was started by a land planning firm, and taken to an engineering firm for completion. The engineering firm does not have an in-house surveyor, so the plat was sub-contracted out to a survey firm. To further complicate issues, neither the land-planning firm, nor the engineering firm have any identification on the plat. The surveyor does not have a copy of the name reservation. To top it off, the original owner sold the project to a corporation to finish the infrastructure and development. (Stop me if this sounds familiar). How do we know if this subdivision was the same project that the name was reserved for?
· If this is a phased development, is the signer or owner shown on the Certificate of Owners the same person or firm, as the signer or owner shown on the previous Certificate of Owners? If they are not, was a copy of a recorded consent to use the name provided with the submittal?
· Is this next phase connected to the first phase with at least one common boundary point?
Last revised: 1/10/2008 2:36:10 PM
An Example of a Subdivision Name Reservation.
· The name of the owner/developer is included.
· The name of the Engineering firm is included.
· The location of the property is noted.
