Request By:
Ms. Nina Mooney
Bullitt County Clerk
Courthouse
Shepherdsville, Kentucky 40165
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of April 12 in which you relate that Bullitt County has had planning and zoning since the mid 60's, but has not until recently adopted subdivision regulations. Nevertheless, the previous county clerk required all subdivision plats to be approved by the planning commission and signed by the administrative officer, presumably appointed under KRS 100.277.
Since you have been serving as clerk, you have continued this practice of requiring subdivision plats to be approved before filing. Recently the fiscal court required the planning commission and local realtors to draft a set of subdivision regulations. These regulations were adopted at a special meeting on April 1, 1983. However, later the adoption of the regulations was postponed as far as effectiveness from April 1, 1983 until July 1, 1983. Under the circumstances, since the implementation date has been changed to July 1, 1983, you wish to know whether you should continue to have the subdivision plats approved as before or may you accept the plats without commission approval.
In your letter you refer to OAG 68-563 in which we held that subdivision plats did not have to be approved by the planning commission's administrative officer unless the county adopted subdivision regulations which is, of course, correct as the planning commission is not required to establish subdivision regulations since such adoption is permissive and not mandatory as held in OAG 72-31, copy enclosed. However, unless and until the planning commission itself adopts subdivision regulations, KRS 100.277 requiring the planning commission's approval before a subdivision plat can be recorded, has not been complied with.
As also pointed out in OAG 78-96, copy attached, there is nothing specific or even implied in KRS 100.273 that would authorize or require subdivision regulations adopted by a planning commission to be submitted to the fiscal court for approval or rejection before they become effective, as would be the case with respect to zoning regulations and amendments thereto under KRS 100.207 and KRS 100.211.
Thus, the date of the adoption by the fiscal court of subdivision regulations drafted but presumably not adopted by the planning commission has no legal significance. In other words, subdivision regulations become effective when and only when the planning commission adopts them by appropriate action. Thus, the implementation date for such regulations mentioned by you has no legal effect in our opinion. It all boils down to the fact that the fiscal court has no authority to approve or adopt subdivision regulations in order for them to become effective as such is the sole responsibility of the planning commission.
As also pointed out in OAG 82-389 and 82-561 (copies enclosed) , subdivision regulations adopted pursuant to KRS 100.273 have no retroactive effect.
Under the circumstances, you may accept for recording subdivision plats without the approval of the planning commission until the commission itself officially adopts subdivision regulations in accordance with KRS 100.273. After this point in time, approval of all subdivision plats must be given by the commission before they can be filed in compliance with KRS 100.277.