Lawrence Johns outlines land-division (subdivision) basics to Vernon County planning commission

Lawrence Johns presented a primer on land-division (subdivision) ordinances to the Vernon County planning commission, saying the rules are a planning tool to guide development and protect public facilities. He told the commission the overview was intentionally generic and offered to provide sample ordinances and data for follow-up.

"A good ordinance and I'm I'm gonna emphasize a good ordinance is fluid and can be written to a very strict or very loose depending on how you want to oversee the land of business in the county," Johns said during the presentation. He explained that ordinances can require roads, sidewalks, utilities and stormwater controls when local officials deem those public improvements necessary.

Johns noted Vernon County currently lacks a countywide land-division ordinance and contrasted local options used by neighboring counties, saying local governments may set minimum-lot or parcel thresholds at which county review and certified survey maps (CSMs) are required. He offered to circulate neighboring counties' ordinances and the state statute language the commission should reference.

The commission asked Johns for clarifications about how township zoning interacts with a county subdivision ordinance and about the precise numerical triggers in state statute; Johns said he would return with the statutory citations and more granular data on new address and structure points. The commission agreed to prioritize a county subdivision ordinance as the first drafting task and asked staff to assemble sample ordinances for the next meeting.