Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise
developReal estate development, or Property Development, is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others...
, usually via a
platA plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a subdivision. If it is used for
housingA house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
it is typically known as a
housing subdivision or
housing development, although some developers tend to call these areas
communitiesThe term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
.
Subdivisions may also be for the purpose of commercial or industrial development, and the results vary from retail
shopping mallA shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s with independently owned
out parcels, to
industrial parkAn industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development...
s.
History
In the United States, the creation of a subdivision was often the first step toward the creation of a new incorporated
townshipA township in the United States is a small geographic area. Townships range in size from 6 to 54 square miles , with being the norm.The term is used in three ways....
or
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
. Contemporary notions of subdivisions rely on the
Lot and Block survey systemThe Lot and Block Survey System is a method used in the United States and Canada to locate and identify land, particularly for lots in densely populated metropolitan areas, suburban areas and exurbs...
, which became widely used in the 19th century as a means of addressing the expansion of cities into surrounding farmland. While this method of property identification was useful for purposes of
conveyancingIn law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien....
, it did not address the overall impacts of expansion and the need for a comprehensive approach to planning communities.
In the 1920s, the
CoolidgeJohn Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
administration formed the Advisory Committee on City Planning and Zoning, which undertook as its first task the publication of
The Standard State Zoning Enabling ActThe basic foundation for planning and zoning in the U.S. was laid by two standard state enabling acts published by the U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1920s...
in 1926, model
enabling legislationAn enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it for authorization or legitimacy the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to carry out specific government policies in a modern nation...
for use by state legislatures. This was followed by publication of the Standard City Planning Enabling Act (SCPEA) in 1928. The SCPEA covered six subjects: (1) the organization and power of planning commissions, which was directed to prepare and adopt a master plan; (2) the content of the master plan; (3) provisions for a master street plan; (4) provisions for approval of all public improvements by the planning commission; (5) control of private subdivision of land; and (6) provisions for the creation of regional planning commissions.
Today, the drivers of residential community development are companies like
Toll BrothersToll Brothers is a Horsham, Pennsylvania based luxury homes builder.-Company Overview:Toll Brothers is a residential and commercial real estate development company with communities in 50 markets throughout 19 states...
, D.R. Horton, and
K. HovnanianHovnanian Enterprises, Inc. is a United States real estate company involved in every aspect of marketing homes, including design, construction and sales. The company works with individual detached housing as well as higher-occupancy dwellings, including townhouses, condominiums and retirement homes...
.
Definition
The SCPEA included the following definition:
- "'Subdivision' means the division of a lot, tract, or parcel of land into two or more lots, plats, sites, or other divisions of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale or of building development. It includes resubdivision and, when appropriate to the context, relates to the process of subdividing or to the land or territory subdivided."
Attached to this definition was the following footnote:
- "for the purpose of sale or of building development: Every division of a piece of land into two or more lots, parcels or parts is, of course, a subdivision. The intention is to cover all subdivision of land where the immediate or ultimate purpose is that of selling the lots or building on them. The object of inserting a definition in the text of the act is to avoid the inclusion, within the planning commission's control, of such cases as a testator
A testator is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of his/her death. It is any "person who makes a will."-Related terms:...
's dividing his property amongst his children, partners' dividing firm property amongst themselves on dissolution, or cases of that nature."
This definition, and its clarifying footnote, serves to underscore some important points about the legal nature of subdivisions. Importantly, a subdivision does not need to be sold, in whole or in part, for its resulting pieces to be considered separate parcels of land. A subdivision
platA plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
approved by a local planning commission, once recorded in a registry of deeds, is generally deemed to have created the parcels of land identified on the plat itself.
The problem of testamentary division of property was identified by the SCPEA in the footnote to the definition of subdivision, but not fully clarified by it. In some jurisdictions, a testamentary division of property does not constitute a legal subdivision for purposes of separate conveyancing of the "subdivided" parcels.
Similarly difficult is the notion of "building development" in the definition, and whether the identification of multiple construction sites on a single parcel of land constitutes a subdivision subject to the review and approval authority of the planning commission. Interpretations of this vary among American jurisdictions. Subdivision developers may use an architect's services only once, with the rest of the
tract housesTract housing is a style of housing development in which multiple similar homes are built on a tract of land which is subdivided into individual small lots...
using the same master template: the resulting houses all look similar as in the above photograph of Markham, Ontario.
Other nations
In the Philippines, subdivisions are areas of land that have been subdivided into individual residential plots. Whereas some subdivisions comprise exclusive gated communities, others are merely demarcations denoting a specific neighborhood. Some subdivisions may conduct autonomous security, or provide basic services such as water and refuse management. Most subdivisions are governed by associations made up of members who are residents of the subdivision. In the Philippines, subdivisions are also known as
villages.
In
AlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, subdivision is the dividing of a single parcel of land into two or more parcels, each to be given a separate title. Subdivision is also used for existing lot line adjustments. Notwithstanding a few exceptional circumstances, subdivision approval and endorsement by the local municipality must always be received before the subdivision can be registered at the Land Titles Office and titles issued (including bare land condominiums). Exceptions may occur with parcels of land that contain more than one quarter section, a river lot, a lake lot, or some settlement lots created prior to July 1, 1950.
See also
- Severance (land)
A severance is the act of severing a piece of land from a larger tract of land. The severed parcel of land becomes a separate lot.[Aka.] A hellish topic for an essay....
- Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
- Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
- Homeowners' association
- Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
- Levittown, New York
Levittown is a hamlet in the Town of Hempstead located on Long Island in Nassau County, New York. Levittown is midway between the villages of Hempstead and Farmingdale. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a total population of 51,881....
(US archetype of a planned community)
- Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
- Tract housing
Tract housing is a style of housing development in which multiple similar homes are built on a tract of land which is subdivided into individual small lots...
- Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
- Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
- Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
External links