S-924                 _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5489

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senators McCaslin, DeJarnatt and Thorsness

Read first time 1/26/89 and referred to Committee on   Governmental Operations.

AN ACT Relating to short plat surveys; amending RCW 58.17.205; and reenacting and amending RCW 58.17.060.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 6, chapter 271, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 92, Laws of 1987 and by section 5, chapter 354, Laws of 1987 and RCW 58.17.060 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

          The legislative body of a city, town, or county shall adopt regulations and procedures, and appoint administrative personnel for the summary approval of short plats and short subdivisions or alteration or vacation thereof.  When an alteration or vacation involves a public dedication, the alteration or vacation shall be processed as provided in RCW 58.17.212 or 58.17.215.  Such regulations shall be adopted by ordinance and may contain wholly different requirements than those governing the approval of preliminary and final plats of subdivisions and may require surveys and monumentations and shall require filing of a short plat, or alteration or vacation thereof, for record in the office of the county auditor:  PROVIDED, That such regulations must contain a requirement that land in short subdivisions may not be further divided in any manner within a period of five years without the filing of a final plat, except that when the short plat contains fewer than four parcels, nothing in this section shall prevent the owner who filed the short plat from filing an alteration within the five-year period to create up to a total of four lots within the original short plat boundaries:  PROVIDED FURTHER, That such regulations are not required to contain a penalty clause as provided in RCW 36.32.120 and may provide for wholly injunctive relief.

          An ordinance requiring a survey shall require that the survey be completed and filed ((with the application for approval of the short subdivision)) at the time of filing the approved short subdivision with the county auditor.

        Sec. 2.  Section 12, chapter 293, Laws of 1981 and RCW 58.17.205 are each amended to read as follows:

          If performance of an offer or agreement to sell, lease, or otherwise transfer a lot, tract, or parcel of land following preliminary plat or short plat approval is expressly conditioned on the recording of the final plat or short plat containing the lot, tract, or parcel under this chapter, the offer or agreement is not subject to RCW 58.17.200 or 58.17.300 and does not violate any provision of this chapter.  All payments on account of an offer or agreement conditioned as provided in this section shall be deposited in an escrow or other regulated trust account and no disbursement to sellers shall be permitted until the final plat or short plat is recorded.