(1) 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 shall provide that a short plat and short subdivision may be approved only if written findings that are appropriate, as provided in RCW
58.17.110, are made by the administrative personnel, 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.
(2) Cities, towns, and counties shall include in their short plat regulations and procedures pursuant to subsection (1) of this section provisions for considering sidewalks and other planning features that assure safe walking conditions for students who walk to and from school.
(3) All cities, towns, and counties shall include in their short plat regulations procedures for unit lot subdivisions allowing division of a parent lot into separately owned unit lots. Portions of the parent lot not subdivided for individual unit lots shall be owned in common by the owners of the individual unit lots, or by a homeowners' association comprised of the owners of the individual unit lots.