Preliminary Plat Battle Against Platte County

Property Owners and Developers still have rights.  If your preliminary or final plat complies with the plat regulations of a city or county, it must be approved.  On August 28, 2011, the Missouri Court of Appeals ordered Platte County to approve a preliminary plat which subdivided the landowner’s property into five lots for commercial development.  The plat met all of the requirements of the subdivision regulations.  Yet when the matter was before the Planning and Zoning Commission, the members wanted to know the specific uses that would be on the property (not an item required to plat property) and denied the plat on the basis of four reasons that had no support for the denial in the Subdivision Regulations.  The Court of Appeals reaffirmed the long standing law in Missouri, that a plat must be approved if it complies with the requirements of the subdivision regulation.  So before you file your plat make sure to review your checklist.  To obtain the opinion in State ex rel. Alexander and Lindsey v. The Planning and Zoning Commission of Platte County, go to  http://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=48550.