(A) Whenever a county planning commission or a regional planning commission adopts a plan for the major streets or highways of the county or region, no plat of a subdivision of land within the county or region, other than land within a municipal corporation or land within three miles of a city or one and one-half miles of a village as provided in section 711.09 of the Revised Code, shall be recorded until it is approved by the county or regional planning commission under division (C) of this section and the approval is endorsed in writing on the plat.

(B) A county or regional planning commission may require the submission of a preliminary plan for each plat sought to be recorded. If the commission requires this submission, it shall provide for a review process for the preliminary plan. Under this review process, the planning commission shall give its approval, its approval with conditions, or its disapproval of each preliminary plan. The commission's decision shall be in writing, shall be under the signature of the secretary of the commission, and shall be issued within thirty-five business days after the submission of the preliminary plan to the commission. The disapproval of a preliminary plan shall state the reasons for the disapproval. A decision of the commission under this division is preliminary to and separate from the commission's decision to approve, conditionally approve, or refuse to approve a plat under division (C) of this section.

(C) Within five calendar days after the submission of a plat for approval under this division, the county or regional planning commission shall schedule a meeting to consider the plat and send a notice by regular mail or by electronic mail to the fiscal officer of the board of township trustees of the township in which the plat is located and the board of health of the health district in which the plat is located. The notice shall inform the trustees and the board of health of the submission of the plat and of the date, time, and location of any meeting at which the county or regional planning commission will consider or act upon the plat. The meeting shall take place within thirty calendar days after submission of the plat, and no meeting shall be held until at least seven calendar days have passed from the date the planning commission sent the notice.

The approval of the county or regional planning commission, the commission's conditional approval as described in this division, or the refusal of the commission to approve shall be endorsed on the plat within thirty calendar days after the submission of the plat for approval under this division or within such further time as the applying party may agree to in writing; otherwise that plat is deemed approved, and the certificate of the commission as to the date of the submission of the plat for approval under this division and the failure to take action on it within that time shall be sufficient in lieu of the written endorsement or evidence of approval required by this division.

A county or regional planning commission may grant conditional approval under this division to a plat by requiring a person submitting the plat to alter the plat or any part of it, within a specified period after the end of the thirty calendar days, as a condition for final approval under this division. Once all the conditions have been met within the specified period, the commission shall cause its final approval under this division to be endorsed on the plat. No plat shall be recorded until it is endorsed with the commission's final or unconditional approval under this division.

The ground of refusal of approval of any plat submitted under this division, including citation of or reference to the rule violated by the plat, shall be stated upon the record of the county or regional planning commission. Within sixty calendar days after the refusal under this division, the person submitting any plat that the commission refuses to approve under this division may file a petition in the court of common pleas of the proper county, and the proceedings on the petition shall be governed by section 711.09 of the Revised Code as in the case of the refusal of a planning authority to approve a plat. A board of township trustees is not entitled to appeal a decision of the commission under this division.

A county or regional planning commission shall adopt general rules, of uniform application, governing plats and subdivisions of land falling within its jurisdiction, to secure and provide for the proper arrangement of streets or other highways in relation to existing or planned streets or highways or to the county or regional plan, for adequate and convenient open spaces for traffic, utilities, access of firefighting apparatus, recreation, light, and air, and for the avoidance of congestion of population. The rules may provide for their modification by the commission in specific cases where unusual topographical and other exceptional conditions require the modification. The rules may require the board of health to review and comment on a plat before the commission acts upon it and also may require proof of compliance with any applicable zoning resolutions, and with sewage treatment rules adopted under section 3718.02 of the Revised Code, as a basis for approval of a plat.

Before adoption of its rules or amendment of its rules, the commission shall hold a public hearing on the adoption or amendment. Notice of the public hearing shall be sent to all townships in the county or region by regular mail or electronic mail at least thirty business days before the hearing. No county or regional planning commission shall adopt any rules requiring actual construction of streets or other improvements or facilities or assurance of that construction as a condition precedent to the approval of a plat of a subdivision unless the requirements have first been adopted by the board of county commissioners after a public hearing. A copy of the rules shall be certified by the planning commission to the county recorders of the appropriate counties.

After a county or regional street or highway plan has been adopted as provided in this section, the approval of plats and subdivisions provided for in this section shall be in lieu of any approvals provided for in other sections of the Revised Code, insofar as the territory within the approving jurisdiction of the county or regional planning commission, as provided in this section, is concerned. Approval of a plat shall not be an acceptance by the public of the dedication of any street, highway, or other way or open space shown upon the plat.

No county or regional planning commission shall require a person submitting a plat to alter the plat or any part of it as long as the plat is in accordance with the general rules governing plats and subdivisions of land, adopted by the commission as provided in this section, in effect at the time the plat is submitted.

A county or regional planning commission and a city or village planning commission, or platting commissioner or legislative authority of a village, with subdivision regulation jurisdiction over unincorporated territory within the county or region may cooperate and agree by written agreement that the approval of a plat by the city or village planning commission, or platting commissioner or legislative authority of a village, as provided in section 711.09 of the Revised Code, shall be conditioned upon receiving advice from or approval by the county or regional planning commission.

(D) As used in this section, "business day" means a day of the week excluding Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday as defined in section 1.14 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.51, SB 110, §1, eff. 9/17/2010.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §640.22, eff. 7/1/2010.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.12, HB 363, §4, eff. 12/22/2009.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 7/17/2009.

Effective Date: 06-14-2000; 04-15-2005; 05-06-2005; 12-20-2005; 2007 HB119 09-29-2007; 2007 HB119 § 120.03 07-01-2009 .