Title 40, Municipal Government

The board of adjustment shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal and shall give due notice thereof to the parties. It shall decide the appeal within a reasonable time. Upon the hearing, any party may appear in person or by agent or by attorney. The board may reve…

An appeal to the board of adjustment stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the board of adjustment after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with the officer that by reason of facts st…

Every decision of the board of adjustment is subject to review in the following manner: 1. A decision of the board of adjustment may be appealed to the governing body of the city by either the aggrieved applicant or by any officer, department, board, or bureau of the city. The ap…

If any building or structure is erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, repaired, converted, or maintained, or if any building, structure, or land is used in violation of this chapter or of any ordinance or other regulation made under the authority conferred by this chapter…

If the regulations made under the authority of this chapter require a greater width or size of yards or courts, or require a lower height of building or a lesser number of stories, or require a greater percentage of lot to be left unoccupied, or impose other higher standards than…

In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Street" includes streets, highways, avenues, boulevards, parkways, roads, lanes, walks, alleys, viaducts, subways, tunnels, bridges, public easements and rights of way, and other ways. 2. "Subdivision" …

Any municipality, by an ordinance of its governing body, may establish an official master plan of the municipality. Such ordinance shall make it the duty of some appropriate official or employee of the municipality to file for record immediately, with the recorder of the county i…

The governing body of any city may create, by ordinance, a planning commission to consist of not more than ten members to be appointed by the executive officer of the city with the approval of its governing body. In addition to the members appointed by the city, the planning comm…

The present members of the commission shall hold office for the balance of their tenure. Of the members of the commission newly appointed, pursuant to this chapter, the first member appointed, if one be appointed, shall hold office for the term of one year, if a second member is …

When duly authorized by the commission, members thereof may attend planning conferences or meetings of planning institutes or hearings upon pending legislation, and the commission may pay the reasonable traveling expenses incident to such attendance pursuant to a resolution sprea…

The planning commission shall elect its president for a term of one year from among the appointed members. The commission shall hold at least one regular meeting in each month. It shall adopt rules for the transaction of business and shall keep a record of its resolutions, transa…

The expenditures of the planning commission, exclusive of gifts, must be within the funding provided from revenues derived from the general fund levy authority of the governing body of the municipality. The governing body shall provide the funds, equipment, and accommodations it …

The planning commission shall make and adopt a master plan for the physical development of the municipality and of any land outside its boundaries which, in the commission's judgment, bears a relation to the planning of the municipality. Such plan, with the accompanying maps, pla…

In the preparation of the master plan, the planning commission shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of present conditions and future growth of the municipality with due regard to its relation to neighboring territory. The plan shall be made with the general pu…

Before adopting the master plan or any part of it or any substantial amendment thereof, the planning commission shall hold at least one public hearing thereon. Notice of the time of such hearing shall be given by one publication in the official municipal newspaper. The adoption o…

Upon receipt of an attested copy of the master plan or of any part thereof after the adoption thereof by the planning commission, the governing body shall hold a public hearing thereon. At least ten days' notice of such hearing shall be published in the official municipal newspap…

When the governing body shall have adopted the master plan of the municipality or any major section or district thereof, no street, square, park, or other public way, ground, or open space, or public building or structure shall be constructed or authorized in the area shown on th…

The planning commission shall: 1. Recommend to the appropriate public officials, from time to time, programs for specific improvements and for the financing thereof. 2. Consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, profession…

The planning commission may: 1. Promote public interest in and understanding of the master plan, and for that purpose, it may publish and distribute copies of the plan or of any part thereof or of any report, and may employ such other means of publicity and education as it may de…

All public officials, upon request, shall furnish to the planning commission, within a reasonable time after such request, such information as the commission may require in connection with its work.

Whenever the governing body of the municipality may deem it for the public interest, it may change or add to the official master plan by laying out new streets, improvements, or conveniences mentioned in this chapter or by widening, enlarging, closing, or abandoning existing stre…

The governing body creating the planning commission, by a general or special rule, may provide for the reference of any other matter or class of matters to the commission before final action is taken thereon by the governing body, or by the municipal officer having the final auth…

1. A city may, by ordinance, extend its regulation of subdivisions beyond its corporate limits to the same extent as a city is authorized to extend its zoning authority under section 40-47-01.1. 2. If two or more cities have boundaries at a distance where there is an overlap of e…

The planning commission or governing body may not require as a condition of approval of a request for approval of a plat the execution of an agreement by the owner of the property requesting the approval stating that the owner will not oppose the annexation of the property by the…

Whenever a planning commission shall have adopted a major street plan of the territory within its subdivision jurisdiction, or of a part thereof, and shall have filed a certified copy of such plan in the office of the recorder of the county in which such territory or part is loca…

Before exercising the powers referred to in this chapter, the planning commission shall adopt general regulations governing the subdivision of land within its jurisdiction to provide: 1. For the proper arrangement of streets in relation to other existing and planned streets and t…

Within thirty days after the submission of a plat, the planning commission shall approve or disapprove the plat. If the plat is not approved or disapproved within that time, the plat is deemed to have been approved, and a certificate to that effect must be issued by the commissio…

Before the approval of a plat, the planning commission and the governing body shall take into consideration the prospective character of the development of the area included in the plat and of the surrounding territory. The owner of the land or the owner's agent who files the pla…

Any owner, or the agent of any owner, of land located within the territory of a subdivision that is subject to the approval of a planning commission or governing body of a municipality who transfers, sells, agrees to sell, or negotiates to sell any land by reference to or exhibit…

The municipality shall not accept, lay out, open, improve, grade, pave, or curb any street, or lay or authorize the laying of sewers or connections in any street or right of way within any portion of territory for which the planning commission shall have adopted a major traffic s…

After the planning commission shall have adopted a major street plan of the territory within its subdivision jurisdiction, or of any part thereof, no building shall be erected on any lot within such territory or part, nor shall a building permit be issued therefor, unless the str…

After the adoption of a major traffic street plan by any planning commission, the jurisdiction of the planning commission over plats shall be exclusive within the territory under its jurisdiction, except as otherwise provided in section 40-48-18.

All statutory control over plats or subdivisions of land granted by other statutes, insofar as such control is in harmony with the provisions of this chapter, shall be deemed transferred to the planning commission, and insofar as such control is inconsistent with the provisions o…

After it has adopted any part of a master plan for any part of the territory within its planning jurisdiction, the planning commission may make or cause to be made, from time to time, surveys for the exact location of the lines of a street or streets shown in any portion of such …

The approval and adoption of a map as provided in section 40-48-28 shall not be deemed the opening or establishment of any street or the taking of any land for street purposes or for public use or as a public improvement, but shall operate solely as a reservation of the street lo…

The commission, at any time, may negotiate for or secure from the owner or owners of any lands described in any map releases of claims for damages or compensation for the reservations shown in the resolution adopting such map or agreements indemnifying the municipality or county …

At any time after the filing of a map of the kind described in section 40-48-28 for record with the recorder and during the period specified for the reservation, the planning commission and the owner of any land containing a reserved street location may agree upon a modification …

The resolution of the governing body adopting any street map provided for in section 40-48-28 shall provide that it shall not become effective for forty days, and shall provide further that it shall not become effective until a notice of the adoption of such resolution has been p…

Upon the receipt of any protests within the time fixed by the resolution and the notice, the governing body may cause the same to be examined by its engineer and by its attorney and shall set a time for the hearing of the same. Notice of the hearing shall be given to each protest…

Upon the hearing of any protest, the governing body may grant or deny the same except that it shall not deny the written protests of the owners of a majority of the area of property lying within any proposed street to be opened or of a majority of the owners of the frontage of a …

Whenever any resolution adopting a street map shall have become final, the city auditor shall record in the office of the recorder of the appropriate county a notice referring to the resolution by number and other appropriate description, including the date of its adoption, and s…

If any owner of property lying within any lines for the proposed opening and widening, or the opening and widening of any street, or between any future street line and the nearest public highway, shall claim that the adoption of any resolution or ordinance or the refusal to issue…

Any owner of property lying within any of the lines set forth or described as future street lines in any resolution adopted as provided for in this chapter who shall fail, within the time specified, to file a protest and claim shall be deemed conclusively to have waived any such …

A person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

A municipality may receive by gift, devise, or conveyance real estate within its corporate limits, or within five miles [8.05 kilometers] thereof, for use as parks or public grounds. Such real estate shall be vested in the municipality upon the conditions imposed by the donors or…

Any incorporated city by a two-thirds vote of its governing body, at a regular meeting of such governing body, may take advantage of the provisions of this chapter. The vote of the governing body on such question shall be taken by yeas and nays.