The Logan County Board of Commissioners will be taking a look at their subdivision regulations and how they affect domestic well permits in the county.

At issue is whether the county grants a subdivision request or a subdivision exemption request for what are called minor subdivisions. Those are subdivisions that don't require public infrastructure such as fire hydrants, streets, curb and gutter, and so on.

Minor subdivisions are defined as any subdivision containing no more than three lots fronting on an existing street, not involving any new street or road, or the extension of county facilities or the creation of public improvements; and not affecting the remainder of the original parcel or adjoining property. Major subdivisions contain four or more lots and generally require new streets or the extension of county facilities or the installation of public improvements.

Subdivision exemptions may consist of up to three lots, much like minor subdivisions, but must have at least 35 acres left over in the original parcel after the acreage of the new lots is deducted.  So, minor subdivisions are similar to subdivision exemptions but they are processed under our subdivision regulations as subdivisions, which requires more review of whether and to what extent more infrastructure is needed to provide service to those lots.

Most of the subdivisions the county deals with are those minor ones, such as when a land owner wants to divide off a 5-acre parcel for a rural homesite for a family member; those are generally handled with a subdivision exemption. The exemption system assumes that the property to be divided already has a well on it, and the new subdivision also will need a well.

The problem comes when someone wants to divide a parcel into more than two chunks. Commissioner Jane Bauder pointed out that if a landowner wants to divide a 10-acre parcel into more than two parcels under the exemption system, they can't put water wells on all three parcels. For that, they have to go through the subdivision process, not the exemption process, and that is a more involved.

County Attorney Alan Samber pointed out that using the subdivision system doesn't necessarily mean the landowners need to put in public infrastructure, only that they need to show that it is not needed.

The state needs to know how Logan County handles its subdivision process so it knows how to proceed on granting water well permits in rural areas. Some parcels of land in the state can obtain a limited supply of water from a well for use inside their residential dwelling only.

These types of well permits are issued for ordinary household uses in one single-family dwelling and do not allow for outside water – lawn or garden watering, for instance – or livestock watering. The rule of thumb here is whatever comes out of the well must go back down the drain.

Generally, individuals may obtain this type of permit if they own a parcel of land that was created prior to June 1, 1972, or the parcel was created by an exemption from the subdivision laws by the local county planning authority. There can only be one exempt well on the parcel. The household use only limitation may apply if the homeowner is drilling a new well, and the parcel of land is less than 35 acres and is not included in a court approved plan for water augmentation.

The commissioners asked Samber to look into rewriting the subdivision ordinance, a process that would involve the county's Planning and Zoning Commission.