The Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 16 amended the county’s subdivision ordinance, clarifying one of six activities that are exempt from its regulations.

A type of land division that is exempt from the ordinance’s provisions — and thus does not require an application fee payment and approval by the planning board — is “the division of land into parcels greater than 10 acres if no street right-of-way dedication is involved.”

The quotation above is from section 153A-335(a)(2) of the state’s General Statutes, part of the law that permits counties to regulate the development of subdivisions.

The language in the county’s ordinance before August 16 read, “The division of land into parcels greater than ten (10) acres if no streets, roads, or right-of-ways are involved.”

An example of a land division that is exempt from the ordinance is the sale of 50 acres of woodland out of a 150-acre tract.

But several steps set out in the ordinance must be taken before the landowner/seller files a plat with the register of deeds. The ordinance provides:

“For the purpose of determining if a subdivision qualifies as exempt by the definition of a subdivision; any proposed subdivision will be reviewed by the planning board chairperson and another member of the planning board. After the courtesy review, reviewing members of the planning board will determine whether or not the subdivision is exempt.”

The next paragraph in the ordinance reads:

“Plats qualifying as exempt…shall have the stamp ‘THIS PLAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO SUBDIVISION APPROVAL’ signed and dated by the planning board chairperson or vice chairperson and another member of the planning board before filing in the Office of the Register of Deeds, inasmuch as determination must be made as to whether or not the resultant lots are equal to or exceed the standards of the County as shown in this Ordinance.”

The amendment the commissioners approved on August 16 was recommended by the planning board after finding that the ordinance language differed slightly from that of the state statute. It also determined the needed change was urgent.

The planning board is currently reviewing the 47-page subdivision ordinance and is expected to recommend several more changes for the commissioners to consider. The planning board has not set a date for its final report.