Process and timetable of subdividing land

[Josh E.]

Hey BP - How long does it take to subdivide a property? I'm debating putting an offer on a multi family duplex in Utah that has .4 acres of land. Every other lot around it is .2 acres, and all is zoned R2. It's also not a weird dimension, so cutting it in half would fit perfectly with the other lots around it in terms of shape and size. The subdividing of the land would make this a great deal; however if the county won't work with me, it wouldn't meet my criteria and I'd prefer not to buy. My goal would be to put it under contract and work everything out while I'm still in the due diligence process, and if I can't figure it out, step back from it before I lose earnest money. Is it realistic to try and work with the county to get this subdivided while I'm under contract? Or is that something that takes 6 months or longer to do? This would be my 3rd duplex, but first time trying to do something like this and thought I would seek some help.

[Chris Martin]

Better check with the county ASAP. Existing size doesn't mean squat if you are not compliant with land use in your UDO (Development Ordinance). They should be able to let you know feasibility in one day (like tomorrow, Monday).

[Jay Hinrichs]

Yup at Chris mentioned you will not get your answer on BP... or any other public forum.

simply waltz into the city or county planning department have them pull up the parcel and see what its zoned.. they usually have hand outs that delineate the process. And most jurisdictions have statutory time lines to process applications once they deem them complete..

I have done them in as little as 90 days in SC... and it can take 2 years in Portlandia and a decade in CA.. just depends.

[William Hochstedler]

That it's zoned R2 almost guarantees that it's within city limits.

Like @Jay Hinrichs & @Chris Martin say, just go to the city planner and ask about whether it's possible and a second lot is conforming and how long the process takes.  

From my experience in Utah, drawing a line and recording a new plat can be as fast as 60-90 days in most Utah cities.  

Developing the parcel may be another story and there's a lot of due diligence that needs to be done there.  Just because there's a four-plex next door doesn't mean that the city's infrastructure can handle 4 more units in that location.

But like the others have said, nobody on BP will be able to answer this question better than the city staff who's job it is to do just that.

[Josh E.]

Excellent, thank you all for your responses, I'll most certainly do that tomorrow. I appreciate your help!

[Jarod Hall]

Like others have said talk to the local jurisdiction. My experience in Utah is that 60-90 day to get the new plat finalized is optimistic. I have seen it done that fast, but I have also seen it take 6-8 months depending on a hundred factors that are out of your control.

[Chris Potter]

@Josh E., just curious whatever happened with your duplex deal.  Were you able to cut the lot in half and did you purchase the property?

[Josh E.]

Chris Potter by the time I made an offer the next day, they already had accepted another offer from someone else. That's how it goes in the Utah market right now I guess.

[Chris Potter]

@Josh E., man doesn't that make you sick!  It's so hard to know if you should just grab as much as you can or if the market is about to tip!!  I remember 12-15 years ago Utah's market really wasn't that awesome and hadn't been for quite a few years.  It is amazing what is going on now and hard to know if this will continue with all of the growth coming from out of state.  Too bad you missed that one, it sounded like a good one