Terminology
The subdivision pages on this site are built from recorded documents, so they use the words those
documents use. Each one is defined here, in plain language, with what it does and does not tell you.
- Subdivision
- Plat
- Recorded plat
- Plat amendment
- Book and page
- Phase
- Dedication
- Lot vs parcel
- Metes and bounds
- PUD (planned unit development)
- New (stage)
- Under construction (stage)
- Established (stage)
Subdivision
A tract of land divided into lots for sale or building. On these pages a subdivision is the group of recorded plats that share one name — so a subdivision with twelve plats is one neighbourhood recorded twelve times, not twelve neighbourhoods.
Plat
The surveyed map that divides a piece of land into numbered lots, streets, and any land set aside for public or common use. In Utah a plat is prepared by a licensed surveyor and approved by the city before it can be recorded.
Recorded plat
A plat filed with the county recorder. Recording is what makes it official: from that date the lots on it can be described and sold by lot number rather than by a written boundary. The recording date is the date on these pages — it is not the date the city approved the plat, and not the date anyone broke ground.
Plat amendment
A later recorded instrument that changes something on a plat already on file — a lot line moved, lots combined or split, an easement altered. The original plat stays in the record; the amendment sits alongside it. An amendment states that it amends, and which plat, but almost never says why.
Book and page
The location of a recorded document in the county recorder’s books, written here as a five-digit number such as 07044. It is the address of the instrument itself. Two plats sharing one book and page are the same instrument; two plats with different book and page numbers are different instruments, however similar their names look. That is the test these pages use before treating two names as one subdivision.
Phase
A portion of a subdivision recorded as its own plat and usually built in sequence. Phase 1 and Phase 2 are separate instruments under one subdivision name. Phases are lettered (Plat A, Plat B) as often as they are numbered, and they are not always recorded in order.
Dedication
Land inside the plat boundary that the developer gives over to public or common use: streets, walkways, trails, detention basins, open space. Dedicated ground is part of the subdivision but is not a home lot, which is why these pages count it separately and leave it out of the lot totals.
Lot vs parcel
A lot is a numbered unit on a recorded plat. A parcel is any unit the county assesses for tax, which may be a platted lot, a dedicated strip, or unplatted land. Every lot is a parcel; not every parcel is a lot. Counts on these pages are addressed lots, so dedications and slivers are excluded.
Metes and bounds
A property description that walks the boundary by direction and distance from a fixed starting point, rather than citing a lot on a recorded plat. It is how land that was never subdivided is described — in Farmington, mostly the older ground at the centre of town.
PUD (planned unit development)
A planned unit development: a subdivision approved under zoning that trades conventional lot-size and setback rules for homes placed closer together with shared open space in return. A PUD usually carries an owners association that maintains the common ground.
New (stage)
A development stage used on these pages. The plat is recorded and the county’s improvement record shows no building on any lot yet. Lots exist on paper and on the ground; houses do not.
Under construction (stage)
A development stage used on these pages. Some homes are built and some lots on the recorded plats still carry no building in the county record. A neighbourhood in this stage has both resale homes and ground that has not been built on.
Established (stage)
A development stage used on these pages. Every lot on the recorded plats carries a building in the county record. Homes in an established subdivision change hands by resale rather than by new construction.