2010 Wyoming Statutes
Title 34 - Property, Conveyances And Security Transactions
Chapter 12 - Platting And Dedication

CHAPTER 12 - PLATTING AND DEDICATION

 

34-12-101. Application of provisions.

 

None of the provisions of this act shall be construed to require replatting in any case where plats have been made and recorded in pursuance of any law heretofore in force; and all plats heretofore filed for record, and not subsequently vacated, are hereby declared valid, notwithstanding irregularities and omissions in the manner or form of acknowledgment or judge's certificate.

 

34-12-102. Description of townsites and subdivisions; effect; duty to record.

 

Every original owner or proprietor of any tract or parcel of land, who has heretofore subdivided, or shall hereafter subdivide the same into three (3) or more parts for the purpose of laying out any town or city, or any addition thereto, or any part thereof, or suburban lots, shall cause a plat of such subdivision, with references to known or permanent monuments, to be made, which shall accurately describe all the subdivisions of such tract or parcel of land, numbering the same by progressive numbers, and giving the dimensions, and length and breadth thereof, and the breadth and courses of all the streets and alleys established therein. Descriptions of lots or parcels of land in such subdivisions, according to the number and designation thereof, on said plat contained, in conveyances, or for the purposes of taxation, shall be deemed good and valid for all intents and purposes. The duty to file for record a plat, as provided herein, shall attach as a covenant of warranty, in all conveyances of any part or parcel of such subdivisions by the original owners or proprietors, against any and all assessments, costs and damages, paid, lost or incurred by any grantee, or person claiming under him, in consequence of the omission on the part of said owner or proprietors to file such plat.

 

34-12-103. Contents of plat; acknowledgment; approval by county commissioners or governing body of cities or towns; filing and recording.

 

Every such plat shall contain a statement to the effect that "the above or foregoing subdivision of (here insert a correct description of the land or parcel subdivided) as appears on this plat, is with the free consent, and in accordance with the desires of the undersigned owners and proprietors", which shall be signed by the owners and proprietors, and shall be duly acknowledged before some officer authorized to take the acknowledgement of deeds. The plat shall meet the approval of the board of county commissioners if it is of land situated without the boundaries of any city or town or by the governing body of the city or town if situated within the boundaries of such city or town. When thus executed, acknowledged and approved, said plat shall be filed for record and recorded in the office of the clerk of the proper county; provided, however, that any such plat of land adjacent to any incorporated city or town, or within one (1) mile of the boundaries of any such city or town, shall be jointly approved by both the board of county commissioners of said county and the governing body of said city or town before same shall be filed and recorded in the office of the county clerk as aforesaid.

 

34-12-104. Townsites; effect of acknowledgment and recording.

 

The acknowledgment and recording of such plat, is equivalent to a deed in fee simple of such portion of the premises platted as is on such plat set apart for streets, or other public use, or is thereon dedicated to charitable, religious or educational purposes.

 

34-12-105. Townsites; recording fees.

 

When any person, company or corporation, shall file a townsite plat, or an addition to a townsite, it must be accompanied by a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for the purpose of purchasing an abstract book in which the lots and blocks must be described, this fee to include the filing and recording of said plat.

 

34-12-106. Vacation; generally.

 

Any such plat may be vacated by the proprietors thereof at any time before the sale of any lots therein, by a written instrument declaring the same to be vacated, duly executed, acknowledged or proved and recorded in the same office with the plat to be vacated, and the execution and recording of such writing shall operate to destroy the force and effect of the recording of the plat so vacated, and to divest all public rights in the streets, alleys, commons and public grounds laid out or described in such plat, and in case where any lots have been sold, the plat may be vacated as herein provided, by all the owners of lots in such plat joining in the execution of the writing aforesaid. No plat or portion thereof within the corporate limits of a city or town shall be vacated as herein provided without the approval of the city or town. No plat or portion thereof for which a subdivision permit has been obtained pursuant to W.S. 18-5-304 shall be vacated as herein provided without the approval of the county commissioners. No municipal or county approval under this section shall be arbitrarily or unreasonably withheld.

 

34-12-107. Vacation; streets and alleys.

 

Streets and alleys so platted and laid out, or which have been platted or laid out under any prior law of this state regulating private plats, may be altered or vacated in the manner provided by law for the alteration or discontinuance of highways.

 

34-12-108. Vacation; partial vacation; when permitted.

 

Any part of a plat may be vacated under the provisions, and subject to the conditions of this act; provided, such vacating does not abridge or destroy any of the rights and privileges of other proprietors in said plat; and provided, further, that nothing contained in this section shall authorize the closing or obstruction of any public highways laid out according to law.

 

34-12-109. Vacation; partial vacation; effect on streets.

 

When any part of a plat shall be vacated as aforesaid, the proprietors of the lots so vacated may enclose the streets, alleys and public grounds adjoining lots in equal proportions.

 

34-12-110. Vacation; duty of county clerk.

 

The county clerk, in whose office the plats aforesaid are recorded, shall write in plain, legible letters across that part of said plat so vacated, the word "vacated", and also make a reference on the same to the volume and page in which the said instrument of vacation is recorded.

 

34-12-111. Vacation; platting by county surveyor; acknowledgment and recording; conveyance and assessment by number.

 

The owner of any lots in a plat so vacated, may cause the same and a proportionate part of adjacent streets and public grounds to be platted and numbered by the county surveyor; and when such plat is acknowledged by such owner, and is recorded in the clerk's office of the county, such lots may be conveyed and assessed by the numbers given them on such plat.

 

34-12-112. Procedure after failure to make plat; acknowledgment; recording; costs.

 

Whenever the original owner or proprietor of any subdivision of any land, as contemplated in W.S. 34-12-102, has sold or conveyed any part thereof, or invested the public with any rights therein, and has failed and neglected to execute and file for record a plat, as provided in section one of this act, the county clerk shall notify some, or all, of such owners and proprietors by mail or otherwise, and demand the execution of said plat as provided; and if such owners or proprietors, whether so notified or not, fail and neglect to execute and file for record said plat for thirty (30) days after the issuance of such notice, the county clerk shall cause to be made the plat of such subdivision, and any surveying necessary therefor. Said plat shall be signed and acknowledged by the county clerk, who shall certify that he executed it by reason of the failure of the owners or proprietors named to do so, and filed for record; and when so filed for record, shall have the same effect for all purposes as if executed, acknowledged and recorded by the owners or proprietors themselves. A correct statement of the costs and expenses of such plat, surveying and recording, verified by oath, shall be by the county clerk laid before the first session of the county commissioners, who shall allow the same and order the same to be paid out of the county treasury, and who shall, at the same time, assess the same amount pro rata, upon all the several subdivisions of said tract, parcel or lot so subdivided; and said assessment shall be collected with, and in like manner as the general taxes and shall go to the general county fund; or said county commissioners may direct suit to be brought in the name of the county before any court having jurisdiction, to recover of the said original owners or proprietors, or either of them, the said cost and expense of procuring and recording said plat.

 

34-12-113. Procedure when ownership in severalty and description uncertain.

 

Whenever any congressional subdivision of land of forty (40) acres of land, or less, or any lot or subdivision is owned by two (2) or more persons in severalty, and the description of one (1) or more of the different parts or parcels thereof, cannot, in the judgment of the county clerk, be made sufficiently certain and accurate for the purposes of assessment and taxation without noting the metes and bounds of the same, said county clerk shall require, and cause to be made and recorded, a plat of such tract or lot of land, with its several subdivisions, in accordance with the provisions of (this act, and he shall proceed in such cases according to the provisions of) W.S. 34-12-112, and all the provisions of said section in relation to plats of towns, cities, and so forth, shall govern as to the tracts and parcels of land in this section referred to.

 

34-12-114. Warranty of accurate description; notice if inaccurate description; proceedings upon repeal.

 

Every conveyance of land in this state shall be deemed to be a warranty that the description therein contained is sufficiently definite and accurate, to enable the county clerk to enter the same on the plat book required by law to be kept; and when there is presented, to be entered on the transfer book, any conveyance in which the description is not, in the opinion of the county clerk, sufficiently definite and accurate, he shall note said fact on said deed with that of the entry for transfer, and shall notify the person presenting the same, that the land therein not sufficiently described, must be platted within thirty (30) days thereafter. Any person aggrieved by the opinion of the county clerk may, within said thirty (30) days, appeal therefrom to the county commissioners, by claiming said appeal in writing, and thereupon, no further proceedings shall be taken by the county clerk; and at their next session the county commissioners shall determine said question, and direct whether or not said plat shall be executed and filed, and within what time, and if the grantor in such conveyance shall neglect for thirty (30) days thereafter to file for record a plat of said land, and of the appropriate congressional subdivision in which the same is found, duly executed and acknowledged as required by the county clerk, or, in case of appeal, as directed by the county commissioners, then the county clerk shall proceed, as is provided in W.S. 34-12-112, and cause such plat to be made and recorded, and thereupon the same proceedings shall be had, and rights shall accrue, and remedies had as are in said section provided. Such plat shall describe said tract of land, and any other subdivision of the smallest congressional subdivision of which the same is a part, numbering them by progressive numbers, setting forth the courses and distances, and numbers of acres, and such other memoranda as are usual and proper; and descriptions of such lots or subdivisions according to the number and designation thereof on said plat, shall be deemed good and sufficient for all purposes of conveyancing and taxation.

 

34-12-115. Selling lots not platted prohibited.

 

Any person who shall dispose of, or offer for sale, or lease, any lots in any town, or addition to any town or city, until the plat thereof has been duly acknowledged and recorded as provided in this act, shall forfeit and pay fifty dollars ($50.00) for each lot, and part of lot sold, leased or disposed of, or offered for sale.