(a)        Any subdivision regulation adopted pursuant to this Article shall contain provisions setting forth the procedures and standards to be followed in granting or denying approval of a subdivision plat prior to its registration.

(b)        A subdivision regulation shall provide that the following agencies be given an opportunity to make recommendations concerning an individual subdivision plat before the plat is approved:

(1)        The district highway engineer as to proposed State streets, State highways, and related drainage systems.

(2)        The county health director or local public utility, as appropriate, as to proposed water or sewerage systems.

(3)        Any other agency or official designated by the governing board.

(c)        The subdivision regulation may provide that final decisions on preliminary plats and final plats are to be made by any of the following:

(1)        The governing board.

(2)        The governing board on recommendation of a designated body.

(3)        A designated planning board, technical review committee of local government staff members, or other designated body or staff person.

If the final decision on a subdivision plat is administrative, the decision may be assigned to a staff person or committee comprised entirely of staff persons, and notice of the decision shall be as provided by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160D-403(b). If the final decision on a subdivision plat is quasi-judicial, the decision shall be assigned to the governing board, the planning board, the board of adjustment, or other board appointed pursuant to this Chapter, and the procedures set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160D-406 shall apply.

(d)       After the effective date that a subdivision regulation is adopted, no subdivision within a local government’s planning and development regulation jurisdiction shall be filed or recorded until it shall have been submitted to and approved by the governing board or appropriate body, as specified in the subdivision regulation, and until this approval shall have been entered on the face of the plat in writing by an authorized representative of the local government. The review officer, pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47-30.2, shall not certify a subdivision plat that has not been approved in accordance with these provisions nor shall the clerk of superior court order or direct the recording of a plat if the recording would be in conflict with this section. ?(2019-111, s. 2.4; 2020-3, s. 4.33(a); 2020-25, s. 51(a), (b), (d).)