Regulations, Standards & Specifications

After several work sessions and public hearings with the Riley County Planning Board, the Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board, and the Riley County Board of Commissioners, the County has adopted the new Land Development Regulations encompassing zoning, subdivision, and floodplain regulations. The new regulations are effective January 1, 2022.

Riley County Land Development Regulations

Driveway Standards

The Driveway Standards are new standards that were created and reviewed by Public Works, Emergency Services, and Planning. The intent is to provide safe ingress and egress for driveways and adequate access for emergency responders to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the community. With the exception of agricultural uses which are exempt, all new residential development must meet these new standards.

These regulations are not retroactive and do not apply to existing driveways. These also went through the Riley County Planning Board review and public hearing process and were adopted by reference as a separate document. The Driveway Standards are in effect January 1, 2022.

Driveway Standards in the Unincorporated Area of Riley County, Kansas

City of Manhattan Development Code

On May 1, 1976, the City of Manhattan and the Riley County Board of Commissioners entered into an interlocal agreement, created by the Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board (MUAPC) to exercise planning functions, both within the corporate limits of the City and within a designated area outside the City within Riley County. Such designated area is that part of the unincorporated part of Riley County that lies between the city limits of Manhattan and the MUAPB boundary established in the agreement.

Through this agreement, the City and County agreed to cooperate with each other, and the MUAPB, in the creation and maintenance of subdivision regulations (Manhattan Urban Area Subdivision Regulations).

The zoning regulations for the City regulate all land uses within the city limit boundary (not the MUAPB boundary) and zoning regulations for Riley County regulate all land uses within the unincorporated area of the county. Thus, the subdivision regulations and zoning regulations were adopted as separate documents.                  Manhattan Urban Area Planning Boundary

The Manhattan Urban Area Subdivision Regulations were adopted by the City of Manhattan by ordinance, and by the Commissioners of Riley County by resolution. They have been incrementally amended several times since their inception, with the last major overall in October 2000.

Recently the City began the process of unifying and rewriting its development regulations (2017). The City engaged the services of Kendig Keast Collaborative to rewrite the zoning and subdivision regulations and combine them into one set of development regulations entitled the “Manhattan Development Code.”

Riley County must adopt the subdivision regulations portions only. City staff was able to extract those specific portions of the Manhattan Development Code, specifically Division 26-5, Subdivision Standards, Division 26-8, Procedures and Administration, and Division 26-9C, Land Division, for use in the unincorporated areas of the Manhattan Urban Area boundary.

These updated portions of the Manhattan Development Code went into effect on January 1, 2022.

Article 26-5. Subdivision Standards

Article 26-8. Procedures and Administration

Article 26-9. Land Development Review