The local planning commission shall prepare and recommend to the governing authority of the city or the governing authority of the county for adoption regulations governing the subdivision of land within the municipality or unincorporated portion of the county respectively. Such regulations may provide for the harmonious development of the municipality and the county; for the coordination of streets within subdivisions with other existing or planned streets or official map streets; for the size of blocks and lots; for the dedication or reservation of land for streets, school sites, and recreation areas and of easements for utilities and other public services and facilities; and for a distribution of population and traffic which will tend to create conditions favorable to health, safety, convenience, prosperity, or general welfare. In particular, the subdivision regulations shall prescribe that no subdivision plan will be approved unless all land intended for use as building sites can be used safely for building purposes, without danger from flood or other inundation or from other menaces to health, safety, or public welfare.

Such regulations may include requirements as to the extent to which and the manner in which streets shall be graded, surfaced, and improved, and water, sewers, septic tanks, and other utility mains, piping, connections, or other facilities shall be installed as a condition precedent to the approval of the plat. Such regulations may provide that, in lieu of the completion of such work and installations previous to the final approval of a plat, the governing authority of the municipality or the governing authority of the county may accept a bond, in an amount and with surety and conditions satisfactory to it, providing for and securing to the municipality or county the actual construction and installations of such improvements and utilities within a period specified by the planning commission and expressed in the bond; and the municipality or county is hereby granted the power to enforce such bonds by all appropriate legal and equitable remedies. The regulations may also provide, in lieu of the completion of such work previous to the final approval of a plat, for an assessment or other method, including deposit of money by the subdivider in an escrow account, whereby the governing body or its agent is put in an assured position to do the work and make the installations and improvements at the expense of the subdivider. The governing authority of the municipality and the governing authority of the county are hereby given the power to adopt and to amend such land subdivision regulations after a public hearing thereon, at least fifteen days' notice of the time and place of which shall have been published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality or county.

Upon authorization of the governing authority, the local planning commission may make and certify to its governing authority the text of the recommended regulations governing the subdivision of land. The governing body of the county then may exercise the powers granted in this chapter and, for the purposes mentioned, create subdivision districts of such number, shape, and size as it may determine to be best suited to carry out the purposes of this chapter. The governing body of the county may adopt the recommended regulations for a specific subdivision district.