Within the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of San Antonio, the standards of the City of San Antonio Unified Development Code Chapter 35 (UDC 35) have been adopted (with some exceptions such as zoning requirements and others) and are applied by Bexar County.

Plats are schematic drawings of a property usually generated by suvreyors. Property plats are drawings of a individual property and are usually used to identify property lines and can include easements. These plats usually accompany a deed as an exhibit or are incuded with documents that are required for sale of a property. Property plats are not reviewed by the local government authority and do not fulfill the subdivision platting requirement of Local Government Code Chapter 232. Subdivision plats are specific types of documents that, when recorded, establish one or more new lots, street and drain rights-of-way, easements, and other lines of delineation (such as right-of-way dedications) on property that is divided into two or more parts or on a single lot.

Subdivision plats are required any time a property or lot is divided or subdivided into two or more parts and must be signed and sealed by a licensed professional engineer and a licensed surveyor, reviewed by the local government entity and approved signed by the reviewing authority (Comissioners Court or Executive Director of Infrastructure Services in Bexar County.) Recording of an approved plat establishes the new legal description of the lot or lots described on the subdivision plat. The process by which a subdivision plat is reviewed, approved and ultimately recorded is called 'platting.'