BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1319 HEARING: 4/19/10
AUTHOR: Pavley FISCAL: No
VERSION: 4/13/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
SUBDIVISION MERGERS
Background and Existing Law
The Subdivision Map Act controls how local officials
approve property owners' proposals to create smaller lots
out of larger parcels. The Map Act also describes several
methods for reversing that process, including reversions to
acreage, resubdivisions, local options, and parcel merger.
Reversion to acreage. Either the property owner or
the city or county can start proceedings to revert
subdivided land back to acreage. The statutory procedures
for a reversion require the city council or county board of
supervisors to hold a publicly noticed hearing and make
findings.
Resubdivision. As an alternative to reversion, a city
council or county board of supervisors can adopt an
ordinance that allows property owners to resubdivide their
property by filing new parcel maps or new tentative
subdivision maps. This procedure results in merging
formerly separate lots without reverting them to acreage.
Local option. Another alternative allows a city
council or county board of supervisors to adopt an
ordinance that allows property owners to merge contiguous
parcels that are under common ownership, requiring only the
recordation of a merger document.
Merger. The merger of previously subdivided parcels
is a formal proceeding that requires the city council or
county board of supervisors to adopt an ordinance that
spells out the conditions under which the city or county
can force the merger of contiguous parcels under the same
ownership. At least one of the affected parcels must be
undeveloped, developed with only an accessory structure, or
developed with a structure that straddles the property
lines. One of the parcels must meet at least one of seven
named conditions. Before local officials can order a
SB 1319 -- 4/13/10 -- Page 2
merger, there must be publicly noticed hearings.
At an interim hearing in 1986, the Senate Local Government
Committee reviewed "California's Hidden Land Use Problem:
The Redevelopment of Antiquated Subdivisions." Legislators
learned that local officials had created more than 400,000
parcels that were still vacant, but "too small, too remote,
or too dangerous to build on." Private investors explained
the difficulties they faced in assembling parcels and
resubdividing them into marketable lots. A subsequent
proposal to enact a bold "land readjustment law" failed,
but legislators made other statutory improvements.
Electrical utilities --- both investor owned and public
agencies --- want to expand their capacity to generate
electricity from renewable sources, including solar and
wind energy. Commercial scale alternative energy
generating facilities often require large pieces of flat
property near existing power lines. Conservationists want
to discourage alternative energy facilities from locating
on productive farmland or desert habitat. They want to
find alternative locations that would be suitable without
further disturbing habitat or agricultural land. Combining
the unbuildable lots in antiquated subdivisions could
create these sites.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 1319 allows a city council or county board of
supervisors to adopt a local ordinance that lets the owner
of contiguous parcels merge them, without complying with
the Subdivision Map Act's provisions, by recording an
instrument of conveyance or security.
Comments
1. Voluntary merger . Formal parcel mergers --- one way to
combine contiguous lots --- requires the city council or
county board of supervisors to hold extensive hearings and
make detailed findings. These sections in the Subdivision
Map Act implicitly assume that the affected property owners
will resist merger because they want to keep their parcels
separate for future sale or development opportunity. SB
1319 creates another voluntary method for property owners
SB 1319 -- 4/13/10 -- Page 3
to willingly combine their substandard lots into
developable parcels. No one can force property owners to
use the bill's new method if they don't want to.
2. Not the answer . Assembling enough parcels to develop
alternative energy facilities is a useful goal, especially
if it converts antiquated subdivision lots into productive
uses. Success will require a clear vision of what's
needed, access to sufficient credit and working capital,
sound real estate management, and plenty of patience. But
there are no obvious statutory obstacles. Public agencies
can use the Joint Exercise of Powers Act to form
confederations that can raise the needed funds. Local
officials can use the Community Redevelopment Law to
eliminate the blight caused by substandard and irregular
lots. The Subdivision Map Act provides several ways to
combine parcels. If legislators want to help local
officials and utilities find good locations for alternative
energy facilities, they should direct the California Energy
Commission to provide property owners and utilities the
needed financial help and technical assistance.
3. Not much . SB 1319 doesn't provide property owners with
any real opportunities that they don't have. The Map Act
already gives property owners at least three ways to
combine their lots: reversion, resubdivision, and local
option ordinances. Formal mergers attract property owners
resistance for good reasons: the procedures and standards
are more burdensome that the existing statutory
alternatives. Although SB 1319 doesn't harm private
property rights, it doesn't do much to help property owners
either.
Support and Opposition (4/15/10)
Support : The Nature Conservancy.
Opposition : Unknown.