BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1319|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1319
Author: Pavley (D)
Amended: 4/13/10
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 4-1, 4/19/10
AYES: Aanestad, Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
NOES: Cox
SUBJECT : Subdivisions: contiguous parcels: merger
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill 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.
ANALYSIS : 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
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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 merger,
there must be publicly noticed hearings.
This bill 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 Map Act's provisions, by recording an instrument of
conveyance or security.
Comments
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
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/20/10)
The Nature Conservancy
AGB:mw 4/20/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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