Alameda Municipal Code § 30-78 Final Maps

A final map conforming to the approved tentative map shall be filed with the City Engineer for approval after all the required certificates on such map have been signed and, where necessary, acknowledged.

(Ord. No. 3369 N.S., 5-7-2024)

The form and content of a final map shall conform to the requirements of this section and Section 66433 et seq. of the Subdivision Map Act, and shall be the same as that of a tentative map, as set forth in Section 30-76.3 Tentative Map Form and Contents, except as follows:

a. Permanence. A final map shall be legibly drawn, printed, or reproduced by a process guaranteeing a permanent record in black on tracing cloth or polyester base film. Certificates, affidavits, and acknowledgments may be legibly stamped or printed upon the map with opaque ink. If ink is used on polyester base film, the ink surface shall be coated with a suitable substance to assure permanent legibility.

b. Monuments. At least one (1) exterior boundary line shall be marked with a standard City monument prior to recording the final map. Other monuments shall be set as required by the City Engineer at or on approved offsets from the following locations:

1. The intersection of street centerlines;

2. Beginning and end of curves or intersection of tangents on centerlines; and

3. Other locations as required by the City Engineer.

c. Abandonment of Streets and Easements. The filing of the final map shall constitute abandonment of all public streets and public easements not shown on the map provided that a written notation of each abandonment is listed by reference to the recording data or other official record creating these public streets or public easements and certified on the map by the City Engineer. Before a public easement vested in another public entity may be abandoned pursuant to this section, that public entity shall receive notice of the proposed abandonment. No public easement vested in another public entity shall be abandoned pursuant to this section if that public entity objects to the proposed abandonment.

d. Engineer's/Surveyor's Certificate. The final map shall contain a statement by the engineer or surveyor responsible for the preparation of the map that states that all monuments are of the character and occupy the positions indicated, or that they will be set in those positions on or before a specified date, and that the monuments are, or will be, sufficient to enable the survey upon which the final map is based to be retraced.

e. City Engineer's Certificate. The final map shall include a statement to be signed by the City Engineer confirming that they have examined it and found it to be technically correct, consistent with the approved tentative map, and in compliance with these subdivision regulations and the Subdivision Map Act.

f. Planning Director's Certificate. The final map shall include a statement to be signed by the Planning Director confirming that they have examined it and found it to comply with the tentative map as approved by the Planning Board, indicating the date of such approval, and indicating that the map complies with the General Plan and all other requirements of this chapter.

g. City Clerk's Statement. The final map shall include a statement to be signed by the City Clerk confirming that the City Council has received the map and determined it to comply with the tentative map, the Subdivision Map Act and the local subdivision ordinance, and accepted for dedication and maintenance any land, improvements, easements or utilities.

h. Additional Information. The City may require additional information to be recorded simultaneously with the final map. Whenever additional information is made by a separate document, there shall appear on the final map a reference to the separately recorded document. This reference shall be completed by the Alameda County Recorder according to Section 66468.1 of the Subdivision Map Act. Additional information may include the following:

1. Covenants, codes and restrictions.

2. Regulatory agreements.

3. Property maintenance agreements.

4. Utilities to be accepted for public maintenance.

5. Other documents or agreements required by as conditions of approval on the tentative map.

6. Additional survey and map information including, but not limited to, building setback lines, flood hazard zones, seismic lines and setbacks, geologic mapping, and archaeological sites. The additional information shall be in the form of a separate document or an additional map sheet which shall indicate its relationship to the final map, and shall contain a statement that the additional information is for informational purposes, describing conditions as of the date of the recording, and is not intended to affect record title interest. The document or additional map sheet may also contain a notation that the additional information is derived from public records, or reports, and does not imply the correctness or sufficiency of those records or reports by the preparer of the document or additional map sheet.

(Ord. No. 3369 N.S., 5-7-2024)

The final map shall be accompanied by the following data or reports as may be required by the City Engineer:

a. Title Report. A title report, showing the legal owners at the time of filing the final map, shall be submitted with the final map, accompanied by copies of all deeds and easement descriptions referenced in the report.

b. Guarantee of Title. A guarantee of title, in a form acceptable to the City Engineer and City Attorney, shall be issued by a competent title company to and for the benefit and protection of the City and shall continue up to the instant of recording of the final map, guaranteeing that the names of all persons whose consent is necessary to pass a clear title to the land being subdivided, and all public easements being offered for dedication, and all acknowledgments thereto, appear on the proper certificates and are correctly shown on the map, both as to consents to the making thereof and affidavits of dedication where necessary.

c. Deeds and Maps. The final map shall be accompanied by copies of deeds for all adjoining property and copies of all maps referenced in the title report.

d. Easements. The final map shall be accompanied by written evidence of rights of entry or permanent easements across private property outside of the subdivision that permit or grant access to perform necessary construction work or permit the maintenance of any public sewer, water, electric and/or other facility.

e. Improvement Plans and Agreement. Improvement plans and an improvement agreement, if applicable, shall accompany the final map.

f. Soils Report. If the Planning Director or City Engineer required a preliminary soils report with the filing of the tentative map, and if the preliminary soils report indicated the presence of critically expansive soils or other soil problems which, if not corrected, could lead to structural defects, the soils report accompanying the final map shall contain an investigation of each lot within the subdivision. Additionally, the soils report shall evaluate seismic hazards and recommend appropriate mitigation measures, prepared in compliance with the State Seismic Hazard Mitigation Act. The Planning Director or City Engineer may require additional information or reject the report if it is found to be incomplete, inaccurate or unsatisfactory.

g. Traverse Closures. Traverse closures for the boundary blocks, lots, easements, street centerlines and monument lines shall be submitted with the final map.

h. Hydrology and Hydraulic Calculations. Complete hydrology and hydraulic calculations of all storm drains shall be submitted with the final map if determined necessary by the City Engineer.

i. Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions. If required by the City, the submittal of the final map for a common interest development within the meaning of California Civil Code Section 1350 et seq. shall include the proposed declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions containing the provisions described in California Civil Code Section 1353, and all other governing documents for the subdivision. The submittal of the final map for all subdivisions other than a common interest development shall include any proposed declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions. All documents shall be subject to review and approval by the Planning Director, City Engineer, and City Attorney.

j. Electronic Copy. The final map shall be submitted in an approved electronic format as required by the City Engineer.

k. Other Reports. Any other data or reports deemed necessary by the City Engineer shall be submitted with the final map.

(Ord. No. 3369 N.S., 5-7-2024)

a. Notice of Intention to File Multiple Final Maps. Multiple final maps relating to an approved tentative map may be filed prior to the expiration of the tentative map if the subdivider, at the time the tentative map is filed, informs the Planning Director in writing of the subdivider's intention to file multiple final maps on the tentative map, or after the filing of the tentative map the subdivider and Planning Director concur in the filing of multiple final maps. In providing the notice, the subdivider shall not be required to define the number or configuration of the proposed multiple maps.

b. Filing of Multiple Final Maps. The filing of a final map on a portion of an approved tentative map shall not invalidate any part of the tentative map. Each final map that constitutes a part of the approved tentative map shall have a separate subdivision number, and shall be subject to any reasonable conditions imposed pursuant to Section 30-76.6.g. The public improvement agreement executed by the subdivider shall provide for the construction of improvements as required to constitute a logical and orderly development of the whole subdivision.

(Ord. No. 3369 N.S., 5-7-2024)

a. Review by City Engineer. The subdivider shall submit the final map, signed by all parties required to execute the statements on the map, to the City Engineer for review. The subdivider shall make any corrections and/or additions as required by the City Engineer until the final map meets the requirements of the approved tentative map and related City requirements.

b. Approval by City Council. Upon the City Engineer's determination that the final map meets the requirements of the approved tentative map and related City requirements, the City Council shall consider the map at its next regular meeting for which public notice can be given pursuant to Section 66451.3 of the Subdivision Map Act.

1. If any dedications are required as part of the subdivision, the certificate for dedications shall be included on the map, and the City Council shall accept, accept subject to improvement, or reject any offer of dedication. The City Clerk shall certify or state on the map the action by the City Council. Acceptance of offers of dedication on a final map shall not be effective until the final map or a resolution of acceptance is filed in the Alameda County Recorder's office.

2. If the Council determines that the final map is in substantial compliance with all conditions of approval attached to the tentative map, and in conformity with the approved tentative map, the requirements of this Article and the General Plan, it shall approve the final map.

3. If improvements required as conditions to the tentative map have not yet been completed when the final map is approved, the subdivider shall enter into a subdivision improvement agreement, guaranteed by adequate security, for the completion of the improvements. When the subdivider shall have filed with the City Clerk the agreement and bonds, or have made the deposit described in Section 30-86.8 hereof, such agreement and bond may be approved by the Council as to form and as to sufficiency.

4. Disapproval for failure to meet or perform the requirements or conditions of this Article applicable to the subdivision at the time of the approval of the tentative map shall be accompanied by a finding identifying the requirements or conditions which have not been met or performed.

5. A final map for a subdivision created from the conversion of residential property to condominiums shall not be approved unless the City Council finds that each tenant has been given one hundred twenty (120) days' notice as required by subsection 30-8.6.a. of this chapter and has also been notified of the right to acquire the unit as required by subsection 30-8.6.b. of this chapter.

6. Condominium projects and similar projects shall be approved only upon the findings required by Section 66427.1 of the Subdivision Map Act.

7. No final map shall have any force or effect until it has been approved by the City Council, and no title to any property described in any offer of dedication shall pass until the final map has been recorded in the office of the County Recorder.

c. Final Certification. When the City Engineer and Planning Director are satisfied that the final map meets the requirements of this chapter and the City Council has approved the final map, the Planning Director, City Engineer and City Clerk shall certify the map by signing the certificates contained on the final map.

(Ord. No. 3369 N.S., 5-7-2024)

Except as provided in Section 66493 of the Subdivision Map Act, upon certification of the final map and acceptance of any dedications by the City Council, the map shall be forwarded to the Alameda County Recorder or to a title company or other authorized agent that the subdivider has designated for transmittal to the County Recorder. If any part of the subdivision is subject to a lien for taxes or special assessments collected as taxes which are not yet payable, the final map shall be processed in accordance with Section 66493 of the Subdivision Map Act. If the subdivider dedicates property to the City, a certificate concerning the dedication as provided in Section 30-86.13 shall also be prepared and forwarded for recording, and a copy of the certificate shall be attached to the final map.

(Ord. No. 3369 N.S., 5-7-2024)