Chowchilla Municipal Code Ch. 17.28 Parcel Maps

The design, improvement, and survey data for divisions of land requiring parcel maps and/or tentative parcel maps, and the procedure to be followed in securing official approval for said maps, shall be governed by the provisions of the Subdivision Map Act and by the provisions of this title.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A parcel map shall be filed and recorded for any subdivision for which a tentative and final map is not required by the Subdivision Map Act, except where the requirement for a parcel map is waived as provided by Sections 17.28.160 through 17.28.200 and except for subdivisions created by short term leases (terminable by either party on not more than thirty days' notice in writing) of a portion of an operating right-of-way of a railroad corporation defined as such by Section 230 of the Public Utilities Code or for land conveyed to or from a governmental agency, public entity or public utility, or to a subsidiary of a public utility for conveyance to such public utility for rights-of-way; provided, however, that upon a showing made to the planning commission based upon substantial evidence that public policy necessitates such a map, this exception shall not apply.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A lot line adjustment between two to four parcels shall be exempt from the requirements of this chapter, where the land taken from one parcel is added to an adjacent parcel and where the adjusted parcels comply with the requirements of the zoning ordinance as to area and dimensions and where a greater number of parcels than originally existed is not thereby created; provided the lot line adjustment is approved by the director following the filing by the applicant of an application therefor and the payment of an application processing fee in the amount designated by resolution of the council.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A. Filing. The provisions of Chapter 17.20 shall govern the filing of tentative parcel maps.

B. Application Form. Application for the approval of a tentative parcel map shall be made upon the form provided by the secretary of the planning commission. The application shall contain the following information:

1. A legal description of the whole parcel proposed to be divided;

2. Existing use of the parcel to be divided;

3. Existing structures on the property;

4. The proposed use of the parcels to be created;

5. Total areas for each of the proposed uses;

6. The existing and proposed zoning on the parcel to be divided;

7. The source of domestic water supply and the proposed method of sewage disposal;

8. Name, address, telephone number, and signature of the applicant and owners;

9. Certification by the owner that he is the owner of the property on the map as proposed for subdivision, has examined the map and consents to its submission;

10. A preliminary title report describing the status of all interests in the parcel to be divided shall be attached thereto.

C. Form of Tentative Parcel Map. A tentative parcel map shall be legibly drawn on reproducible material, to a scale and in a manner prescribed by the city engineer to best illustrate the proposed division of land.

D. Contents of Tentative Parcel Map. The following information shall be shown on the map:

1. Date of preparation, north point and scale;

2. The boundary lines of the entire parcel including the area to be divided, with dimensions, based on existing survey data or property description;

3. The proposed division lines with dimensions;

4. Identification of each parcel with a number;

5. All existing buildings and structures located within one hundred feet of all proposed boundary lines, together with their major exterior dimensions and the distance from the boundary lines, except when located on the opposite side of public rights-of-way;

6. The location of all existing wells, septic tanks and leaching fields located within one hundred feet of all proposed boundary lines, with the distance from the boundary lines, except when located on the opposite side of public rights-of-way;

7. The location widths, and names of all abutting roads;

8. The location, widths and names of any roads proposed by the divider;

9. Source of data from which the map was drawn;

10. Name, address and telephone number of the person preparing the map;

11. The width and location of all existing or proposed easements or rights-of-way within the land being divided or on its boundaries;

12. Land subject to flooding;

13. Watercourses, streams and drainage channels;

14. Such additional information as the city deems necessary due to unusual topography or drainage conditions.

E. Review and Approval of Tentative Parcel Maps.

1. The procedure for reviewing and approving tentative parcel maps shall be as set forth in Sections 17.20.080 through 17.20.150 for tentative maps.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

No subdivision that is governed by the provisions of this article shall be deemed valid until and unless it conforms to the applicable provisions of this title and has been so certified by the city clerk and referred to and filed with the county recorder.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

Failure to file a parcel map within twenty-four months after the date on which the tentative parcel map is approved or conditionally approved by the council, or any extension thereof, shall terminate all proceedings. Before a parcel map may thereafter be filed, a new tentative parcel map shall be submitted and approved. Upon written application by the subdivider filed prior to the expiration date of the tentative parcel map, an extension of not more than twelve months may be granted by the council.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A. In the event the applicant wishes to terminate his application prior to the recordation of the parcel map, he shall submit his request in writing to the secretary of the planning commission. Where an agreement to construct improvements has been executed, the council may release the applicant from his agreement to improve and release to him any surety bond or cash deposit which he may have posted upon completion of necessary abandonment proceedings.

B. In the event the parcel map has been recorded with the county recorder, a revised parcel map may be prepared in the manner prescribed in this chapter for an original parcel map, and the revised parcel map shall supersede any previous parcel map.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

The subdivider shall file five copies of the parcel map with the city clerk not less than sixty days prior to the date on which the map must be recorded. The format and content of the final map shall be as prescribed in the following provisions and the Subdivision Map Act:

A. The parcel map shall be prepared by or under direction of a registered civil engineer or licensed surveyor.

B. It shall be a map legibly drawn, printed, or reproduced by a process guaranteeing a permanent record in black on tracing cloth or polyester base film including certificates, except that such certificates 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;

C. The size of each sheet shall be eighteen by twenty-six inches. A marginal line shall be drawn completely around each sheet leaving an entirely blank margin of one inch.

D. The scale of the map shall be no greater than one inch equals one hundred feet; except that subdivisions with lots of two and one-half acres or greater may use a scale of one inch equals two hundred feet. The city engineer may require one inch equals fifty feet if complexity of detail so warrants.

E. When the parcel map consists of more than two sheets, a key map drawn to a scale shall be placed on sheet number one indicating the relationship among all sheets. The particular number of each sheet and the total number of sheets comprising the map shall be stated on each of the sheets, and its relation to each adjoining sheet shall be clearly shown.

F. The title of each parcel map shall consist of a parcel map number conspicuously placed on the sheet followed by the words "consisting of … sheets" (showing the number thereof) followed by the words "In the City of Chowchilla." There shall appear a description of all the property being subdivided, by reference to such map or maps of the property shown thereon as previously recorded or filed in the county recorder's office or previously recorded or filed with the county recorder pursuant to a final judgment in any action in partition, or previously filed in the office of the county recorder under authority of Chapter 3, Part 2 of Division 4 of the Business and Professions Code, or by reference to the plat of any United States Survey. Each reference, in such description, to any tract or subdivision shall be spelled out and worded identically with the original records thereof and must show a complete reference to the book and page of records of the county recorder. The description shall also include reference to any abandonment with the date, book, and page of records of the county recorder.

G. The exterior boundary of the land included within the subdivision shall be indicated by distinctive line and clearly so designated. The map shall show the location of each parcel and its relation to surrounding surveys. The location of any remainder of the original parcel shall be shown. If such remainder has a gross area of five acres or more, it need not be shown as a matter of survey, but only by reference to the existing record boundaries of such remainder.

H. A lot shall be shown in its entirety on one sheet. The parcel map shall particularly define, delineate and designate all parcels intended to be reserved for private purposes, all parcels offered for dedication for any purpose, and any private roads, with all dimensions, boundaries and courses clearly shown and defined in every case. Parcels offered for dedication other than for roads, alleys, pedestrian walkways, water lots, or easements shall be designated. The parcels shall be numbered consecutively and shall continue without omission or duplication throughout the entire subdivision. Each parcel containing an area of one acre or more, excluding public easements of record, shall have designated thereon the net acreage of such lot shown not less accurately than to the nearest one-hundredth of an acre.

I. Certificates and acknowledgments as are required by the Subdivision Map Act shall appear on the title sheet of the parcel map, unless their omission is permitted in the manner provided by the Subdivision Map Act.

J. A certificate, either as a separate document or a certificate on the parcel map, signed and acknowledged by all parties having any record title interest in the real property subdivided, as specified in Section 66445 of the Subdivision Map Act, consenting to the preparation and recordation of the parcel map is required. However, with respect to a division of land into four or fewer parcels, where dedications or offers of dedications are not required, the certificate shall be signed and acknowledged by the subdivider only; provided, however, where a subdivider does not have a record title ownership interest in the property to be divided, the subdivider shall provide the city clerk with satisfactory evidence that the persons with record title ownership have consented to the proposed division. For purposes of this section, "record title ownership" means fee title of record unless a leasehold interest is to be divided, in which case record title ownership means ownership of record of such leasehold interest; record title ownership does not include ownership of mineral rights or other subsurface interests which have been severed from ownership of the surface.

K. A certificate for the city clerk shall be required where dedications are offered and shall certify the action of the council to accept or reject the proposed dedications.

L. Evidence of title, acceptable to the county recorder, shall be secured from a title company indicating that, as shown by public records, the parties whose signatures appear on the map and consent to the recordation of the map are all the parties having a record title interest in the land being subdivided whose signatures are required by the Subdivision Map Act.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A. The survey data requirements for parcel maps shall be the same as the requirements prescribed for final subdivision maps in Sections 17.24.130 through 17.24.230.

B. A parcel map may be compiled from available records or filed data when sufficient survey information exists on filed maps and when the location of any boundary of the parcel map either by monuments or possessory lines is certain. If there is not sufficient survey information on filed maps and when the location of the boundary of the parcel map is uncertain, a field survey shall be made.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

The city engineer shall examine the parcel map, and it shall be certified by him if he finds that such map is substantially in the form required by this chapter, is in conformity with the conditions imposed by the council, is the same as the approved tentative parcel map, and that the map is technically correct and in proper form as required by this chapter and the Subdivision Map Act. Review of the parcel map shall be completed by the city engineer within twenty days after receiving the map or within such additional time as may be reasonably necessary.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

If the subdivider states that the required improvements, if there be any, or any part of them have been completed, they shall be inspected by the city engineer, or any other city officer designated for such purpose by the council, and if the same have been completed in conformity with the requirements of the council and applicable provisions of this title, he shall certify such fact on the parcel map or attach a certificate thereto so showing. If any of the improvements have not been properly completed, he shall attach his report thereof to the map.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A. Requirements for the construction of offsite and onsite improvements shall be noticed by certificate on the parcel map, or by separate instrument and shall be recorded on, concurrently with, or prior to the parcel map being filed for record.

B. Fulfillment of such construction requirements shall not be required until such time as a permit or other grant of approval for development of the parcel is issued by the city or until such time as the construction of such improvements is required pursuant to an agreement between the subdivider and the city, except that in the absence of such an agreement, the city may require fulfillment of such construction requirements within a reasonable time following approval of the parcel map and prior to the issuance of a permit or other grant of approval for the development of a parcel upon a finding by the council that fulfillment of the construction requirements is necessary for reasons of the public health and safety; or the required construction is a necessary prerequisite to the orderly development of the surrounding area. The findings and requirement shall be made at the time of approval of the tentative parcel map, and the requirement shall be made a condition of approval thereof.

C. The city and the subdivider may enter into a mutual agreement regarding the timing of the construction of required improvements. Such agreement shall be approved by the council at the time of approval of the tentative parcel map.

D. Conditions of approval requiring improvements by a time specific and agreements as to the time for the construction of required improvements shall be accompanied by security to guarantee performance as provided in Chapter 17.40.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

When the city clerk finds that the parcel map is substantially in the form required by this chapter, in conformity with the conditions imposed by the council in connection with the approval of the tentative parcel map, that, where required, the agreement and security respecting improvements have been approved and filed, and that all certificates of approval herein required have been made, he shall endorse on such map the final certification thereof.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

If dedications are offered or required, the city clerk shall transmit the parcel map or deeds of dedication to the council, which may accept or reject any or all offers of dedication by resolution. If the offer of dedication is shown on the parcel map, any acceptance and the date thereof shall be certified on such map by the city clerk. Dedications shall be completed prior to filing of the parcel map with the county recorder. If, at the time the final map is approved, any streets, paths, alleys, or storm drainage easements are rejected, the offer of dedication shall remain open and the council may by resolution at any later date, and without further action by the subdivider, rescind its action and accept and open the streets, paths, alleys, or storm drainage easements for public use, which acceptance shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

Upon final certification and acceptance or rejection of dedications, the city clerk shall deliver the map to the county recorder for recordation.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A subdivider may, at the time of filing of a tentative parcel map, file a request for waiver of the requirement for a parcel map. Such a request shall be filed with the secretary of the planning commission in the form of an application therefor furnished by the city.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

The council shall waive the requirement for the filing of a parcel map if, after consideration of the tentative parcel map, information submitted therewith, the report of the planning commission, and any such investigation as it may determine necessary for the purposes of making its decision, it finds that all the following conditions have been met:

A. That the subdivider has complied with the provisions of Section 17.28.030;

B. That adequate monuments exist in the field which appear of record in the office of the county recorder to permit the retracement of boundaries for each parcel to be created;

C. That no dedications of rights-of-way or easements are offered or required;

D. That all onsite and offsite improvements as required for parcel maps by Section 17.28.210 have been completed;

E. That the proposed division of land complies with requirements as to area, design, floodwater drainage control, sanitary disposal facilities, water supply availability, environmental protection and other requirements of the Subdivision Map Act and this chapter.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

The instrument evidencing the council's waiving the requirement for a parcel map shall be known as a waiver certificate, which shall be prepared by the subdivider and shall consist of the following form, matters and attachments:

A. A description of the boundary of the property proposed to be subdivided;

B. A property plat map prepared by or under the direction of a registered civil engineer or licensed land surveyor and legibly drawn, printed, or reproduced by a process guaranteeing a permanent record in black;

C. The location of all division lines and the exterior boundary of the land included within the subdivision shall be indicated by distinctive lines and clearly so designated;

D. The map shall be signed and sealed by the registered civil engineer or licensed land surveyor;

E. A certificate shall be signed and acknowledged by the parties having record title interest, consenting to the preparation and recordation of the waiver certificate;

F. The size of each sheet shall be eight and one-half by eleven or thirteen inches. An entirely blank margin of two inches shall be left at the top of each sheet.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

A. The waiver certificate shall be submitted to the city clerk for his examination prior to filing, together with all necessary fees for the recordation of waiver certificate and evidence that all fees as hereinafter required have been paid. The city clerk shall examine the certificate of waiver, and if he finds the same to be substantially in the form required by this chapter, and in conformity with the conditions imposed by the council in connection with the approval of the tentative parcel map, he shall accept the same for filing and shall then transmit the same to the city engineer.

B. Within twenty days after receiving the waiver certificate or within such additional time as may be reasonably necessary, the city engineer shall determine whether the waiver certificate is technically correct and conforms with the approved tentative parcel map. If approved, he shall so certify upon the waiver certificate.

C. After affixing his signature upon the waiver certificate, the city engineer shall deliver the certificate to the city clerk who shall present the certificate to the county recorder for filing. When the certificate is presented to the county recorder and is accepted by him, he shall file and index the same in the official records of the county.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

Waiver of the parcel map shall not preclude the payment of fees as provided by Chapter 17.40. The fees shall be calculated in the same manner as though a parcel map had been required and shall be paid prior to the filing of the waiver certificate with the city clerk.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

All divisions of land shall be designed, improvements constructed, and dedications required in conformance with Chapter 17.32.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)

Fees required for the filing, or as a condition of the recordation of a final parcel map, are governed by the provisions of Chapter 17.40.

(Ord. No. 492-18, § 2(Att. A), 12-11-2018)