Kern County Municipal Code Ch. 18.05 Authority, Purposes and Effect of the Land Division Ordinance

This title shall be known as, and may be cited and referred to as, the "Land Division Ordinance of Kern County."

(Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

The Land Division Ordinance of Kern County is adopted to promote and protect the public health, safety and welfare through the orderly regulation of land division throughout the unincorporated area of Kern County. Further, the purposes of the ordinance codified in this title are to:

A. Provide the economic and social advantages resulting from orderly land division;

B. Encourage and guide development consistent with the Kern County general plan, the Bakersfield metropolitan general plan, and adopted specific plans.

C. Provide lots of sufficient size and appropriate design so as to be usable for their intended purposes;

D. Provide for the preservation of environmental assets and natural resources, including land, water, air, minerals, vegetation, wildlife, silence, historic or aesthetic sites, and open space;

E. Ensure provision of adequate traffic circulation, utilities and services.

(Ord. G-7629 § 2, 2007; Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

A. This title shall apply, to the extent permitted by law, to all property in unincorporated Kern County whether owned by private persons, firms, corporations or organizations; by the United States or any of its agencies; by the state of California or any of its agencies or political subdivisions; by any county or city, including the county of Kern; or by any authority or public entity organized under the laws of the state of California. Any governmental agency shall be exempt from the provisions of this title only to the extent that such property may not be lawfully regulated by the county of Kern.

B. This title, and as may be subsequently as amended, shall not apply to any land division the tentative map for which was submitted prior to the effective date of this title; provided that, the submitted application and tentative map for such land division was complete prior to such effective date of this title. With respect to those tentative maps to which this title does not apply, the affected provisions of the title prior to its amendment shall continue to apply, including, but not limited to, those cases where an extension of time for recordation of such land division map was granted.

(Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

This title does not apply to, and no map shall be required for, any of the following:

A. Sale, lease, financing, conveyance, or other transfer of a whole lot, parcel or unit of land or two (2) or more whole lots, parcels or units of land, lawfully created under the provisions of the Subdivision Map Act or any prior law of the state of California regulating the division of land or created under the provisions of any ordinance of the county of Kern regulating subdivisions or other divisions of land, or the creation of which was not subject to any such provisions at the time of its or their creation;

B. Conveyances or leases relating solely to oil, gas or mineral rights;

C. Financing or leasing of apartments, offices, stores, or similar space within an apartment building, industrial building, commercial building, mobilehome park or trailer park;

D. Creation, sale, lease, financing, conveyance, or other transfer of a lot, plot, space, crypt or vault within a cemetery or burial park designed and used or intended to be used for the interment of human remains or animal remains;

E. Any division of land resulting solely from a judgment in an action of eminent domain in favor of the state, county, or any other political subdivision, governmental agency or public entity;

F. Any division of land resulting solely from a judgment in an action of eminent domain in favor of a public utility or other corporation having power of eminent domain, where the land is required for the purposes of providing a public utility service or other public service;

G. Any conveyance, deed, dedication, or offer of dedication of land, right-of-way or easement running to the state, county, or any other political subdivision, governmental agency or public entity which has agreed to accept the same;

H. Any conveyance to or from the state, county, or any other political subdivision, governmental agency or public entity;

I. Any conveyance to or from a public utility, conveyance of land used or intended to be used for public utility right-of-way purposes, or conveyance to or from a mutual water company;

J. Any conveyance to a subsidiary of a public utility for conveyance to such public utility for rights-of-way;

K. Short-term leases (terminable by either party on not more than thirty (30) days notice in writing) of a portion of the operating right-of-way of a railroad corporation defined as such by Section 230 of the California Public Utilities Code;

L. Any lease of agricultural land for agricultural purposes. For the purposes of this subsection, "agricultural land" means land that is permitted to be used for agricultural uses under the zoning ordinance, and "agricultural purposes" means the cultivation of food or fiber or the grazing or pasturing of livestock;

M. A boundary line agreement or exchange agreement to which the State Lands Commission is a party;

N. Subdivision of four (4) parcels or less for construction of removable commercial buildings having a floor area of less than one hundred (100) square feet;

O. Easements or rights-of-way for pipes, ditches, canals, drainage lines and surface drainage;

P. The leasing of or the granting of an easement to a parcel of land, or any portion or portions thereof, in conjunction with the financing, erection and sale or lease of a wind-powered electrical generation device on the land, if the project is subject to discretionary action by the planning director, planning commission or the board of supervisors;

Q. Any separate assessment under Section 2188.7 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code;

R. Subject to the requirements of Sections 66412(g) and 66412(h) of the California Government Code, the conversion of a community apartment project or a stock cooperative to a condominium;

S. The construction, financing or leasing of dwelling units pursuant to Section 65852.1 or second units pursuant to Section 65852.2 of the California Government Code; but this title shall apply to the sale or transfer, but not leasing of those units;

T. The leasing or licensing of a portion of a parcel, or the granting of an easement, use permit, or similar right on a portion of a parcel, to a telephone corporation as defined in Section 234 of the Public Utilities Code, exclusively for the placement and operation of cellular radio transmission facilities, including, but not limited to, antenna support structures, microwave dishes, structures to house cellular communications transmission equipment, power sources, and other equipment incidental to the transmission of cellular communications, if the project is subject to discretionary action by the planning director, planning commission or the board of supervisors;

U. The financing or leasing of any parcel of land, or any portion thereof, in conjunction with the construction of commercial or industrial buildings on a single parcel, unless the project is not subject to review under Chapters 19.54 and 19.80 of the Kern County zoning ordinance;

V. The financing or leasing of existing separate commercial or industrial buildings on a single parcel;

W. Any other mandatory exceptions to the applicability of the California Subdivision Map Act as provided in the California Subdivision Map Act.

X. Any division of land creating any parcel as a result of exempt public agency action described in this section.

(Ord. G-7629 § 4, 2007; Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

A. It is unlawful to subdivide or develop any parcel of land in a manner that does not strictly conform to the provisions of this title, the Kern County Ordinance Code, the Kern County general plan, and any applicable specific plan.

B. No department, official or employee of the county of Kern vested with the duty or authority to issue permits subject to the requirements of this title shall issue a permit in conflict with the provisions of this title; any permit issued in conflict with any provision of this title shall be null and void. Further, no permit shall be issued by any department, official or employee of the county of Kern for any lot or use subject to the requirements of this title on a parcel of land where the department, official or employee is aware that a violation of this title exists.

(Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

Any person, firm or corporation violating any provision of this title is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law under Chapter 18.80 of this title.

(Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

The regulations of this title and requirements or conditions imposed pursuant to this title shall not supersede any other regulations or requirements adopted or imposed by the Kern County board of supervisors, the Kern County fire department, the Kern County public health services department acting through its environmental health division, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Air Pollution Control District, the Kern County engineering, surveying, and permit services department, the Kern County water agency, or any other local, state, or federal agency that has jurisdiction by law over uses and development authorized by this title. All uses and development authorized by this title shall comply with all other such regulations and requirements. Where two (2) or more ordinances regulate the same use or activity, the more restrictive ordinance shall apply unless a variation has been specifically granted.

No application authorized under this title shall be processed if the property for which the application is submitted contains any violations of the Kern County Zoning Ordinance (Title 19 - Kern County Ordinance Code) until such time as all such violations are fully abated, unless processing the application is necessary to abate the applicable zoning ordinance violation.

(Ord. G-7629 § 5, 2007: Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)

(Ord. No. G-8035, § 61, 4-20-10)

If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this title is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this title. The board of supervisors declares that it would have passed this title, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any of one (1) or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional.

(Ord. G-6533 § 3 (part), 1998)