Napa County Municipal Code Ch. 17.46 Lot Line Adjustments

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 1331, § 3, adopted December 8, 2009, amended Ch. 17.46, in its entirety, to read as herein set out. Prior to inclusion of said ordinance, Ch. 17.46 pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 1194 § 10, 2002, Ord. No. 1194 § 10, 2002, Ord. No. 1202 § 5, 2002, Ord. No. 1210 §§ 3, 4, 2002, and Ord. No. 1223 § 2, 2003. See now Chapter 17.51. See also the Code Comparative Table and Disposition List.

The provisions of this section through Section 17.46.070 establish the procedure for approving lot line adjustments that meet the standards set forth in Section 17.46.040. The tentative approval of lot line adjustments and subsequent review and approval of deeds are ministerial acts and not subject to CEQA; except that the tentative approval of lot line adjustments are discretionary and subject to CEQA when the lot line adjustment requires the approval of a variance pursuant to subsection (C)(6) of Section 17.46.040 or any of the resulting parcels will be bisected pursuant to subsection (C)(6) of Section 17.46.040. In those cases where a lot line adjustment that is ministerial is processed concurrently with an application for a use permit or other discretionary approval involving some or all of the property involved in the lot line adjustment, the lot line adjustment application must be considered a reasonably foreseeable project under CEQA and the potential impacts resulting from approval of the lot line adjustment shall be evaluated as part of the cumulative analysis conducted on the underlying use permit or other discretionary approval. Evaluation of the environmental effects of the lot line adjustment application because it is a reasonably foreseeable project shall not however result in the approval of the lot line adjustment application becoming a discretionary act; it remains ministerial.

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009)

(Ord. No. 1346, § 1, 9-14-2010)

A. An application for a lot line adjustment shall be filed with the public works department in a form approved by the county surveyor.

B. Each application for a lot line adjustment shall be accompanied by all of the following:

1. Copies of the document(s) which establish each of the parcels involved in the lot line adjustment as a legal lot of record. If the parcels meet the criteria for a legal lot as described in subsections (A)(7), (A)(8) or (A)(9) of Section 17.02.320, a title guarantee shall be required. If the county surveyor determines that any of the parcels is not a legal lot of record, processing of the lot line adjustment shall be suspended until a conditional certificate has been applied for, issued, and recorded for each such parcel;

2. One copy of a preliminary title report, not more than sixty days old, that describes the nature and ownership of all current fee title interests, liens, easements and other encumbrances of record affecting each of the parcels involved in the lot line adjustment;

3. Three copies of a tentative lot line adjustment map accurately drawn to scale. Measurements shall be identified by feet, square feet or acres to the nearest tenth. The map shall be in the format and contain the information generally shown on the sample map approved by the county surveyor and available from the department of public works. The tentative lot line adjustment map shall specifically conform to all of the following:

a. All exterior and interior lines of the involved parcels shall be shown and shall be identified by course and bearing description, based on survey data, calculated data or information of record;

b. Proposed new lines and lines to be eliminated shall be so identified in written notation or by legend. Lines to be eliminated shall be dashed or otherwise drawn so as to be clearly distinguished from and subordinate to the proposed new lines;

c. All existing structures shall be accurately located on the map identifying the original parcels, together with their current existing uses;

d. The distance from each existing structure to the nearest boundary line of the resulting parcel on which that structure will be located following the lot line adjustment shall be noted;

e. The distance from existing wells, septic tanks, leach fields, and special design sewage disposal systems as defined in Title 13 of this code to the nearest proposed boundary line of the resulting parcels shall be noted;

f. The locations, purpose and width of all existing and proposed easements, streets and utilities shall be noted;

g. The approximate location of all watercourses and existing drainage structures, including the location of any floodway and the top of the bank, if discernible, shall be noted;

h. The recording information for any existing Williamson Act agreement affecting any of the parcels involved in the lot line adjustment shall be noted, and a copy of the agreement shall be provided with the application; and

i. All assessor's parcel numbers currently assigned to each parcel involved in the application shall be noted. In the case of newly recognized parcels, a copy of the vesting instrument, deed, or certificate reference shall be provided;

4. The signed consent and mailing addresses of all owners of recorded fee title interests and of all lienholders of record of each parcel involved in the lot line adjustment. For corporations, LLCs, LPs, companies, non-profits, associations, and partnerships, consent shall be evidenced by a copy of a resolution of the corporation's board of directors designating which corporate officer(s) shall have the power to execute on behalf of the corporation, or documentation showing which individual(s) in an LLC, LP, company, non-profit, association or partnership has authority to make decisions affecting real estate. If such owners and/or lienholders change after the application has been filed and before the lot line adjustment has been consummated by recordation of deeds, the signed consent of such new owners and/or lienholders shall also be filed with the director of public works or the application shall be deemed withdrawn; and

5. An indemnification agreement consistent with Chapter 1.30 of the Napa County Code together with a signed statement that the application is complete and accurate to the best of applicant's knowledge.

C. If an application for a lot line adjustment fails to contain any of the foregoing information, or if it is determined not to be in compliance with the Subdivision Map Act (Government Code Section 66410 et seq., Section 66412(d)), it shall be determined by the department of public works to be incomplete and the applicant shall be notified within thirty days of the date the application was received. The applicant shall be given thirty-five days following the mailing date of such notice to remedy the defects by filing an amended application, except that if such remedy requires the issuance of a certificate or conditional certificate, this time period shall be tolled while the application for such document is being processed. If the defect is not remedied within the foregoing time period, the application for the lot line adjustment shall be deemed withdrawn.

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009)

(Ord. No. 1379, § 131, 1-29-2013; Ord. No. 1401, § 1, 5-12-2015; Ord. No. 1465, § 22, 12-15-2020)

A. Upon receipt of the application, the county surveyor shall refer the matter for comments to the director of planning and any other public officers or public agencies required to be notified by applicable state or federal law. Except when required by state or federal law, no notice of the filing of the application need be given to any other person. Upon receipt of such comments, the county surveyor shall either deny or tentatively approve the lot line adjustment as provided in this section. The tentative approval may not include conditions of approval other than a deed condition consistent with subsection (E) of Section 17.46.060.

B. The denial or tentative approval of the application by the county surveyor shall take place no more than sixty days after the application was deemed complete, except when a longer period is needed to comply with any applicable state or federal law.

C. The county surveyor shall tentatively approve the lot line adjustment if it meets the following standards at the time the filed application is deemed complete, provided however that the county surveyor may impose conditions as part of such tentative approval to ensure that the standard established by subsection (E) of Section 17.46.060 will be satisfied prior to recordation of the deed(s) consummating the lot line adjustment. Applications complying with the following standards are deemed to conform to the county general plan, any applicable specific plan, and county zoning and building ordinances:

1. The lot line adjustment will result in the transfer of property between at least two, but no more than four, existing adjoining legal parcels. Parcels are adjoining only if each of the parcels proposed for adjustment abuts at least one of the other parcels involved;

2. A greater number of parcels than originally existed will not result from the lot line adjustment;

3. A nonbuildable parcel will not be made buildable by the lot line adjustment. For purposes of this standard, a lot is considered buildable if it meets all three of the following criteria:

a. The parcel contains a minimum two thousand four hundred square feet of net lot area as defined in Section 17.02.350;

b. The parcel has existing access rights to a public street as defined in Section 17.02.020; and

c. The parcel contains a building site, as defined in Section 17.02.080, which is a minimum of twenty-five feet wide and twenty-five feet deep;

4. Parcels that equal or exceed the minimum parcel size established by the applicable zoning district, or forty acres in the case of parcels located within the Agricultural Watershed Zoning District, will not be reduced by the lot line adjustment below the minimum size allowed by the applicable zoning district, or forty acres in the case of parcels located within the Agricultural Watershed Zoning District, unless a corresponding number of parcels involved in the lot line adjustment which are located within the same zoning district and are smaller than such minimum parcel size, or less than forty acres in the case of parcels located within the Agricultural Watershed Zoning District, prior to the lot line adjustment will be increased by the lot line adjustment to exceed such minimum parcel size, or forty acres in the case of parcels located within the Agricultural Watershed Zoning District. Closure calculations shall be required for any existing or proposed parcels at or within one-tenth acre of the minimum parcel size;

5. The resultant parcels will not be bisected or otherwise internally severed by a road previously offered for dedication to a public agency for public use and accepted by that agency, unless previously bisected or otherwise severed, except that this standard shall not apply if the proposed bisection or other severance will facilitate the elimination or significant reduction of a previously existing risk to the safety of users of the road or to the physical integrity of the structure of the road;

6. The resultant parcels will comply with all of the provisions of Section 18.104.110, unless compliance with such requirements is waived by variance granted pursuant to Chapter 18.128 (commencing with Section 18.128.010) in conjunction with the tentative approval of the lot line adjustment;

7. Each resulting parcel will have legal access to a publicly maintained road, either by frontage on that road or by a right-of-way having a minimum width of twenty feet. The right-of-way shall be reflected in a recorded deed, easement, a grant of reservation for future access, quiet title judgment, or dedication on a parcel or final subdivision map, a copy of which has been provided by the applicant to the county surveyor. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, this requirement shall not be construed as requiring the applicant to increase any existing access to twenty feet on property the applicant does not own. All required existing and proposed access shall be shown on the application map and will be confirmed in the field by the county surveyor or its designee;

8. No public utility easement shown on a final map or parcel map will be adversely affected by the lot line adjustment;

9. The size of any adjusted parcel that will utilize an individual sewage system will equal or exceed the minimum parcel size established by Section 13.32.040. For purposes of this subsection, the size of the adjusted parcel shall be computed by deducting from the gross area of the parcel that portion of the parcel which has been dedicated or offered for dedication to a public agency for public roadway purposes and utility easements. This approval standard shall not apply to parcels less than the minimum parcel size that have an existing legal individual sewage disposal system, provided the adjusted parcel is not being reduced in size and still has the required one hundred percent expansion area as required by Section 13.40.040;

10. If a parcel greater than ten acres will be reduced by the lot line adjustment to a size less than ten acres or if a parcel less than ten acres is being further reduced, exclusive of public road and utility easements, the reduced parcel must either be connected to a public sewer or, either be suitable for an on-site sewage disposal system meeting the requirements of Division II of Title 13 of this code, or meet the requirements for use of an on-site sewage disposal system on an abutting parcel as set forth in Section 13.28.050. The deeds effecting the lot line adjustment shall incorporate the requirements of subsection (B) of Section 13.28.050 as applicable; and

11. The transfer of property from one parcel to the adjoining parcel will not enable more parcels to be created through future subdivision of any of the adjusted parcels than could have been created through merger and resubdivision of the original unadjusted parcels.

12. The transfer of property from one parcel to the adjoining parcel will not create any new non-conformance with county zoning or building ordinances of any existing uses or improvements, on either parcel. For purposes of this approval standard, "new non-conformance" shall mean the addition of any new uses or structures to a parcel, or the new creation of inadequate setbacks, caused by the adjustment of lot lines, which as a result creates non-conformance with the county zoning and building ordinances.

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009; Ord. No. 1379, § 132, 1-29-2013; Ord. No. 1401, § 2, 5-12-2015)

A. The applicant may withdraw the application for lot line adjustment at any time prior to recordation of the deeds by filing a written request for withdrawal with the director of public works. Upon receipt of such request, all approvals and other actions and determinations of the county surveyor shall be deemed thereafter null and void.

B. Following tentative approval of a lot line adjustment, failure by the applicant to file the deeds with the county surveyor within the time period required by Section 17.46.060 shall be deemed a withdrawal of the lot line adjustment application by the applicant.

C. Failure by the applicant to record the deeds consummating the lot line adjustment within three hundred sixty-five days of the date of the tentative approval of the lot line adjustment by the county surveyor shall void all such approvals and be deemed a withdrawal of the application for the lot line adjustment.

D. The county surveyor may grant one forty-five-day extension of time for recording deeds. The request for the one time extension must be in writing to the county surveyor at a minimum of five working days prior to the expiration date for recording, and must state the reason for requesting the extension.

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009; Ord. No. 1379, § 133, 1-29-2013; Ord. No. 1401, § 3, 5-12-2015; Ord. No. 1465, § 23, 12-15-2020)

A. When a lot line adjustment application has received tentative approval from the county surveyor the applicant shall, within two hundred seventy-five days from the date of approval, provide the director of public works with an appropriate deed(s) consistent with the tentative approval and demonstrating compliance with all approval standards for lot line adjustments. In the event a tentative approval by the county surveyor is appealed and the appeal is subsequently withdrawn prior to a hearing, the time for filing the deed(s) shall be tolled and extended for a period equal to the number of days between the filing of the appeal and its withdrawal in writing. The deed(s) shall clearly describe each of the resultant parcels and shall contain the express statement of intent by the grantor to eliminate any underlying boundary lines consistent with the requirements of Civil Code Section 1093. No record of survey shall be required unless required by Business and Professions Code Section 8762.

B. Whenever any of the affected parcels are or will be subject to a lien for real property taxes or special assessments collected as real property taxes which are not yet payable, the applicant shall prepay to the treasurer/tax collector, or provide the treasurer/tax collector with security for the prepayment of, real property taxes and the current installment of principal and interest on all special assessments collected as taxes, which as of the date the lot line adjustment is recorded will be a lien against the property but which are not yet payable.

C. Upon receipt of the deed(s) required by subsection (A), the county surveyor shall review the deed(s) and authorize them to be recorded if the county surveyor finds that they are consistent with the tentative approval, including compliance with all approval standards for lot line adjustments. The approved deed(s) shall then be recorded by and at the expense of the applicant and one copy of the recorded deed(s) shall be transmitted to the county surveyor. The lot line adjustment shall be deemed final only when the deed(s) have been recorded by the county recorder.

D. If the county surveyor determines that the deed(s) submitted as required by subsection (C) are not consistent with the tentative approval, including compliance with the approval standards of the tentative approval, the county surveyor shall disapprove the deed(s) and notify the applicant of such disapproval in writing. Upon receipt of notice of disapproval of the deed(s), the applicant shall have the right to resubmit revised deed(s) to the county surveyor as long as such resubmission occurs before expiration of the period specified in subsection (A), exclusive of any time between submission of the deed(s) to the county surveyor and notification of the applicant that the deed(s) have been disapproved.

E. No recorded mortgage, deed of trust or other security interest will, after recordation of the deed(s) consummating the lot line adjustment, encumber only a portion of any of the resulting parcels, except where such encumbrance applies only to a lienholder's security interest in a leasehold exempt from the Subdivision Map Act pursuant to Government Code Sections 66412, 66412.2 and 66412.5.

F. Each deed required by subsections (A) and (C) shall include the following language in the express written statement of intent immediately following the legal description: "This parcel was involved in a lot line adjustment pursuant to which the boundaries of [insert number of parcels adjusted] parcels comprising [insert total acreage of parcels] acres were adjusted and is therefore subject to the provisions of Napa County Code Section 17.46.040(C)(11), as that Section may be amended or replaced from time to time."

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009; Ord. No. 1379, § 134, 1-29-2013; Ord. No. 1401, § 4, 5-12-2015; Ord. No. 1465, § 24, 12-15-2020)

The county surveyor shall send a notice of denial or a notice of tentative approval of a lot line adjustment under this chapter to the applicant at the last address of the applicant on file with the department.

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009; Ord. No. 1379, § 135, 1-29-2013; Ord. No. 1401, § 5, 5-12-2015; Ord. No. 1465, § 25, 12-15-2020)

The approval or denial by the county surveyor of a lot line adjustment or of deeds submitted to consummate a lot line adjustment that has been tentatively approved by the county surveyor is a final act not subject to appeal to the board of supervisors.

(Ord. No. 1331, § 3, 12-8-2009; Ord. No. 1379, § 136, 1-29-2013; Ord. No. 1465, § 26, 12-15-2020)