Plumas County Municipal Code Art. 1 General Provisions

The provisions of this chapter are adopted for the purpose of adopting subdivision regulations in accordance with the provisions of the Subdivision Map Act of the State, set forth in Division 2 of Title 7 of the Government Code of the State.

(§ 61200, P.C.O.C., as amended by Ord. 664, and § 1, Ord. 77-211, eff. August 4, 1977)

The provisions of this chapter are adopted to regulate the subdivision of land within the County for the purposes of sale, lease, or financing in all instances except those which are exempt under the provisions of Sections 66411, 66412, 66424, and 66428 of the Government Code of the State.

(§ 61200, P.C.O.C., as amended by Ord. 664, and § 1, Ord. 77-211, eff. August 4, 1977)

The provisions of the Map Act shall govern all matters regarding the subdivision of land in the County not otherwise provided for in this chapter.

(§ 61200, P.C.O.C., as amended by Ord. 664)

The general policy governing the subdivision of land in the County shall be to permit orderly, reasonable, and beneficial growth, to discourage overdevelopment and ill-conceived subdivisions, to protect and enhance in every way possible the public health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens, and to conserve the outstanding resources of land, water, air, timber, and scenic beauty.

(§ 61201, P.C.O.C., as amended by Ord. 664)

For the purpose of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

(a) "Board" shall mean the Board of Supervisors of the County and shall have the same meaning as the terms "Legislative Body" or "Governing Body" as used in the Map Act.

(b) "County Surveyor", "County Engineer", and "Engineer-Surveyor" shall all refer to the registered civil engineer appointed or designated by the Board to act as the Surveyor or Engineer for the County in all matters not under the authority of the Road Commissioner. "County Surveyor", "County Engineer", and "Engineer-Surveyor" shall have the same meaning as the term "County Surveyor" as used in the Map Act.

(c) "Commission" shall mean the Planning Commission of the County.

(d) "Health Officer" shall mean the person appointed or designated to serve as the Health Officer or to the Director of Environmental Sanitation of the Health Department or other person when authorized to act as agent for the Health Officer.

(e) "Map Act" shall mean Division 2 of Title 7 of the Government Code of the State.

(f) "Planning Director" shall mean the person authorized to act as the administrative officer for the Planning Commission and as the professional planner for the County. The duties of the Planning Director may be combined with those of the Engineer-Surveyor or other County officer if so authorized by the Board.

(g) "Road Commissioner" shall mean the registered civil engineer appointed or designated by the Board to have authority over the County Road Department and The County road system.

(h) "Subdivider" shall mean a person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation who or which proposed to divide, divides, or causes to be divided real property into a subdivision for himself or itself or for others, except that employees and consultants of such persons or entities, acting in such capacity, shall not be subdividers as defined in this subsection.

(i) "Subdivision" shall mean the division of land as defined in Section 66424 of the Government Code of the State. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 66424 of the Government Code of the State, two (2) or more contiguous parcels, or units of land, which have been subdivided under the provisions of the Map Act and this chapter, or any prior law regulating the division of land, shall not merge by virtue of the fact that such contiguous parcels or units are held by the same owner; and no further proceeding under the provisions of this chapter shall be required for the purpose of the sale, lease, or financing of such contiguous parcels or units, or any of them; except that, if such contiguous parcels are not served by both a community water system and a community sewer system, or are not shown on a parcel map, record of survey, or subdivision map which has been approved by the Zoning Administrator, Commission or Board, and if any one of such contiguous parcels or units held by the same owner does not conform to the standards for minimum parcel size to permit its use or development under the zoning and subdivision provisions and the departmental subdivision regulations, and at least one of such contiguous parcels or units is not developed with a building for which a permit has been issued, then such parcels shall be merged for the purposes of this chapter.

(j) "Tentative map", "final map", "parcel map", "improvement", "design", and all other terms used in this chapter shall have the same meanings as used in the Map Act, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

(k) "Zoning Administrator" shall mean the Zoning Administrator of the County and shall have the same meaning as the term "Advisory Agency" as used in the Map Act as it pertains to the processing, review, and approval of tentative maps and plot plans.

(l) "Remainder", "not a part", and "other lands", as used in the Map Act and this chapter, shall mean that portion of the subdivider's contiguous lands which is not intended for immediate sale, lease, or financing. At the time of an application for a subdivision, the subdivider shall submit a statement of his intention to retain such "remainder", "not a part", or "other lands" for his personal use or for future subdivision pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, together with sufficient information to demonstrate that such lands comply with the normal requirements of this chapter for new parcels. Such lands shall be shown on the parcel map or final map as required by the Map Act, except as such requirement is otherwise waived pursuant to the provisions of Section 9-3.602 of Article 6 of this chapter.

(m) "Structure" shall mean anything for the establishment of which the Planning and Development Agency requires a building permit.

(n) "Greenbelt" shall mean a facility or land use designed for a use other than fire protection which will slow or resist the spread of a wildfire (as defined in Public Resources Code Section 4103 and 4104). Greenbelt may include parking lots, irrigated or landscaped areas, golf courses, parks, playgrounds, maintained vineyards, orchard, or annual crops that do not cure in the field.

(o) "Area of special flood hazard" shall mean an area of special flood hazard identified by the Federal Insurance Administration of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which area is the land in the flood plain within the County subject to a one percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

(p) "Flood" shall mean a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from:

(1) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;

(2) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source;

(q) "100-year flood hazard areas" shall mean any area identified in the General Plan as a flood hazard area, any area of special flood hazard, and any area susceptible to a flood that has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

(§ 61202, P.C.O.C., as amended by Ord. 664 § 2, Ord. 74-64, eff. September 19, 1974, § 1, Ord. 75-99, eff. May 8, 1975, § 1, Ord. 77-211, eff. August 4, 1977, § 1, Ord. 89-714, eff. August 31, 1989, § 1, Ord. 91-762, eff. October 3, 1991, § 8(Exh. A), Ord. 98-902, eff. September 10, 1998, and § 5, Ord. 05-1026, adopted March 29, 2005)