Santa Barbara County Municipal Code § 35-704 Runs with real property

Pursuant to article 2.7 (commencing with section 65870) of chapter 4 of division 1 of title 7 of the Government Code, which authorizes any county to adopt an ordinance for the imposition of covenants of easements, each county official or agency with authority to issue or approve a land use or development permit shall have authority to require recordation of covenants of easement to assure compliance with any conditions of approval and any other requirement of law. A covenant of easement required pursuant to this chapter may be for purposes including, but not limited to, parking, ingress, egress, emergency access, light and air access, landscaping, open space purposes, structures accessory to the aforementioned purposes, or a combination of the aforementioned purposes. For purposes hereof, "land use or development permit" shall include, but not be limited to, a grading permit, building permit, development plan approval, conditional use permit, coastal development permit, variance, modification, architectural design approval and all similar permits and approvals for the use or development of land.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

A covenant of easement created pursuant to this chapter shall only be effective if at the time of its recordation, all of the real property benefited or burdened by the covenant shall be in common ownership.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

The covenant of easement shall be effective when recorded and shall act as an easement pursuant to chapter 3 (commencing with section 801) of title 2 of part 2 of division 2 of the Civil Code, except that it shall not merge into any other interest in the real property. Section 1104 of the Civil Code shall be applicable to conveyance of the affected real property. A covenant or easement authorized by this chapter may not be terminated except as authorized by section 35-706 of this article.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

A covenant of easement recorded pursuant to this chapter shall describe the real property to be subject to easement and the real property to be benefited thereby and shall identify the approval, permit or designation granted which relied upon or required the covenant.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

A covenant executed pursuant to this chapter shall be enforceable by the successors in interest to the real property benefited by the covenant, the county and any person authorized to enforce it by the county.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

The covenant of easement (a) shall be recorded in the official records of the county, (b) shall contain a legal description of the real property, and (c) shall be executed by the owner of the real property. From and after the time of its recordation, the covenant shall impart notice thereof to all persons to the extent afforded by the recording laws of this state. Upon recordation, the burdens of the covenant shall be binding upon, and the benefits of the covenant shall inure to, all successors in interest to the real property.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

(a) Release. Any person may request a hearing for release of a covenant. An application for release shall be filed with the planning and development department on forms approved by that department, shall contain the information required by the department and be accompanied by all applicable processing fees. The planning and development department shall review said application and shall make a recommendation to the planning commission, which shall conduct a public hearing on said application. Said hearing shall be noticed in the same manner as public hearings conducted for the development upon which the covenant was required. Upon a determination that the restriction of the property is no longer necessary to achieve the land use goals of the county, the planning commission shall direct the planning and development director to record a release of the covenant.

(b) Appeal to Board of Supervisors. Any decision of the planning commission under this section may be appealed to the board of supervisors by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of the board and making payment of all required appeal fees within ten days after the decision of the planning commission.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)

The board of supervisors may, by resolution, establish fees for filing applications, processing covenants of easement and releases thereof and any other matters related to this chapter.

(Ord. No. 4225, § 1)