Chapter 1 — SUBDIVISION OF LAND

This Chapter is adopted to regulate the subdivision of land and to require the provision of certain prescribed improvements which are needed as a consequence of the subdivision of land, and in order to achieve the following purposes:

• (a) To implement the General Plan of Tulare County, hereinafter referred to as the General Plan, which has been adopted by the Board of Supervisors as a long range, comprehensive guide to the physical development of the County.

• (b) To provide lots of sufficient size and appropriate design for the purposes for which they are to be used.

• (c) To provide streets of adequate capacity for the anticipated traffic, which will utilize them and to insure that they are designed so as to minimize safety hazards to vehicles and pedestrians.

• (d) To preserve the natural assets of the County and to create new beauty through skilled subdivision design, and to provide a means for encouraging orderly development of hillsides and mountainous areas in the County by relating the number and distribution of dwelling units to the topographical, geological, and hydrological conditions so that the terrain will suffer minimum disfigurement by scarring and that the danger to life and property by the hazards of fire, flood, water pollution, soil erosion and land slippage will be minimized.

• (e) To provide for water supply, sewage disposal, storm drainage and other utilities needed for the public health, safety and convenience.

• (f) To insure that the costs of providing rights of way and improvements for vehicular and pedestrian movement, utilities and public areas needed to serve new developments are borne by the subdivider rather than by the property owners of the County at large.

• (g) To insure that land is subdivided in a manner which will promote the public health, safety, convenience and general welfare.

The provisions of this Chapter are supplemental to the provisions of the Subdivision Map Act (66410 et seq. of the Government Code of the State of California) hereinafter referred to as the Subdivision Map Act.

• (a) For the subdivisions for which tentative and final maps are required to be recorded under the Subdivision Map Act, the Planning Commission of the County of Tulare, herein referred to as the Planning Commission, is designated as the advisory agency referred to in

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County of Tulare, CA

LAND USE REGULATION AND PLANNING

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the Subdivision Map Act.

• (b) For the subdivisions for which parcel maps are required to be submitted under the Subdivision Map Act and Article 15 of this Chapter, the Site Plan Review Committee, as established by 16.2 of Tulare County Ordinance 352, as amended, is designated as the advisory agency referred to in said requirements.

• (a) The Planning and Development Director shall be responsible for processing subdivisions, for notifying and furnishing information to interested persons and agencies; for coordination of review and decision making and the provision of information regarding the status of all applications and permits for residential developments, as required by Government Code 65913.3; for coordination, accumulation, and presentation of data to the appropriate advisory agencies and the Board of Supervisors; for making recommendations relating to the overall design of subdivisions; for assuring compliance with the provisions of this Chapter and the Subdivision Map Act; and for making recommendations with regard to soil conditions that may lead to structural damage to buildings.

• (b) The Public Works Director shall be responsible for making recommendations pertaining to road and utility locations and improvements, drainage improvements necessary to protect roads, easements, lots and adjacent properties; and making recommendations pertaining to the grading, stability, and erosion control of soil.

• (c) The County Health Officer shall be responsible for making recommendations pertaining to water supply, solid and liquid waste disposal, and other matters affecting the general health of the public.

• (d) The County Fire Warden shall be responsible for making recommendations pertaining to fire prevention and means for protection from fire.

• (e) The Public Works Director, County Health Officer, and County Fire Warden shall submit their recommendations to the Planning and Development Director for submission to the appropriate advisory agency and Board of Supervisors. Each of said officers shall be responsible for making necessary inspections, with regard to the matters for which they are responsible, to assure compliance with the requirements of this Chapter, the Subdivision Map Act, and the conditions of approval.

The definitions set forth in the following shall supplement the definitions set forth in the Subdivision Map Act and shall apply throughout this Chapter.

"Alley" means a way permanently reserved primarily for vehicular service access to the rear or side of properties which also abut on a street.

"Block" means a parcel of subdivided land bounded by streets or by streets and rights of way, unsubdivided lands, drainage channels or watercourses.

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County of Tulare, CA § 7-01-1035

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§ 7-01-1080

"Cul de sac" means a street which connects with another street only at one end and has a turnaround at the other end.

"Driveway" means a private vehicular access that serves no more than two buildings, with no more than three (3) dwelling units on one parcel, and any number of accessory buildings.

"Floodway" means the same as that term is defined in 7-27-1010 of Chapter 27 of this Part.

"Frontage street" means a street which is parallel to and adjacent to a limited access highway or freeway, and which provides access to abutting properties while relieving them of the effects of heavy volumes of fast, through traffic.

"Fuel break" means a strip of land, varying in width depending on the fire hazard condition, that separates a community or cluster of structures from the native vegetation. All of the vegetation in such a strip need not be removed but may be thinned out or landscaped to reduce the volume of fuel so that a fire burning into the strip can be more readily controlled.

"Greenbelt" means any facility or land use, designed for a use other than fire protection, which will slow or resist the spread of a wildfire and includes maintained parking lots, irrigated or landscaped areas, golf courses, parks, playgrounds, maintained vineyards, orchards or farmed fields where annual crops do not cure in the field or any other similar use which the body which takes final action on the tentative map determines to be sufficiently resistant to the spread of wildfire.

"Hammerhead ‘T’" means a street or road that provides a "T" shaped three-point turnaround space for emergency equipment, being no narrower than the street or road that serves it.

"Lot" means a parcel of subdivided land under one ownership used or susceptible of being used in accordance with the regulations of this Chapter and in accordance with the regulations of the applicable zoning ordinances of the County.

"Mountainous area" means any area which is above 1,500 feet elevation according to United States Geological Survey Datum and any area below 1,500 feet elevation if more than fifty percent (50%) of the area included in the tentative map is composed of natural terrain having slopes in excess of twenty percent (20%).

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County of Tulare, CA

LAND USE REGULATION AND PLANNING

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§ 7-01-1115

"Open space" means any land designated for use for public or private recreational activities such as parks, playgrounds, golf courses, camping or picnic grounds, water courses or lakes, and forest preserves, or any other similar use which the body which takes final action on the tentative map determines to be sufficiently similar to such uses. Land shall not constitute "open space" unless the body which takes final action on the tentative map has satisfactory assurance of the continued use of the property as open space for a reasonable period of time, but not less than twenty (20) years, by reason of the fact that fee title, or an easement, leasehold or managerial interest, has been or will be conveyed to the Federal or State Government or any agency or political subdivision thereof, or to an association of home owners.

"Pedestrianway" means a way designed for use by pedestrians which is not intended for use by automotive vehicles and which is not located within a street right of way.

"Planting strip" means a strip between the sidewalk, where provided, and the street right of way line, or between the pavement of a frontage street and the limited access highway or freeway which it parallels, which is intended to be planted with trees or otherwise landscaped.

"Reversed corner lot" means a corner lot the side line of which is substantially the continuation of the front property line of the first lot to its rear.

"Road" means a vehicular access to more than one parcel; vehicular access to any commercial or industrial occupancy on one or more parcels; or vehicular access to a single parcel with more than two buildings or four or more dwelling units.

"Roadway" means any surface designed, improved, or ordinarily used for vehicular access or travel.

"Safety area" means an area or block of land on which the flammable fuel has been removed or permanently modified so as to make the area safe from fire. Open spaces, centrally located within a subdivision, such as parks, golf courses, green meadows, lakes with landscaped shorelines or other similar recreation or green belt areas may constitute a "safety area."

"Selected flood line" means any one or more of the following flood lines, as they exist on September 29, 1986, and as they may be amended from time to time:

• (a) The flood line established pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance, designating that portion of the flood plain area of a river or stream which is within the F l Zone.

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County of Tulare, CA § 7-01-1115

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• (b) The flood line established on the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), the official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Administration has delineated both the areas of special flood hazards and the risk premium zones applicable to Tulare County pursuant to the National Flood Insurance Act.

• (c) The flood line established on the Flood Boundary Floodway Map, the official map on which the Federal Emergency Management Administration has delineated both the areas of flood hazard and the floodway pursuant to the National Flood Insurance Act.

• (d) The flood line established on the Designated Floodway Map, the official map adopted by the Reclamation Board of the State of California when acting within its jurisdiction. Where there is conflict between flood lines so established, the line which encompasses the most area shall be deemed the "Selected Flood Line" for the purpose of this Chapter.

"Sidewalk" means a way designed for use by pedestrians which is located within a street right of way.

"State Responsibility Area" means that area or those areas within the definition of a "State Responsibility Area" as set forth in the Zoning Ordinance of Tulare County, Tulare County Ordinance No. 352, as amended from time to time.

"Street" means a road as defined in this article.

"Stubbed street" means a street which connects with another street only at one end and is intended to be extended or continued to serve future subdivisions on adjacent lands.

"Thoroughfare" means a roadway except a driveway as defined in this Article.

"Turnaround" means a street or road, unobstructed by parking, which allows for a safe opposite change of direction for emergency equipment.

"Turnout" means a widening in a street or road to allow vehicles to pass.

The following definitions shall apply to the streets and roads referred to in this Chapter:

• (a) "Class 1 Road" means a cul de sac or minor residential street so designed that it cannot serve more than fifty (50) lots, and the primary function of which is to provide access to abutting property.

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County of Tulare, CA

LAND USE REGULATION AND PLANNING

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• (b) "Class 2 Road" means a minor residential street so designed that it cannot serve more than one hundred twenty (120) lots, and the primary function of which is to provide access to abutting property.

• (c) "Class 3 Road" means a minor residential collector street that has, or is expected to have, the dual purpose of providing access to abutting property and of carrying traffic from Class 1 and Class 2 Roads to Select System roads.

• (d) "Select System Road" means a State Highway, Federal Aid Secondary Route, or an arterial or collector road which is existing or proposed, which has been designated for inclusion in the Select System by the Board of Supervisors with the approval of the State Division of Highways.

Unless otherwise stated, all acreage and lot area figures used in this Chapter refer to gross acreage or lot area, which includes the entire parcel being considered, including all areas subject to easements for roads or other purposes. In any section where net acreage or lot area is referred to, any portion of the property which is subject to public or private easements that limit the free use of the property including, but not limited to, public and private road easements, and easements for irrigation and storm drainage ditches and pipelines, shall be excluded when determining the acreage or lot area.

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County of Tulare, CA § 7-01-1210

LAND USE REGULATION AND PLANNING

§ 7-01-1240