California Surveyors Forums

I am asking this question to help prove a debate with a county official...

When a Certificate of Compliance(CC) is issued for a parcel of land that was legally created by deed in the 1950's, is the date of creation of that parcel the date of issuance of the CC, or the date the parcel was transferred separately back in the 1950's?

It is my understand that the Certificate of Compliance is merely the official recognition of an existing status. IE the parcel was legally created at some point in the past (1950's), its status as a parcel that can be sold separately was put into question (subsequent common ownership with adjoining parcels and transferred with a single document) and the Certificate of Compliance is the formal process to prove its status as a separately sellable parcel. So the date of lot creation would be whenever it was legally sold separately in the past in the 1950's, not recently when the CC was issued.

Follow up question, and again this is to prove a point with a count official....

Does a Lot Line Adjustment change the date of creation for a parcel of land?

Thanks in advance for helping me educate an official :)

Mikey

Why is the date of creation of the parcel important to them?

Lot Line Adjustment would change the parcel creation, because it's legal description changes, and the minute you record the perfecting deeds which are the constructive notice, the newly adjusted parcels begin to exist.
It is no longer Lot 3 of Tract ..... but Parcel 1 of LLA....

I am little fuzzy on some of the certificate of compliance details without a refresher. I don't do as many of those.

Mikey,

Connie is right about the creation date for adjusted parcels.

As to a Certificate of Compliance, it is a determination that the parcel is now - and has since its first appearance (prior to March 4, 1972) always been compliant with the provisions of the Subdivision Map Act.

The reason is that Sonoma County links certain development standards to the date of lot creation. So having a LLA change the date of creation for the lot means that newer codes are applied. Naturally they are more stringent, and so if the LLA resets the date of creation, then existing properties are now "not up to code" which triggers other sections of the development standards to not allow them to remodel or expand their home's footprint as much as they would otherwise be able to.

Mikey Mueller, PLS 9076
Sonoma County

Does Sonoma county allow for unreasonable financial hardship exceptions?
How much of an effect did the LLA have on land value and zoning? Are we talking a tiny adjustment or 50% land area addition or subtraction?

Mikey,
Q1: Is the date of creation of that parcel the date of issuance of the CC, or the date the parcel was transferred separately back in the 1950's?
A1: When preparing a Certificate of Compliance in Sacramento County, we also create a Findings document which indicates why the parcel is in compliance with the Subdivision Map Act and County Code. Most Findings refer to a pre-1965 deed (yes, Sacramento is one of twelve counties which had pre-1972 parcel map requirements). Thus, the County uses the pre-1965 deed as the "date of creation".

Q2: Does a Lot Line Adjustment change the date of creation for a parcel of land?
A2: In general, we concur with Connie and Warren on this issue.

CBarrett wrote: Tue Oct 03, 2023 7:20 pm Does Sonoma county allow for unreasonable financial hardship exceptions?
How much of an effect did the LLA have on land value and zoning? Are we talking a tiny adjustment or 50% land area addition or subtraction?

The codes have language along those lines, or clauses like "unless waived by XYZ position/official" but generally speaking, once you start getting into that situation the current culture of Sonoma County officialdom is "no". Regardless of the outcome of asking for exemptions or common sense considerations the delays and costs are not insignificant.

Silly example is a recent determination by PRMD (Permit and Resource Management Department) planners was that taking a seedling out of a pot was considered "agricultural processing" and as such it was not allowed in agricultural buildings that had an easier permit process.
(https://permitsonoma.org/instructionsan ... texemption). To challenge that official interpretation of the definition of "processing" would require a $1400 fee to go with a written request to a review board that meets at most once a month, comprised of mostly the same people that were involved in that original definition...

Back to the original topic.... Thanks all for your responses. Always good information here :)

Mikey Mueller, PLS 9076
Sonoma County