§ 17.46.040. Lot line adjustment—Approval standards.

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)