2007 California Government Code Article 2. Definitions

CA Codes (gov:66414-66424.6)

66414.  The definitions in this article apply to the provisions of
this division only and do not affect any other provisions of law.



66415.  "Advisory agency" means a designated official or an official
body charged with the duty of making investigations and reports on
the design and improvement of proposed divisions of real property,
the imposing of requirements or conditions thereon, or having the
authority by local ordinance to approve, conditionally approve or
disapprove maps.



66416.  "Appeal board" means a designated board or other official
body charged with the duty of hearing and making determinations upon
appeals with respect to divisions of real property, the imposition of
requirements or conditions thereon, or the kinds, nature and extent
of the design or improvements, or both, recommended or decided by the
advisory agency to be required.



66416.5.  (a) "City engineer" means the person authorized to perform
the functions of a city engineer.  The land surveying functions of a
city engineer may be performed by a city surveyor, if that position
has been created by the local agency.
   (b) A city engineer registered as a civil engineer after January
1, 1982, shall not be authorized to prepare, examine, or approve the
surveying maps and documents.  The examinations, certifications, and
approvals of the surveying maps and documents shall only be performed
by a person authorized to practice land surveying pursuant to the
Professional Land Surveyors Act (Chapter 15 (commencing with Section
8700) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code) or a person
registered as a civil engineer prior to January 1, 1982, pursuant to
the Professional Engineers Act (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section
6700) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code).
   (c) Nothing contained in this provision shall prevent a city
engineer from delegating the land surveying functions to a person
authorized to practice land surveying.  Where there is no person
authorized to practice land surveying within the city or agency,
nothing shall prevent the city engineer from contracting with a
person who is authorized to practice land surveying to perform the
land surveying functions.


66417.  (a) "County surveyor" includes county engineer, if there is
no county surveyor.
   (b) A county engineer registered as a civil engineer after January
1, 1982, shall not be authorized to prepare, examine, or approve the
surveying maps and documents.  The examinations, certifications, and
approvals of the surveying maps and documents shall only be
performed by a person authorized to practice land surveying pursuant
to the Professional Land Surveyors Act (Chapter 15 (commencing with
Section 8700) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code) or
a person registered as a civil engineer prior to January 1, 1982,
pursuant to the Professional Engineers Act (Chapter 7 (commencing
with Section 6700) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions
Code).


66418.  "Design" means:  (1) street alignments, grades and widths;
(2) drainage and sanitary facilities and utilities, including
alignments and grades thereof; (3) location and size of all required
easements and rights-of-way; (4) fire roads and firebreaks; (5) lot
size and configuration; (6) traffic access; (7) grading; (8) land to
be dedicated for park or recreational purposes; and (9) other
specific physical requirements in the plan and configuration of the
entire subdivision that are necessary to ensure consistency with, or
implementation of, the general plan or any applicable specific plan
as required pursuant to Section 66473.5.



66418.1.  "Development" means the uses to which the land which is
the subject of a map shall be put, the buildings to be constructed on
it, and all alterations of the land and construction incident
thereto.


66418.2.  (a) "Environmental subdivision" means a subdivision of
land pursuant to this division for biotic and wildlife purposes that
meets all of the conditions specified in subdivision (b).
   (b) Prior to approving or conditionally approving an environmental
subdivision, the local agency shall find each of the following:
   (1) That factual biotic or wildlife data, or both, are available
to the local agency to support the approval of the subdivision, prior
to approving or conditionally approving the environmental
subdivision.
   (2) That provisions have been made for the perpetual maintenance
of the property as a biotic or wildlife habitat, or both, in
accordance with the conditions specified by any local, state, or
federal agency requiring mitigation.
   (3) That an easement will be recorded in the county in which the
land is located to ensure compliance with the conditions specified by
any local, state, or federal agency requiring the mitigation.  The
easement shall contain a covenant with a county, city, or nonprofit
organization running with the land in perpetuity, that the landowner
shall not construct or permit the construction of improvements except
those for which the right is expressly reserved in the instrument.
Where the biotic or wildlife habitat, or both, are compatible, the
local agency shall consider requiring the easement to contain a
requirement for the joint management and maintenance of the resulting
parcels.  This reservation shall not be inconsistent with the
purposes of this section and shall not be incompatible with
maintaining and preserving the biotic or wildlife character, or both,
of the land.
   (4) The real property is at least 20 acres in size, or if it is
less than 20 acres in size, the following conditions are met:
   (A) The land is contiguous to other land that would also qualify
as an environmental subdivision.
   (B) The other land is subject to a recorded perpetual easement
that restricts its use to a biotic or wildlife habitat, or both.
   (C) The total combined acreage of the lands would be 20 acres or
more.
   (D) Where the biotic or wildlife habitat, or both, are compatible,
the land and the other land will be jointly managed and maintained.

   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 66411.1, any
improvement, dedication, or design required by the local agency as a
condition of approval of an environmental subdivision shall be solely
for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the conditions required
by the local, state, or federal agency requiring the mitigation.
   (d) After recordation of an environmental subdivision, a
subdivider may only abandon an environmental subdivision by reversion
to acreage pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 66499.11)
if the local agency finds that all of the following conditions exist:

   (1) None of the parcels created by the environmental subdivision
has been sold or exchanged.
   (2) None of the parcels is being used, set aside, or required for
mitigation purposes pursuant to this section.
   (3) Upon abandonment and reversion to acreage pursuant to this
subdivision, the easement for biotic and wildlife purposes is
extinguished.
   (e) If the environmental subdivision is abandoned and reverts to
acreage pursuant to subdivision (d), all local, state, and federal
requirements shall apply.
   (f) This section shall apply only upon the written request of the
landowner at the time the land is divided.  This section is not
intended to limit or preclude subdivision by other lawful means for
the mitigation of impacts to the environment, or of the land devoted
to these purposes, or to require the division of land for these
purposes.



66419.  (a) "Improvement" refers to any street work and utilities to
be installed, or agreed to be installed, by the subdivider on the
land to be used for public or private streets, highways, ways, and
easements, as are necessary for the general use of the lot owners in
the subdivision and local neighborhood traffic and drainage needs as
a condition precedent to the approval and acceptance of the final map
thereof.
   (b) "Improvement" also refers to any other specific improvements
or types of improvements, the installation of which, either by the
subdivider, by public agencies, by private utilities, by any other
entity approved by the local agency, or by a combination thereof, is
necessary to ensure consistency with, or implementation of, the
general plan or any applicable specific plan.




66420.  "Local agency" means a city, county or city and county.



66421.  "Local ordinance" refers to a local ordinance regulating the
design and improvement of subdivisions, enacted by the legislative
body of any local agency under the provisions of this division or any
prior statute, regulating the design and improvements of
subdivisions, insofar as the provisions of the ordinance are
consistent with and not in conflict with the provisions of this
division.


66422.  "Certificate of exception" means a valid authorization to
subdivide land, issued by the County of Los Angeles pursuant to an
ordinance thereof, adopted between September 22, 1967, and March 4,
1972, and which at the time of issuance did not conflict with this
division or any statutory predecessor thereof.



66423.  "Subdivider" means a person, firm, corporation, partnership
or association who proposes to divide, divides or causes to be
divided real property into a subdivision for himself or for others
except that employees and consultants of such persons or entities,
acting in such capacity, are not "subdividers."



66424.  "Subdivision" means the division, by any subdivider, of any
unit or units of improved or unimproved land, or any portion thereof,
shown on the latest equalized county assessment roll as a unit or as
contiguous units, for the purpose of sale, lease or financing,
whether immediate or future.  Property shall be considered as
contiguous units, even if it is separated by roads, streets, utility
easement or railroad rights-of-way.  "Subdivision" includes a
condominium project, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 1351 of
the Civil Code, a community apartment project, as defined in
subdivision (d) of Section 1351 of the Civil Code, or the conversion
of five or more existing dwelling units to a stock cooperative, as
defined in subdivision (m) of Section 1351 of the Civil Code.



66424.1.  Nothing in Section 66424 shall prevent a purchaser of a
unit of land created under the provisions of this division or a local
ordinance enacted pursuant thereto, from subdividing the land one or
more times, pursuant to the provisions of this division prior to the
time that an equalized county assessment roll has been completed
reflecting the creation of the unit proposed to be subdivided.
   Nothing contained in this chapter shall prevent the same
subdivider of a unit of land created under the provisions of this
division, or a local ordinance enacted pursuant thereto, from making
consecutive subdivisions of the same parcel or any portion thereof.
   Further, local agencies shall not, by ordinance or policy,
prohibit consecutive subdivision of the same parcel or any portion
thereof either by the same subdivider or a subsequent purchaser
because the parcel was previously subdivided.
   Nothing contained in this section shall limit the authority of a
local agency to impose appropriate conditions or requirements on the
consecutive subdivisions.



66424.5.  (a) "Tentative map" refers to a map made for the purpose
of showing the design and improvement of a proposed subdivision and
the existing conditions in and around it and need not be based upon
an accurate or detailed final survey of the property.
   (b) "Vesting tentative map" refers to a map which meets the
requirements of subdivision (a) and Section 66452.



66424.6.  (a) When a subdivision, as defined in Section 66424, is of
a portion of any unit or units of improved or unimproved land, the
subdivider may designate as a remainder that portion which is not
divided for the purpose of sale, lease, or financing.  Alternatively,
the subdivider may omit entirely that portion of any unit of
improved or unimproved land which is not divided for the purpose of
sale, lease, or financing.  If the subdivider elects to designate a
remainder, the following requirements shall apply:
   (1) The designated remainder shall not be counted as a parcel for
the purpose of determining whether a parcel or final map is required.

   (2) For a designated remainder parcel described in this
subdivision, the fulfillment of construction requirements for
improvements, including the payment of fees associated with any
deferred improvements, shall not be required until a permit or other
grant of approval for development of the remainder parcel is issued
by the local agency or, where provided by local ordinance, until the
construction of the improvements, including the payment of fees
associated with any deferred improvements, is required pursuant to an
agreement between the subdivider and the local agency.  In the
absence of that agreement, a local agency may require fulfillment of
the construction requirements, including the payment of fees
associated with any deferred improvements, within a reasonable time
following approval of the final map and prior to the issuance of a
permit or other grant of approval for the development of a remainder
parcel upon a finding by the local agency that fulfillment of the
construction requirements is necessary for reasons of:
   (A) The public health and safety; or
   (B) The required construction is a necessary prerequisite to the
orderly development of the surrounding area.
   (b) If the subdivider elects to omit all or a portion of any unit
of improved or unimproved land which is not divided for the purpose
of sale, lease, or financing, the omitted portion shall not be
counted as a parcel for purposes of determining whether a parcel or
final map is required, and the fulfillment of construction
requirements for offsite improvements, including the payment of fees
associated with any deferred improvements, shall not be required
until a permit or other grant of approval for development is issued
on the omitted parcel, except where allowed pursuant to paragraph (2)
of subdivision (a).
   (c) The provisions of subdivisions (a) and (b) providing for
deferral of the payment of fees associated with any deferred
improvements shall not apply if the designated remainder or omitted
parcel is included within the boundaries of a benefit assessment
district or community facilities district.
   (d) A designated remainder or any omitted parcel may subsequently
be sold without any further requirement of the filing of a parcel map
or final map, but the local agency may require a certificate of
compliance or conditional certificate of compliance.