2009 California Government Code - Section 66499.50-66499.58 :: Division 3. Official Maps

66499.50.  This division applies to all counties and, whether
incorporated or not, to all cities, towns and villages in this state.

66499.51.  As used in this division:
   (a) "City council or board of supervisors" includes the proper
corresponding governing board and authority in each place where the
division applies.
   (b) "City engineer" and "county surveyor" includes the like or
corresponding officer, subject to the direction of the corresponding
governing board and authority in each place where the division
applies.
   (c) If there is no city engineer or county surveyor subject to
such direction, the corresponding board and authority may employ
competent engineers and surveyors to the extent necessary for the
carrying out of the purposes of this division in the places subject
to its jurisdiction, and the persons so appointed shall have the same
authority and shall perform the same duties as are given to and
enjoined upon city engineers and county surveyors, respectively, in
like cases. The services of engineers and surveyors so employed shall
be contracted for, examined, passed upon, audited and paid as are
other debts contracted by such governing boards and authorities.

66499.52.  (a) Whenever any city, town or subdivision of land is
platted or divided into lots or blocks, and whenever any addition to
any city, town or subdivision is laid out into lots or blocks for the
purpose of sale or transfer, the city engineer or the county
surveyor, under the direction and with the approval of the city
council or board of supervisors, may make an official map of the
city, town or subdivision, giving to each block on the map a number,
and to each lot or subdivision in the block a separate number or
letter, and giving names to the streets, avenues, lanes, courts,
commons or parks, as may be delineated on the official map.
   (b) In a city or county which has adopted the procedure prescribed
herein, any surveyor or engineer, under the review of the city
engineer or county surveyor, may prepare an official map to be filed
for record pursuant to subdivisions (d) and (e) of Section 66499.35.
The map shall be prepared in accordance with the map format
specifications of subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, of Section
66434. Payment for the services of the city engineer or county
surveyor, and any charges required by local ordinance to be paid for
the cost of processing the official map by the city engineer or
county surveyor, shall be the responsibility of the applicant. The
official map shall include an engineer's or surveyor's certificate
stating that the map was prepared pursuant to the provisions of this
section, and an approval certificate of the city engineer or county
surveyor. The certificate shall be signed, and, below or immediately
adjacent to the signature, indicate the license or registration
number with expiration date of the registered civil engineer or
licensed land surveyor preparing and approving the official map.

66499.53.  The engineer or surveyor, under the direction and with
the approval of the city council or board of supervisors, may compile
the map from maps on file, or may resurvey or renumber the blocks,
or renumber or reletter the lots in the blocks, or change the names
of streets.

66499.54.  Each and every map made and adopted under this division
shall be certified under the hands of a majority of the members and
the presiding officer and secretary and official seal, if any, of the
authority adopting the same. The certificate shall set forth in full
the resolution adopting the map, with the date of adoption.

66499.55.  The map, so certified, shall be forthwith filed in the
office of the county recorder of the county wherein the platted lands
are situate. The recorder shall immediately securely fasten and bind
each map so filed in one of a series of firmly bound books to be
provided, together with the proper indexes thereof and appropriately
marked for the reception of the maps provided for in this division.

66499.56.  The map shall become an official map for all the purposes
of this division when certified, filed and bound, but not before.

66499.57.  Whenever the city council or board of supervisors adopts
a map prepared under this division as the official map of the
subdivision, town, city or county, it shall be lawful and sufficient
to describe the lots or blocks in any deeds, conveyances, contracts,
or obligations affecting any of the lots or blocks as designated on
the official map, a reference sufficient for the identification of
the map being coupled with the description.

66499.58.  All surveys and the field notes thereof made by any
engineer or surveyor, under the provisions of this division, or in
surveying officially any lots or parcels of land in any city, town or
county for the purposes of any map under this division, shall be
filed in the office of the surveyor or engineer, as the case may be,
and shall become a part of the public records of the city, town or
county.