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TO BE PUBLISHED THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
 

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
 State of California
 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN
 Attorney General
 

OPINION : 

: No. 92-807 

of : 

: 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN : MARCH 17, 1993 

Attorney General : 

: 

GREGORY L. GONOT : 

Deputy Attorney General : 

: 

THE HONORABLE JOHN F. HAHN, COUNTY COUNSEL, COUNTY OF 

AMADOR, has requested an opinion on the following question: 

Do the fire safety standards adopted by the Board of Forestry for development on

state responsibility area lands apply to the perimeters and access to buildings constructed after

January 1, 1991, on parcels created by parcel or tentative maps approved prior to January 1, 1991? 

CONCLUSION 

The fire safety standards adopted by the Board of Forestry for development on state

responsibility area lands apply to the perimeters and access to buildings constructed after January

1, 1991, on parcels created by parcel or tentative maps approved prior to January 1, 1991, to the

extent that conditions relating to the perimeters and access to the buildings were not imposed as part

of the approval of the parcel or tentative maps. 

ANALYSIS 

By legislation enacted in 1987 (Stats. 1987, ch. 955, § 2), the State Board of Forestry

("Board") was directed to adopt minimum fire safety standards for state responsibility area lands1/ 

1. On state responsibility area lands (see Pub. Resources Code, §§ 4126-4127; Cal. Code

Regs., tit. 14, §§ 1220-1220.5), the financial responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires is

primarily the responsibility of the state, as opposed to local or federal agencies. (Pub. Resources

Code, § 4125.) 
under the authority of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Public Resources Code 

section 42902/ states: 

"(a) The board shall adopt regulations implementing minimum fire safety

standards related to defensible space which are applicable to state responsibility area

lands under the authority of the department. These regulations apply to the

perimeters and access to all residential, commercial, and industrial building

construction within state responsibility areas approved after January 1, 1991. The 

board may not adopt building standards, as defined in Section 18909 of the Health

and Safety Code, under the authority of this section. As an integral part of fire safety

standards, the State Fire Marshal has the authority to adopt regulations for roof

coverings and openings into the attic areas of buildings specified in Section 13108.5

of the Health and Safety Code. The regulations apply to the placement of mobile

homes as defined by National Fire Protection Association standards. These 

regulations do not apply where an application for a building permit was filed prior

to January 1, 1991, or to parcel or tentative maps or other developments approved

prior to January 1, 1991, if the final map for the tentative map is approved within the

time prescribed by the local ordinance. The regulations shall include all of the 

following: 

"(1) Road standards for fire equipment access. 

"(2) Standards for signs identifying streets, roads, and buildings. 

"(3) Minimum private water supply reserves for emergency fire 

use. 

"(4) Fuel breaks and greenbelts. 

"(b) These regulations do not supersede local regulations which equal or

exceed minimum regulations adopted by the state." (Emphasis added.) 

As indicated in the statute, the Board's regulations are to help create "defensible space"3/

 for the 

protection of state responsibility areas against wildfires. 

2. All references hereafter to the Public Resources Code prior to footnote 8 are by section

number only.

 3. Defensible space is defined as: 

"The area within the perimeter of a parcel, development, neighborhood or

community where basic wild land fire protection practices and measures are

implemented, providing the key point of defense from an approaching wildfire or

defense against encroaching wild fires or escaping structure fires. The perimeter as

used in this regulation is the area encompassing the parcel or parcels proposed for

construction and/or development, excluding the physical structure itself. The area 

is characterized by the establishment and maintenance of emergency vehicle access,

emergency water reserves, street names and building identification, and fuel

modification measures." (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 1271.00.) 

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Originally the regulations were to be applicable with respect to all building

construction approved after July 1, 1989, but by subsequent legislation (Stats. 1989, ch. 60, § 1), the

threshold date was changed to January 1, 1991. The regulations (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, §§ 1270-

1276.03)4/

 in fact became operative on May 30, 1991. 

A "grandfather clause" in the underlying statute provides that "[t]hese regulations do

not apply where an application for a building permit was filed prior to January 1, 1991, or to parcel

or tentative maps or other developments approved prior to January 1, 1991, if the final map for the

tentative map is approved within the time prescribed by the local ordinance." (§ 4290.) We are 

asked to determine whether the regulations apply to an application for a building permit filed after 

January 1, 1991, for a dwelling to be built on a parcel lawfully created by a parcel map or tentative

map approved prior to January 1, 1991. 

We begin by noting that the grandfather clause contains two ostensibly independent

exceptions to the application of the regulations. One is directed at building permits and the other 

at subdivision maps.5/ These exceptions were apparently designed by the Legislature to exempt

construction and development activity already in the "pipeline" as of January 1, 1991. According

to Regulation 1270.01, it is the "future design and construction of structures, subdivisions and

development" (emphasis added) which is to trigger application of the regulations. 

Thus, although an application for a building permit is not made until after January

1, 1991, the proposed construction may garner an exemption if the parcel is covered by a parcel or

tentative map approved prior to January 1, 1991 (provided that the final map for the tentative map

is approved within the time prescribed by the local ordinance).6/

 However, this raises the question

of the purpose of the building permit exception since virtually any application for a building permit

will be preceded by a parcel or tentative map approval for the parcel upon which the construction

is proposed, even one which may have been obtained in the distant past.7/ A well-established rule 

of statutory construction holds that "`[w]henever possible, effect should be given to the statute as

a whole, and to its every word and clause, so that no part or provision will be useless or meaningless.

. . .'" (Colombo Construction Co. v. Panama Union School Dist. (1982) 136 Cal.App.3d 868, 876; 

see Harris v. Capital Growth Investors XIV (1991) 52 Cal.3d 1149, 1159 ["In analyzing statutory

language, we seek to give meaning to every word and phrase in the statute to accomplish a result

consistent with the legislative purpose, i.e., the object to be achieved and the evil to be prevented

by the legislation"].) 

4. All references hereafter to title 14 of the California Code of Regulations are by

regulation number only.

 5. A parcel map is filed when creating subdivisions of four or fewer parcels, while a

tentative map and final map are filed when creating subdivisions of five or more parcels. (Gov.

Code, §§ 66426, 66428.)

 6. The approval of a final map is a ministerial function once the tentative map has been

approved and the conditions that were attached to the tentative map have been fulfilled. (Gov. Code,

§§ 66458, 66473, 66474.1; Santa Monica Pines, Ltd. v. Rent Control Board (1984) 35 Cal.3d 858,

865; Youngblood v. Board of Supervisors (1978) 22 Cal.3d 644, 653.) 

7. Statutory provisions for tentative maps and final maps first appeared in 1929 (Stats.

1929, ch. 838), while parcel maps were first required in 1971 (Stats. 1971, ch. 1446). (See Cal.

Subdivision Map Act Practice (Cont.Ed.Bar 1987) §§ 1.2-1.3, pp. 3-5.) 

3. 92-807
 
Our task then is to search for an interpretation of section 4290 which is not only

consistent with the legislative purpose but also furnishes independent significance to each of the two

exceptions. We believe that the answer lies in the different manner in which each exception is 

phrased. The first is "where an application for a building permit was filed prior to January 1, 1991,"

and the second is "to parcel or tentative maps or other developments approved prior to January 1,

1991 . . . ." The "where" of the first exception implies a broad exemption encompassing all activity

related to the building permit, whereas the "to" of the second exception implies an exemption which

is limited to matters contained in the parcel or tentative map approval. 

Under this reading of section 4290, only those perimeter and access conditions which

were imposed during the parcel or tentative map approval process would be immune from the effect

of the regulations. Typically, parcel and tentative map approvals include requirements for the

improvement of the parcels within the subdivision. The Subdivision Map Act (Gov. Code, §§

66410-66499.37; "Act")8/ establishes general criteria for land development planning in the creation

of subdivisions throughout the state. Cities and counties are given authority under the legislation

to regulate the design and improvement of divisions of land in their areas through a process of

approving subdivision maps required to be filed by each subdivider. (§ 66411; Santa Monica Pines, 

Ltd. v. Rent Control Board, supra, 35 Cal.3d 858, 869; South Central Coast Regional Com. v. 

Charles A. Pratt Construction Co. (1982) 128 Cal.App.3d 830, 844-845.) A subdivider must obtain 

approval of the appropriate map before the subdivided parcels are offered for sale, or lease, or are

financed. (§§ 66499.30, 66499.31; Bright v. Board of Supervisors (1977) 66 Cal.App.3d 191, 193- 194.) 

The Act sets forth procedures by which cities and counties may impose a variety of

specific conditions when approving the subdivision maps. Such conditions typically cover streets,

public access rights, drainage, public utility easements, and parks, among other improvements. (§§

66475-66489; see Associated Home Builders etc., Inc. v. City of Walnut Creek (1971) 4 Cal.3d 633,

639-647; Ayers v. City Council of Los Angeles (1949) 34 Cal.2d 31, 37-43.) 

The Act vests cities and counties with the power to regulate and control the "design

and improvement of subdivisions" (§ 66411) independent of the power to impose the specified

conditions enumerated above. "Design" is defined as: 

 ". . . (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) such other specific physical requirements in the plan

and configuration of the entire subdivision as may be necessary to ensure consistency

with, or implementation of, the general plan or any applicable specific plan." (§

66418.) 

"Improvement" is defined as: 

". . . 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 

8. All references hereafter to the Business and Professions Code are by section number 

only. 

4. 92-807 
subdivision and local neighborhood traffic and drainage needs as a condition

precedent to the approval and acceptance of the final map thereof. 

". . . also . . . 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." (§ 66419.) 

Accordingly, we believe that when a person applies for a building permit after

January 1, 1991, the Board's fire safety regulations would be inapplicable as to any matters approved

prior to January 1, 1991, as part of the parcel or tentative map process.9/ By contrast, a person who

applied for a building permit prior to January 1, 1991, would not be subject to any of the access or

perimeter requirements set forth in the regulations. 

In addition to preserving independent significance for the building permit exception,

the aforementioned reading of Public Resources Code section 4290 comports with another principle

of statutory construction, namely that "`[e]xceptions to the general rule of a statute are to be strictly

construed.'" (Da Vinci Group v. San Francisco Residential Rent etc. Bd. (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 24,

28; see Goins v. Board of Pension Commissioners (1979) 96 Cal.App.3d 1005, 1009; see also Board 

of Medical Quality Assurance v. Andrews (1989) 211 Cal.App.3d 1346, 1355 [statutes conferring

exemptions from regulatory schemes are narrowly construed].) More specifically, we have cited

"the general rule that a grandfather clause, being contrary to the general rule expressed in a statute,

must be narrowly construed. [Citations.]" (57 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 284, 286 (1974).) A blanket 

exemption for all construction and development activity related to a parcel covered by an approved

tentative or parcel map (provided the final map for the tentative map is approved within the time

prescribed by the local ordinance) would violate these principles of statutory construction. 

On the other hand, we decline to construe the grandfather clause here so narrowly 

that all of the Board's fire safety regulations become applicable when the owner of a parcel covered

by a parcel or tentative map approved prior to January 1, 1991, applies for a permit to build on that

parcel after January 1, 1991. To do so would mean that the exception for approved tentative or

parcel maps would afford the landowner nothing at the construction and development stage. Again,

we are guided by the principle that a statute should be interpreted in such a way that no part or

provision will be rendered useless or meaningless. (Colombo Construction Co. v. Panama Union 

School District, supra, 136 Cal.App. 868, 876.) 

Finally, we observe the rule that if more than one construction of a statute appears

possible, we must adopt the one that leads to the most reasonable result. (Industrial Indemnity Co. 

v. City and County of San Francisco (1990) 218 Cal.App.3d 999, 1008.) An exemption from the

regulations for those access and perimeter conditions which are included in the approval of a parcel

or tentative map prior to January 1, 1991, serves to lock in reasonable entitlements while ensuring

that other fire safety standards may be applied at the time a building permit is sought subsequent to

January 1, 1991. 

On the basis of the foregoing analysis and principles of statutory construction, we

conclude that the fire safety standards adopted by the Board for development on state responsibility 

9. Regulation 1270.02, for example, exempts "[r]oads required as a condition of tentative

[or] parcel maps prior to the effective date of these regulations . . . ." 

5. 92-807 
area lands apply to the perimeters and access to buildings constructed after January 1, 1991, on

parcels created by parcel or tentative maps approved prior to January 1, 1991, to the extent that

conditions relating to the perimeters and access to the buildings were not imposed as part of the

approval of the parcel or tentative maps. 

* * * * * 

6. 92-807