2023 California Code › Government Code - GOV › TITLE 7 - PLANNING AND LAND USE › DIVISION 2 - SUBDIVISIONS › CHAPTER 4 - Requirements › ARTICLE 3.5 - Public Access to Public Resources › Section 66478.11.

66478.11. (a) No local agency shall approve either the tentative or the final map of any subdivision fronting upon the coastline or shoreline which subdivision does not provide or have available reasonable public access by fee or easement from public highways to land below the ordinary high water mark on any ocean coastline or bay shoreline within or at a reasonable distance from the subdivision.
Any public access route or routes provided by the subdivider shall be expressly designated on the tentative or final map, and the map shall expressly designate the governmental entity to which the route or routes are dedicated.
(b) Reasonable public access, as used in subdivision (a), shall be determined by the local agency in which the subdivision lies.
(c) In making the determination of what shall be reasonable public access, the local agency shall consider:
(1) That access may be by highway, foot trail, bike trail, horse trail, or any other means of travel.
(2) The size of the subdivision.
(3) The type of coastline or shoreline and the various appropriate recreational, educational, and scientific uses, including, but not limited to, diving, sunbathing, surfing, walking, swimming, fishing, beachcombing, taking of shellfish and scientific exploration.
(4) The likelihood of trespass on private property and reasonable means of avoiding the trespass.
(d) Nothing in this section shall require a local agency to disapprove either a tentative or final map solely on the basis that the reasonable public access otherwise required by this section is not provided through or across the subdivision itself, if the local agency makes a finding that the reasonable public access is otherwise available within a reasonable distance from the subdivision and identifies the location of the reasonable public access.
The finding shall be set forth on the face of the tentative or final map.
(e) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the final map of any subdivision the tentative map of which has been approved by a local agency prior to the effective date of this section.
(f) The provisions of this section shall not apply to the final or tentative map of any subdivision which is in compliance with the plan of any planned development or any planned community which has been approved by a local agency prior to December 31, 1968. The exclusion provided by this subdivision shall be in addition to the exclusion provided by subdivision (e).
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring the subdivider to improve any access route or routes which are primarily for the benefit of nonresidents of the subdivision area.
(h) Any access route or routes provided by the subdivider pursuant to this section may be conveyed or transferred to any state or local agency by the governmental entity to which the route or routes have been dedicated, at any future time, by mutual consent of such governmental entity and the particular state or local agency. The conveyance or transfer shall be recorded by the recipient state or local agency in the office of the county recorder of the county in which the route or routes are located.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 1109, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 2003.)