Opinion ID: 1189801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Merger for the Purpose of Sale, Lease, or Financing

Text: The literal terms of the Subdivision Map Act regulate the division of land into parcels only for purposes of sale, lease, or financing. The overall purpose of the act is to regulate subdivisions. (See, e.g., § 66411 [standards for local regulation of subdivisions]; § 66426 [tentative and final maps may be required for most subdivisions containing five or more parcels]; § 66428 [parcel map may be required for other subdivisions].) `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 except for leases of agricultural land for agricultural purposes. (§ 66424, italics added.) Sections 66451.10 through 66451.21 deal with merger of parcels. [13] Section 66451.10, subd. (a) (hereafter, section 66451.10(a)) provides: Notwithstanding Section 66424, except as is otherwise provided for in this article, two or more contiguous parcels or units of land ... shall not be deemed merged by virtue of the fact that the contiguous parcels or units are held by the same owner, and no further proceeding under [the Subdivision Map Act] or a local ordinance enacted pursuant thereto shall be required for the purpose of sale, lease, or financing of the contiguous parcels or units, or any of them. (Italics added.) [14] Section 66451.10(b) provides that sections 66451.10 through 66451.21 shall provide the sole and exclusive authority for local agency initiated merger of contiguous parcels. On and after January 1, 1984, parcels may be merged by local agencies only in accordance with the authority and procedures prescribed by [those sections]. Section 66451.11 prescribes the conditions under which [a] local agency may, by ordinance which conforms to and implements the procedures prescribed by this article, provide for the merger of a parcel or unit with a contiguous parcel or unit held by the same owner. The immediately subsequent sections specify the prescribed procedures and include detailed provisions for notice to the property owner, opportunity for hearing, and recordation by the local agency of a notice of the merger. Section 66451.19, subdivision (d), provides: The failure of a local agency to comply with the requirements of this article for the merger of contiguous parcels or units of land held in common ownership shall render void and ineffective any resulting merger or recorded notice of merger and no further proceedings under the [Subdivision Map Act] or a local ordinance enacted pursuant thereto shall be required for the purpose of sale, lease, or financing of those contiguous parcels or units, or any of them, until such time as the parcels or units of land have been lawfully merged by subsequent proceedings initiated by the local agency which meet the requirements of this article. (Italics added.) The foregoing provisions purport to govern only those ordinances that impose or require merger of parcels as a condition to the parcels' sale, lease, or financing. The only consequence imposed upon a local agency's failure to comply with the prescribed merger-ordinance procedures is that the parcels may be separately sold, leased or financed as if unmerged. The ordinances challenged by plaintiffs do not directly restrict the sale, lease, or financing of any parcel. The ordinances amend the county's zoning law. The purpose of a zoning law is to regulate the use of land. (See 1 Longtin's Cal. Land Use (2d ed. 1987) §§ 3.02-3.03, pp. 234-236.) The procedures by which counties or cities enact and administer zoning ordinances are regulated exclusively by sections 65800 through 65912. (§ 65802.) [15] Section 65850 states permissible purposes of local zoning laws; all those purposes pertain to land use. The purpose of the challenged ordinances, to regulate the minimum size of a lot on which a residence may be built, falls under subdivision (c) of section 65850, permitting zoning regulation of such matters as the location and size of buildings and [t]he intensity of land use. The challenged ordinances do not limit plaintiffs' rights to sell, lease, or finance block 132 or any other unimproved parcel of land. The possibility, or probability, that as a practical matter the restrictions imposed by the ordinances on the use of any parcel will drastically affect the value of those rights does not bring the ordinances within the scope of the express statutory preemption of ordinances imposing merger for purposes of sale, lease, or financing.