Opinion ID: 1189801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Applicability to Antiquated Subdivisions

Text: (8) The county contends that the Act's merger provisions (§§ 66451.10-66451.21) do not apply to plaintiffs' parcel because the parcel was not created pursuant to the Act. The fact of the parcel's creation is not in issue because the county's answer to the complaint admits that `Lot 132', the subject land of these proceedings, was created by [a] pre-1893 Antiquated Subdivision map which map is commonly known as the `Naples Townsite.' Thus, we need not consider any of the prerequisites to creation of a parcel that preceded California's first subdivision map statute in 1893 (Stats. 1893, ch. 80, § 1, p. 96). Instead, the question presented by the county's contention is whether a parcel so created is covered by the present Act's merger provisions. Section 66451.10(a) provides that contiguous parcels are not automatically merged by virtue of common ownership, and may be sold, leased or financed without further proceedings under the Act, if the parcels have been created under the provisions of [the Act], or any prior law regulating the division of land, or a local ordinance enacted pursuant thereto, or ... were not subject to those provisions at the time of their creation .... (Italics added.) The county maintains that plaintiffs' parcel is not included in this provision because the parcel was not established under or exempted from any law `regulating the division of land.' In other words, the county reads section 66451.10(a)'s phrase, not subject to those provisions at the time of their creation, to mean exempted from land-division provisions that were in existence at the time of the parcels' creation. We disagree with that strained interpretation. If, when the parcels were created, no land-division provisions were in existence, the parcels necessarily were not subject to those provisions at the time of their creation. Our construction of section 66451.10(a) is reinforced by a related provision of section 66451.11, which sets forth numerous conditions under which a local agency may require a merger of contiguous parcels that are commonly owned and are less than the minimum size required by the local zoning ordinance. As discussed earlier, some of section 66451.11's provisions allow the involuntary merger of a parcel that is less than 5,000 square feet, or fails to meet certain standards for development (e.g., water supply, sewage disposal, slope stability, vehicular access), or is inconsistent with an applicable general plan or local plan in respects other than minimum lot size. (For text of § 66451.11, see fn. 24, ante. ) But under section 66451.11, subdivision (b)(2), a lot that is not eligible for merger under any of the section's other conditions may be involuntarily merged if it [w]as not created in compliance with applicable laws and ordinances in effect at the time of its creation. That provision, which permits involuntary merger of parcels created in violation of then-applicable laws, regardless of any other circumstances, clearly does not apply to pre-1893 parcels created when there was not yet any land-division law to violate. The exclusion of pre-1893 parcels from blanket eligibility for involuntary merger under section 66451.11, subdivision (b)(2), implies a legislative intent to include such parcels in the Act's merger provisions. Accordingly, we hold that the Act's merger provisions apply to parcels created before the effective date of any applicable law regulating the division of land.