MONTEREY COUNTY ZONING

MONTEREY COUNTY ZONING

COASTAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN - TITLE 20

20.64.280 – EASEMENTS, OFFERS OF DEDICATION, DEED RESTRICTIONS AND NOTICES

20.64.280 EASEMENTS, OFFERS OF DEDICATION, DEED RESTRICTIONS, AND NOTICES.

A. Easements and Offers of Dedications

1. Easements and Offers of Dedications shall be required as conditions of project approval where so required in the ordinance and where determined by the County to be necessary for protection of natural resources and/or public access. The easement or offer of dedication shall be required in accordance with procedures in 20.64.280.A.6., prior to the issuance of building or grading permits.

2. Public access easements or offers of dedications for public access shall be required for provision of vertical or lateral public access. An offer of dedication shall be required when neither the County nor any other agency or association acceptable to the County is ready to accept the dedication. An easement or fee simple dedication where specified in a land use plan shall be required when the County or other agency or association acceptable to the County has agreed to accept the dedication. The public access easements and offers of dedication shall be required as follows:

a. Offers of dedication for vertical public access shall be required in accordance with the forms in Appendix 6.

b. Offers of dedication for lateral public access shall be required in accordance with the forms in Appendix 7.

c. Offers of dedication for trail public access shall be required in accordance with the forms in Appendix 8.

d. Public access easements for provision of lateral, vertical, and/or trail access shall be required in accordance with the forms in Appendix 9.

3. Offers of dedication for public access, where required, shall be irrevocable for a period of 21 years after recordation. The offer shall be held by and kept on file with the California Coastal Commission for the duration of this time except offers involving Del Monte Forest are to be held by the County. During the twenty-one year period, the County may choose to act as Grantee and accept the offer of dedication. If so, a public access easement or fee simple dedication shall be prepared in accordance with the procedures and forms in Appendix 9.

4. Scenic and conservation easements shall be required when necessary for the protection of habitat, scenic, open space, or archaeological resources, in accordance with the forms in Appendix 10. The Del Monte Forest Foundation should be the grantee for all easements required for the protection of environmentally sensitive habitats and scenic and visual resources in the Del Monte Forest. All other easements shall be granted to the County of Monterey.

5. A subordination agreement shall be required, where necessary, in accordance with the procedures and forms in Appendix 11. A subordination agreement must be recorded if the title report prepared for the property shows that the property is encumbered by any prior lien or encumbrance other than a tax lien which the Director of Planning and Building Inspection and legal counsel have determined may affect the interest being conveyed.

6. The procedure for recordations of easements and offers of dedication shall be as follows:

a. The easement or offer of dedication shall be required as a condition of project approval.

b. The appropriate easement or offer packet, as contained in the appendix specified above, shall be transmitted to the applicant by the Planning and Building Inspection Department.

c. The applicant shall complete the signed and notarized forms according to the procedures outlined in the packet. The subordination agreement must accompany the offer or easement, if the preliminary title report shows that the property is not free of prior liens, except for tax liens.

d. The applicant shall submit the completed packet to the Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department.

e. The Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department shall review the documents for correctness of content, then transmit the completed packet to the County Counsel office for review and approval.

f. County Counsel shall review the documents for correctness of form. Once Counsel has approved the documents, Counsel shall initial the documents to indicate approval as to form.

g. The Planning and Building Inspection Department shall forward a copy of the permit conditions and findings of approval and copies of the legal documents to the Executive Director of the Coastal Commission for review and approval of the legal adequacy and consistency with the requirements of potential accepting agencies. The procedure shall then be as follows:

1) The Executive Director of the Coastal Commission shall have fifteen (15) working days from receipt of the documents in which to complete the review and notify the applicant of recommended revisions if any;

2) The local government may issue the permit upon expiration of the fifteen (15) working day period if notification of inadequacy has not been received by the local government within that time period;

3) If the executive director has recommended revisions to the applicant, the permit shall not be issued until the deficiencies have been resolved to the satisfaction of the Executive Director. (Coastal Commission Regulations Section 13574)

h. County Counsel shall return the documents to the Planning and Building Inspection Department.

i. If the document is an easement to be granted to the County or an offer of an easement that the County wishes to accept, the Planning and Building Inspection Department shall arrange for the easement to be accepted by the Board of Supervisors where possible as a "consent" item at a regularly-scheduled public hearing of the Board of Supervisors. The Planning and Building Inspection Department shall notify the applicant of the hearing date and time. Then:

1) The Board of Supervisors may accept the easement.

2) If accepted by the Board of Supervisors, the easement shall be duly signed by the Board Chair.

3) The Clerk of the Board shall return the signed documents to the Planning and Building Inspection Department, who shall then transmit the documents to the applicant.

4) The Coastal Commission shall be notified of the acceptance of the easement.

j. If the document is an offer of dedication that the County is not accepting, the Planning and Building Inspection Department shall return the document to the applicant.

k. The applicant shall record the offer of dedication or easement and subordination agreement, if applicable, at the County Recorder's office. The offer or easement and subordination agreement must be recorded as separate documents. Once indexed by the Recorder's office, the County Recorder shall return the documents to the Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department.

l. The applicant shall submit an updated preliminary title report to the Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department. The title report shall show the recorded documents in the chain of title and free of prior liens or encumbrances which could affect the interest being conveyed.

m. The Planning and Building Inspection Department shall transmit the title report to the County Counsel's office for review.

n. County Counsel shall notify the Planning and Building Inspection Department in writing that the title report properly shows the recorded documents free of prior liens or encumbrances.

o. The condition shall be shown as completed by the Planning and Building Inspection Department. The condition must be completed prior to the issuance of building or grading permits or prior to recordation of the parcel or final map or other authorization to proceed with the approved development, as applicable. If an offer has been required, the Planning and Building Inspection Department shall transmit a copy of the Offer, title report, and subordination agreement, if applicable, to the California Coastal Commission.

B. Deed Restrictions

1. Deed restrictions shall be required as conditions of project approval where so required in the ordinance and or as otherwise recommended by Monterey County departments. The deed restriction shall be required in accordance with the procedures contained in Section 20.64.280.B.3, prior to the issuance of building or grading permits and prior to recordation of the parcel or final map or other authorization to proceed with the approved development, as applicable.

2. The deed restriction shall be required in accordance with forms contained in Appendix 12.

3. The procedure for recordations of deed restrictions shall be as follows:

a. The deed restriction shall be required as a condition of project approval.

b. The deed restriction packet, as contained in Appendix 12, shall be transmitted to the applicant by the Planning and Building Inspection Department.

c. The applicant shall complete the signed and notarized forms according to the procedures outlined in the packet. The subordination agreement must accompany the deed restriction, if the preliminary title report shows that the property is not free of prior liens, except for tax liens which the Director of Planning and Building Inspection and legal counsel have determined may affect the interest being conveyed.

d. The applicant shall submit the completed packet to the Monterey County planning and Building Inspection Department.

f. County Counsel shall review the documents for correctness of form. Once Counsel has approved the documents, Counsel shall initial the documents to indicate approval as to form.

g. County Counsel shall return the documents to the Planning and Building Inspection Department.

h. The Planning and Building Inspection Department shall return the documents to the applicant.

i. The applicant shall record the deed restriction and subordination agreement, if applicable, at the County Recorder's office. The deed restriction and subordination agreement must be recorded as separate documents. Once indexed by the Recorder's office, the County Recorder shall return the documents to the Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department.

j. The applicant shall submit an updated preliminary title report to the Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department. The title report shall show the recorded documents in the chain of title and free of prior liens or encumbrances which could affect the interest being conveyed.

k. The Planning and Building Inspection Department shall transmit the title report to the County Counsel's office for review.

l. County Counsel shall notify the Planning and Building Inspection Department in writing that the title report properly shows the recorded documents free of prior liens or encumbrances.

m. The condition shall be shown as completed by the Planning and Building Inspection Department. The condition must be completed prior to the issuance of building or grading permits.

C. Notices of Other Restrictions

1. Notices of other restrictions, such as presence of floodplain or preparation of a consultant report, which do not constitute a deed restriction, shall be required as conditions of project approval where so required in the ordinance and or as otherwise recommended by Monterey County departments. The notice shall be required prior to the issuance of building or grading permits in accordance with the following procedures:

a. The notice shall be required as a condition of project approval.

b. The applicant shall prepare the notice.

c. The signed and notarized notice shall be transmitted by the applicant to the Planning and Building Inspection Department.

d. The Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department shall review the notice for correctness of content, then transmit the proposed notice to the County Counsel office for review and approval.

e. County Counsel shall review the notice for correctness of form. Once Counsel has approved the notice, Counsel shall initial the documents to indicate approval as to form.

f. County Counsel shall return the documents to the Planning and Building Inspection Department.

g. The Planning and Building Inspection Department shall transmit the notice to applicant, with notification that the notice is acceptable to the County.

h. The applicant shall record the notice at the County Recorder's office. Once indexed by the Recorder's office, the County Recorder shall return the recorded notice to the Monterey County Planning and Building Inspection Department.

i. After the recorded notice has been returned to the Planning and Building Inspection Department, the condition shall be shown as completed by the Planning and Building Inspection Department. The condition must be completed prior to the issuance of building or grading permits.