RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

October 2008

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First District Court Holds that 1915 Subdivision Map Does Not Create Valid Lots under Map Act’s Grandfather Provisions
Witt Home Ranch, Inc. v. County of Sonoma, ___Cal. App.4th___

Plaintiff Witt Home Ranch, Inc. (Witt Ranch) owns a large parcel of undeveloped land in Sonoma County (Sonoma), which parcel purportedly subdivided into 25 lots by a map approved by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (Supervisors) and recorded in 1915. In 2005, Witt Ranch applied to Sonoma for certification of the individual lots on the basis of the 1915 map but the Supervisors ruled that the map was no longer valid. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court judgment, concluding that the laws governing subdivision maps in 1915 did not regulate the design and improvement of subdivisions, as required by the grandfather provisions of the Subdivision Map Act (Gov. Code §§ 66410–66499.37).