Agenda

Return

C.64

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:
Date:	February 7, 2012

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

Williamson Act/Rescind Land Conservation Contract No. 3-77 Approve Lot Line Adjustment LL10-001 and Approve Land Conservation Contract No. AP 10-0001

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 02/07/2012

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

ABSENT:

Gayle B. Uilkema, District II Supervisor

Contact:

John Oborne, 925-674-7793

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: February 7, 2012
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

1. FIND that the proposed actions are consistent with the Williamson Act and the County's Williamson Act Program.


2. FIND that the proposed actions are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) ( Regs, Sections 15305 (a), 15317, (Class 17) and Section 15061 (b) (3)).

RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)

3. FIND that the Lot Line Adjustment ( LL10-0001) to, among other things, include in lot 3 approximately 16-acres of property that East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) will convey to the owner, as depicted in Attachment A, complies with the seven required findings of California Government Code 51257 for Williamson Act agricultural preserves and as listed in Attachment B.

4. ADOPT Resolution No. 2010/487 RESCINDING the existing Land Conservation Contract No. 3-77 as to the parcels commonly identified as Assessor's Parcel Numbers (APNs) 258-110-001 and 258-110-002 and APPROVING Lot Line Adjustment LL10-0001 and APPROVING Land Conservation Contract No. AP10-0001( Attachment C) for the newly configured parcels with Stephen E. Roberts, Trustee of Stephen E. Roberts Trust - 1990 UDT dated September 28, 1990, Owner.

5. AUTHORIZE the Chair, or designee to execute Land Conservation Contract No. AP10-0001.

6. DIRECT the Conservation and Development Department Director, or designee, to record on the deed for the reconfigured property the Lot Line Adjustment LL10-0001, Resolution No. 2010/487 and Land Conservation Contract AP10-0001; and file a CEQA Notice of Exemption; and forward a copy of the Land Conservation Contract to the State Department of Conservation and Office of the County Assessor.

FISCAL IMPACT:

100% of application fee paid by the applicant.

BACKGROUND:

Stephen E. Roberts (Owner), Trustee of the Stephen E. Roberts Trust- 1990 UDT dated September 28, 1990 owns 269 acres commonly known as APNs 258-110-001 and 258-110-002 ("Property") described in Attachment D and referenced herein. The parcels are located in Agricultural Preserve No. 3-77 (also known as Land Conservation Contract No. 3-77), established on February 8, 1977, by Board Resolution No 77/121 between the County and Alfred Peres. The parcels are currently restricted under Land Conservation Contract No. 3-77. There are currently no structures on the Property and the property is being used for grazing purposes.

The Williamson Act program (Government Code, Sections 51200 et. seq.), through Land Conservation Contracts, restricts land uses and structures on property under contract. The Williamson Act provides for a process to rescind an existing contract and enter into a new contract by mutual agreement between the parties provided that the new contract remains consistent with the intent and purpose of the Williamson Act.

The Owner intends to continue agricultural uses on the Property but wishes to :

1. Rescind the existing Land Conservation Contract No. 3-77 to enable Lot Line Adjustment LL10-0001;

2. Through Lot Line Adjustment LL10-0001 reconfigure the three existing parcels so that they meet the 40-acre minimum parcel size as shown on Exhibit A; and

3. Enter into a new Land Conservation Contract AP10-0001 covering the reconfigured lots as shown on Exhibit A.

Also, the Owner wishes to complete the following action in conjunction with this application:

1. Exchange an approximately 16-acre area of tree covered hillside he owns for an adjacent 16-acres of open grassland owned by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) as shown on Attachment A and agreed to in the Property Exchange Agreement between Stephen E. Roberts Trust and EBMUD ( Attachment E); and

Two Assessor Parcel Numbers Comprising Three Legal Parcels

As noted above the Roberts Ranch contains two APN's: 258-110-001 and 258-110-002. The two APN numbers resulted from the fact that the property contains a major ridge line which separates two different flood districts. Since the tax rates may be different in each of the different flood control zones, the assessor created the two APN numbers to approximately separate the property by flood control zone. This action did not create legally separate parcels, rather it facilitated separating land for tax purposes only.

In April 2006 the Owner obtained from the County three Certificates of Compliance (County File No's. ZC-06-689, ZC-06-690 & ZC-06-691) that showed that the Property consisted of three legal parcels under the Subdivision Map Act and County's Subdivision Ordinance, which collectively are known as APNs 258-110-001 and 258-110-002.

The Owner is proposing a Lot Line Adjustment, as referenced above, anticipating the possibility that the current single ownership situation may change to that of multiple owners of separate parcels in the future. It is desired that the Lot Line Adjustment establish parcels that meet both the 40-acre minimum non-prime agricultural land size requirement, as well as the 100-acre minimum acreage requirement for an Agricultural Preserve, which would enable the future creation of two separate Agricultural Preserves.

Exchange of Property with East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)

In conjunction with this application the Owner wishes to exchange approximately 16-acres of tree covered hillside area of his property, along his property's westerly border, for approximately 16-acres of adjacent open grassland area that the EBMUD owns. EBMUD would prefer to own the hillside area, versus grassland area, for watershed purposes. The Owner would prefer the grassland area, which is flatter, for grazing purposes. A copy of the Property Exchange Agreement between Stephen E. Roberts Trust and EBMUD is attached as Attachment E. The Agreement is contingent upon the Board's approval of the rescission of Land Conservation Contract No. 3-77, approval of Lot Line Adjustment LL10-0001 and approval of Land Conservation Contract AP10-0001.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

If the Board does not rescind the existing Land Conservation Contract 3-77 and approve the proposed Lot Line Adjustment LL10-0001 and Land Conservation AP10-0001 the Owner would not be able to execute the property exchange with EBMUD and reconfigure the Williamson Act contracted land.

CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:

N/A