County surveyor hold up

[goodgps]

A tentative parcel map was approved with one of the conditions being to grant additional right-of-way to the public for public use. (typical)

The final map was prepared and accepted by the deputy county surveyor.

The County Surveyor has now held the map, refusing to sign because he doesnt know whether to "accept" or "reject" the offer of dedication from the owners.
He has had the map for quite some time. The Guarantee has now expired, which will cause my owner to bear an additional fee for an update from the title company.

I cannot find any information which mandates (or stimulates) the county surveyor into action. Discussion is pointless at this time. He simply is stymied by this process.

Any Ideas, court cases, remedies ?

Thanks

[bwatkins]

You might want to go over SMA sections 66475, 66477.1 and 66477.2.

[Ian Wilson]

bwatkins beat me to it.

Any offer of dedication must be accepted by (or rejected by) a legislative body. (SMA §66477.1) The acceptance is generally up to the Board of Supervisors, at the county level. A County Officer may be designated to accept or reject such offers, but, if the body governing the subdivision process has required the dedication as a condition of approval of the map, the CS really has no choice.

Unfotunately, unless you can get to a supervisor to have them force the CS to act, you many have to get an attorney to file for a Writ of Mandamus.

[goodgps]

Thanks for the helpful info. I was thinking along those lines.
I will speak with the C.S. again. I really hate to use Lawyerictacal force against public works works people. Reputations can get sideways.


And to PLS6217 . . . glad you're feeling better.

[goodgps]

I spoke with the county surveyor in question, regarding the acceptance or rejection of dedication.
His concern is for county liability within the "additional" 5-feet of dedication.

A condition states that all fences, structures . . . etc, lying within the proposed r-o-w must be removed prior to the recoring of the Parcel map.

The property owner has faithfully done so.

As far as deep-pocket liability, I think that is something any public agency must deal with 24/7.

Hopefully this C.S. will sign off before my client gets angry and hires an attorney.

All we really have is our reputation.

[Ian Wilson]

The local agnecy can also accept the dedication for title purposes but reject the road until it is improved to acceptabel standards.

Here's the statement that is used in Riverside County (case where one of the dedication is a portion of a road built to standards and the remainder are not):

THE COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, HEREBY APPROVES THE PARCEL MAP AND ACCEPTS THE OFFER OF DEDICATION MADE HEREON OF LOT "A" FOR PUBLIC ROAD AND PUBLIC UTILITY PURPOSES AND AS PART OF THE COUNTY MAINTAINED ROAD SYSTEM SUBJECT TO IMPROVEMENTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH COUNTY STANDARDS. THE OFFERS OF DEDICATION OF LOTS "B" AND "C", FOR PUBLIC ROAD AND PUBLIC UTILITY PURPOSES ARE ACCEPTED TO VEST TITLE IN THE COUNTY ON BEHALF OF THE PUBLIC FOR SAID PURPOSES, BUT THAT SAID ROAD SHALL NOT BECOME PART OF THE COUNTY MAINTAINED ROAD SYSTEM UNTIL ACCEPTED BY RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 941 OF THE STREETS AND HIGHWAYS CODE.



DATE: %%U %%U, 200%%U %%U
JUAN C. PEREZ, DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION


%%U %%U
MARK S. BERNAS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION

[goodgps]

I just realized that if the County Surveyor rejects the offer of dedication, and my client sells parcels, the dedication will have to be accepted as a process of future parcel owners building driveways for access to the county road.

This is the first time in over 20 years, that a County Surveyor has balked at accepting the "offer" of dedication.

The Deputy county surveyor is trying to stimulate the finalization and recording of this map. . . .I wish him good luck.

Thanks for all of the input.
I have passed along every bit of relative information (including the anti-biotics)

[goodgps]

Finally the County has signed my clients map. He chose to reject the offer of dedication which is fine with my client.

I can close this chapter of madness.

Thanks to all. I really appreciate the feedback.

Public agencies sometimes adopt secret policies during their staff meetings which are against government code.

I realize some of these policies are an attempt to clarify certain situations, however we can't let things go beyond the law.

Allen "Favor" Sayaie

[Ian Wilson]

Excellent, Allen!

Just remember, though, that teh offer of dedication, once made, can only be undone by an affirmative action by the county. Just because the offer was rejected does not mean that it is not still on the table.

Cheers!

[Warren Smith]

The County could have accepted the offer of dedication "subject to improvement".
It would then not fall under County jurisdiction until the Director of Public Works accepts the "As-Built" drawings and releases the performance bonds.