Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Bel Aire Heights Subdivision Access
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing and directing the President of the Board of Supervisors to execute a Quitclaim Deed to release, relinquish and abandon certain property interests relating to rights of ingress and egress to Bel Aire Road from the Ascension Heights Subdivision (Tract No. 946, unincorporated San Mateo Highlands area).
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BACKGROUND:
On February 9, 2016, the Board of Supervisors took action to approve a 19-lot subdivision of a lot at the intersection of Bel Aire Road and Ascension Drive in the unincorporated San Mateo Highlands area by denying an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of a Major Subdivision, a Grading Permit, and certification of a Final Environmental Impact Report pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, for the proposed Ascension Heights Subdivision. (The project has subsequently been renamed the Bel Aire Heights subdivision by the developer.)
The subsequently recorded subdivision map entitled “Tract No. 946,” which was recorded on November 9, 2022, in Book 144 of Maps, at Pages 54 through 56 to effectuate this approval made reference to an element of an earlier document recorded in 1959 referred to as “Relinquishment of Rights of Ingress and Egress To/From Ascension Drive and Bel Aire Road (53 Maps 9)”, by which a prior owner of the property dedicated to the County of San Mateo, and released, relinquished, and abandoned any and all rights of ingress and egress from Bel Aire Road and Ascension Drive over the southeasterly and northeasterly line, respectively, where indicated on the 1959 map (“the 1959 Relinquishment”). It is not known exactly why this Relinquishment was offered to the County, but the steep slopes of the property and a concern for erosion onto the adjoining public rights-of-way were likely a motivating factor.
The title company assisting in the sale and financing transactions contemplated by the Subdivision recently identified the 1959 Relinquishment as a potential impediment to an enforceable right of private legal access from the lots created by the Subdivision to Bel Aire Road despite the approved subdivision map’s depiction of vehicular and pedestrian access to Bel Aire Road. The County itself does not interpret the Relinquishment to preclude access to Bel Aire Road; efforts were made to interpret the existing documents to allow the access depicted on the approved subdivision maps, but the title company insisted on a deed transaction to extinguish the alleged property rights of the 1959 dedication. Because the County’s 2016 approval of the subdivision clearly contemplated and intended that purchasers and owners of the lots created by the Subdivision would take vehicular and pedestrian access onto the publicly dedicated street known as Bel Aire Road at the proposed intersection of said Lot B and Bel Aire Road depicted on the map entitled “Tract No. 946,” the County had no need or desire to enforce the terms of the 1959 Relinquishment.
DISCUSSION:
Section 960 of the California Streets and Highways Code provides that whenever the Board of Supervisors determines that an interest in real property acquired by the County for highway purposes is no longer necessary for those purposes, the County may sell the property interest in the manner and upon the terms and conditions approved by the Board of Supervisors, and the money received for the real property shall be paid into the County treasury to the credit of any fund available for highway purposes which the Board may designate.
The County Executive caused the property interest represented by the 1959 Relinquishment to be appraised as to its market value by a qualified appraiser, whose report concluded that, due to the unique aspects of the 1959 Relinquishment, including the fact that the Relinquishment represents a line on a map and there is no actual land area involved, the property interest had only a nominal value of $500.
There has been prepared for the Board’s approval a Quitclaim Deed, a form of which is attached as Attachment A, that would reconvey the property interest dedicated to the County by the 1959 Relinquishment to the Bel Aire Heights Owners Association, resolving the impediment to legal access identified by the title company, in consideration of the payment of the nominal value of $500 payable to the County. Since Cal. Str. & Hwy Code § 960 requires the Board to designate the fund into which the proceeds should be credited, the Resolution designates that the funds be credited to the Road Fund of the Department of Public Works.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
The County is dedicated to performing its land use functions in a way that accommodates housing development at all income levels. This transaction will ensure that future residents of the subdivision are ensured access to public roads.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The approval of this item will result in the deposit of $500 in the County’s Road Fund.