Van't Rood v. County of Santa Clara
Opinion
Opinion
Wunderlich, J.
In 1970, a landowner subdivided his property and sold portions of it to two adjoining neighbors. Nearly 30 years later, it came to light that the map filed in connection with the property division apparently merged each neighbor’s property holdings. That revelation prompted the affected neighbors to bring this proceeding to exclude their property from the subdivision. Following a three-day hearing, the trial court denied the petition for exclusion. One of the petitioners brought this appeal.
As we explain below, we conclude that the trial court should have granted the petition for exclusion from the subdivision map. We therefore reverse the judgment.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
In 1970, John R. Weis sought permission from Santa Clara County (County) to divide his 10-acre property in San Martin. Weis initially applied to divide his property into two lots, but later modified his application to seek a division into three parcels. Weis planned to keep one parcel, about three-and-a-half acres in size, on which he and his wife had a home. He planned to sell the other two parcels to two adjoining neighbors, one to the northwest and one to the northeast. At the time, the zoning…