Sierra Club v. Napa County Board of Supervisors

In 2009 respondent Napa County Board of Supervisors 1 adopted clarifying lot line adjustment ordinance No. 1331 (Ordinance). Subject to provisos, sequential lot line adjustments are included within the definition of “lot line adjustment.” (Napa County Code, § 17.02.360.) Appellant Sierra Club has facially challenged the Ordinance as violative of both the *167 Subdivision Map Act 2 (Map Act or act) and the California Environmental Quality Act 3 (CEQA). We hold that the provisions of the Ordinance allowing sequential lot line adjustments are consistent with the Map Act’s exclusion of lot line adjustments from the requirements of the act. Further, since the Ordinance spells out a ministerial lot line adjustment approval process, the Ordinance is exempt from CEQA purview. Finally, we reject respondents’ claim that appellant’s action is time-barred. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. History of Lot Line Adjustment Provisions Under the Map Act

In 1976 the Legislature amended the Map Act to exempt from the procedures of the act any lot line adjustment between two or more adjacent parcels, where the land taken from one parcel was added to an adjacent parcel…