(a) The Zoning Administrator shall not approve any merger or lot line adjustment pursuant to this article unless all the following findings have been made in the affirmative:
(1) That the application is complete and that all record title holders who are required by the Subdivision Map Act to consent have consented to the proposed merger or lot line adjustment, and that the proposed merger or lot line adjustment is in compliance with said Act;
(2) That the deeds to be utilized in a transaction, if necessary, accurately describe the resulting parcels, and that the merger or lot line adjustment will not result in the abandonment of any street or utility easement of record;
(3) That if the lot line adjustment will result in a transfer of property from one owner to another owner, that the deed to the subsequent owner expressly reserves any street or utility easement of record;
(4) The adjustment is consistent with applicable building ordinances, and that either:
(i) all of the resulting lots will conform to all applicable zoning requirements including minimum parcel size, or
(ii) no conforming lot will be made nonconforming with applicable zoning requirements and the adjustment will not increase the aggregate number of all affected lots which do not meet applicable zoning requirements;
(iii) in the case of an antiquated subdivision and/or Certificate of Compliance that recognizes a series of contiguous small legal lots in an agricultural zone, the adjustment is necessary to cluster small home site parcels of 2.5 to 4.0 acres in one area to reduce impacts to agricultural operations, as set forth in Section 8-2.403 of this chapter;
(5) Approval of the lot line adjustment will not create a greater number of parcels than originally existed;
(6) That the merger or lot line adjustment will not result in the elimination or reduction in size of an access way to any resulting parcel, or that the application is accompanied by new easements to provide access that meet all the requirements of this code;
(7) That the merger or lot line adjustment is excluded from the Subdivision Map Act, and has been reviewed pursuant to Section 66412(d) of said Act;
(8) That the merger or lot line adjustment is consistent with the General Plan;
(9) That the merger or lot line adjustment complies with the zoning regulations and parcel size minimum standards as set forth in Chapter 2 of this title, except as allowed under subsections (4)(ii) and (iii), above;
(10) That the Zoning Administrator is satisfied that the design of the resulting parcels will comply with the requirements of this title and provides for water drainage, public road access, water supply sewer system availability, environmental protection, and all other requirements of State laws and this code; and
(11) That the merger or lot line adjustment will not result in a significant effect on the environment pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Public Resources Code 21000 et seq.), and/or is categorically exempt pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15305, as amended.
(12) That, as required by the County Recorder, if there are multiple owners involved, all deeds shall be executed simultaneously with recording the lot line adjustment.
(b) The Zoning Administrator may conditionally approve a merger or lot line adjustment as provided for in Section 66412(d) of the Subdivision Map Act, and the conditions shall be set forth in writing and delivered to the applicant prior to action being taken on the merger or lot line adjustment.
(Ord. 1445, eff. August 14, 2014, as amended by Ord. 1452, eff. January 15, 2015; as amended by § 2, Ord. 1466, eff. March 24, 2016)