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Supervisors approve Alta Vista Drive easement vacation

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to vacate a road easement west of Alta Vista Drive.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote Jan. 30 vacates a portion of an irrevocable offer of dedication for road purposes for a strip of land west of Alta Vista Drive and north of Hillside Drive.

A tentative parcel map approved more than 35 years ago included an irrevocable offer of dedication for the strip of land, and the IOD was recorded on April 20, 1977. Since then the county’s General Plan has been updated and the road was removed from the circulation element network. Although the vacated area is no longer required for public use, the IOD remained open and could have been accepted by the county at any time unless it was vacated.

The IOD area has been impassible to vehicular traffic since it was dedicated in 1977, and the road cannot be extended to the south because of existing private improvements so it is thus not necessary for street or highway purposes. The county has never expended money to maintain the area nor has it made any improvements to the right-of-way.

The easement vacation would not landlock any property owner, and the county’s Department of Public Works (DPW) determined that the vacated area would not be needed for the county’s future road network. The county’s Department of Parks and Recreation determined that the vacated area would not be useful for a trail or for connection to a trail, and DPW determined that it would not be needed as part of a bicycle network or bicycle path. DPW also determined that the IOD over Hillside Drive should remain intact, and that area is not affected by the vacation.

The corner lot which includes the vacated easement is currently owned by Jim Hollingsworth, who requested the easement vacation and placed a $2,500 deposit with the county to cover the cost of processing the vacation. While the vacation removes the encumbrance from Hollingsworth’s property, it also eliminates county responsibility for the area as well as the potential need for county staff to inspect the right-of-way to prevent private improvements which may now be allowed.

 

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