Time extension granted for final map of subdivision

The deadline to record a final map for a subdivision in the 700 block of Constant Creek Road is now June 29, 2022, and a revised tentative map which changes conditions but not lot configuration was also approved.

Mark Wardlaw, the director of the county’s Department of Planning and Development Services, approved a preliminary decision for a time extension and revised tentative map Sept. 4. A preliminary decision is docketed for a meeting of the county’s Planning Commission to allow for objections, although if no member of the planning commission or the public requests a hearing the PDS director’s decision becomes final and effective immediately. No hearing was requested at the Sept. 14 planning commission meeting, so the six-year time extension and revised tentative map took effect.

In March 2011, the planning commission approved the subdivision of 9.72 acres into 10 residential lots ranging from 0.5 to 1.13 acres and also preserving a portion of Ostrich Farms Creek as permanent biological open space. A neighbor appealed the planning commission’s decision to the board of supervisors, who approved the project June 29, 2011.

A tentative parcel map becomes a final map after all conditions of the tentative map, other than those for which permits cannot be issued until a final map is recorded, are fulfilled. A final map is required for grading and building permits, although the conditions of a final map include a grading plan. The standard county procedure is to require the final map within three years of the tentative map approval, although the deadline to record the final map may be extended.

The map had an original expiration date of June 29, 2014, and state legislation enacted due to the statewide economic and market situation extended that map automatically for two years to June 29, 2016. If an application for a time extension is filed before the map’s expiration, the owner is not in default if the extension is granted after the expiration date.

The approval of all owners is not necessary to process a tentative map, but a final map requires the signature of all owners. When the Sapien family began the subdivision process, the ownership included Dolores Sapien and her children, Darryl Sapien and January Murphy.

Murphy died in 2008, forcing a probate court to decide whether her widower or her daughter constituted the new ownership interest. Murphy and her family were living in the single-family residence on the property, and while the conditions of the tentative map included demolition of the residence before approval of the final map, the Sapien and Murphy families did not wish the community to be burdened with a vacant lot until the project was developed.

The Sapien family requested a revised tentative map as well as a time extension in an application filed May 10, 2016. One of the revised conditions allows the residence to remain on the site after the final map has been recorded but requires removal of the house before issuance of a grading permit. The revisions also incorporate regulatory changes and replace references to the Department of Planning and Land Use, which became PDS in 2012. Although the revisions do not change size of the lots, the dedication of a one-foot access restriction easement for eight of the lots was added.

After the time extension and revised tentative map requests were filed, all property owners within 300 feet were notified, and no comments from the public were received. The Fallbrook Community Planning Group was also notified but chose not to review the modifications.