San Mateo County Coastal Landowners' Assn. v. County of San Mateo

In San Mateo County Coastal Landowners' Assn. v. County of San Mateo (1995) 38 Cal.App.4th 523, the court was faced with a measure that amended the San Mateo County local coastal program. Two of the newly adopted policies required an applicant for land division to grant the county conservation/open space or agricultural easements as a condition of approval. These easements limited the use of the land covered to specified uses consistent with open space or agricultural use. Other requirements for these easements, if any, were not recited by the court. (San Mateo County Coastal Landowners' Assn. v. County of San Mateo, supra, 38 Cal.App.4th at pp. 545-546.) The San Mateo County Coastal Landowners' Assn. court determined that the subject easements were not "conservation easements" as defined in section 815.1. The court noted that section 815.3, subdivision (b), does not restrict the ability of a local governmental entity to require the dedication of an easement under other provisions of law and that the appellants had not denied that there are other existing laws that authorize a local agency to require dedications of easements as a condition of development. The court then concluded that "clearly, the county has ample authority to require dedication of agricultural and open space easements under several provisions of law. " (San Mateo County Coastal Landowners' Assn. v. County of San Mateo, supra, 38 Cal.App.4th at p. 551.)