These rules amend the Subdivision Map Act by extending the expiration date of approved tentative subdivision maps which expire within a 2 ½ year window period.
Government Code §65961, 66452.23
Added by A.B. 208
Effective: July 15, 2011
The expiration date of an approved tentative subdivision map is extended an additional 24 months, if the tentative subdivision map had not expired on or before July 15, 2011 and will expire before January 1, 2014.
The 24-month extension does not cancel any previous extension(s) the local agency may have granted before July 15, 2011. Any extensions granted by a stay in litigation or a development moratorium are not counted when determining whether the tentative map expires before January 1, 2014 to qualify for the two-year extension.
After an approved tentative subdivision map subject to this two-year extension is recorded, the period during which the local agency cannot impose new conditions for a building permit is shortened from five years to three years. Upon issuance of a building permit for an approved tentative map given a two-year extension, the local agency may levy a fee or impose a condition requiring the payment of a fee.
Editor’s note – The urgency for enactment of this revision of the Subdivision Map Act reflects the need for subdividers to preserve their past efforts in getting parcels approved for mapping without incurring ever more costs and fees to reapply and start the process all over again while waiting for the California real estate economy to recover. Single family residential (SFR) housing starts in California began their plummet in 2005 starting with 155,322 starts and look to bottom in 2012 around 20,000 starts. [For more information on housing starts in California, see the first tuesday Market Chart, CA single- and multi-family housing starts.]
