SECTIONS 51290-51295 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 51290-51295

51290. (a) It is the policy of the state to avoid, whenever
practicable, the location of any federal, state, or local public
improvements and any improvements of public utilities, and the
acquisition of land therefor, in agricultural preserves.
(b) It is further the policy of the state that whenever it is
necessary to locate such an improvement within an agricultural
preserve, the improvement shall, whenever practicable, be located
upon land other than land under a contract pursuant to this chapter.
(c) It is further the policy of the state that any agency or
entity proposing to locate such an improvement shall, in considering
the relative costs of parcels of land and the development of
improvements, give consideration to the value to the public, as
indicated in Article 2 (commencing with Section 51220), of land, and
particularly prime agricultural land, within an agricultural
preserve.

51290.5. As used in this chapter, "public improvement" means
facilities or interests in real property, including easements,
rights-of-way, and interests in fee title, owned by a public agency
or person, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 51291.

51291. (a) As used in this section and Sections 51292 and 51295,
(1) "public agency" means any department or agency of the United
States or the state, and any county, city, school district, or other
local public district, agency, or entity, and (2) "person" means any
person authorized to acquire property by eminent domain.
(b) Except as provided in Section 51291.5, whenever it appears
that land within an agricultural preserve may be required by a public
agency or person for a public use, the public agency or person shall
advise the Director of Conservation and the local governing body
responsible for the administration of the preserve of its intention
to consider the location of a public improvement within the preserve.
In accordance with Section 51290, the notice shall include an
explanation of the preliminary consideration of Section 51292, and
give a general description, in text or by diagram, of the
agricultural preserve land proposed for acquisition, and a copy of
any applicable contract created under this chapter. The Director of
Conservation shall forward to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture,
a copy of any material received from the public agency or person
relating to the proposed acquisition.
Within 30 days thereafter, the Director of Conservation and the
local governing body shall forward to the appropriate public agency
or person concerned their comments with respect to the effect of the
location of the public improvement on the land within the
agricultural preserve and those comments shall be considered by the
public agency or person. In preparing those comments, the Director of
Conservation shall consider issues related to agricultural land use,
including, but not limited to, matters related to the effects of the
proposal on the conversion of adjacent or nearby agricultural land
to nonagricultural uses, and shall consult with, and incorporate the
comments of, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture on any other
matters related to agricultural operations. The failure by any person
or public agency, other than a state agency, to comply with the
requirements of this section shall be admissible in evidence in any
litigation for the acquisition of that land or involving the
allocation of funds or the construction of the public improvement.
This subdivision does not apply to the erection, construction,
alteration, or maintenance of gas, electric, piped subterranean water
or wastewater, or communication utility facilities within an
agricultural preserve if that preserve was established after the
submission of the location of those facilities to the city or county
for review or approval.
(c) When land in an agricultural preserve is acquired by a public
entity, the public entity shall notify the Director of Conservation
within 10 working days. The notice shall include a general
explanation of the decision and the findings made pursuant to Section
51292. If different from that previously provided pursuant to
subdivision (b), the notice shall also include a general description,
in text or by diagram, of the agricultural preserve land acquired
and a copy of any applicable contract created under this chapter.
(d) If, after giving the notice required under subdivisions (b)
and (c) and before the project is completed within an agricultural
preserve, the public agency or person proposes any significant change
in the public improvement, it shall give notice of the changes to
the Director of Conservation and the local governing body responsible
for the administration of the preserve. Within 30 days thereafter,
the Director of Conservation and the local governing body may forward
to the public agency or person their comments with respect to the
effect of the change to the public improvement on the land within the
preserve and the compliance of the changed public improvements with
this article. Those comments shall be considered by the public agency
or person, if available within the time limits set by this
subdivision.
(e) Any action or proceeding regarding notices or findings
required by this article filed by the Director of Conservation or the
local governing body administering the agricultural preserve shall
be governed by Section 51294.

51291.5. The notice requirements of subdivision (b) of Section
51291 shall not apply to the acquisition of land for the erection,
construction, or alteration of gas, electric, piped subterranean
water or wastewater, or communication facilities.

51292. No public agency or person shall locate a public improvement
within an agricultural preserve unless the following findings are
made:
(a) The location is not based primarily on a consideration of the
lower cost of acquiring land in an agricultural preserve.
(b) If the land is agricultural land covered under a contract
pursuant to this chapter for any public improvement, that there is no
other land within or outside the preserve on which it is reasonably
feasible to locate the public improvement.

51293. Section 51292 shall not apply to:
(a) The location or construction of improvements where the board
or council administering the agricultural preserve approves or agrees
to the location thereof, except when the acquiring agency and
administering agency are the same entity.
(b) The acquisition of easements within a preserve by the board or
council administering the preserve.
(c) The location or construction of any public utility improvement
which has been approved by the Public Utilities Commission.
(d) The acquisition of either (1) temporary construction easements
for public utility improvements, or (2) an interest in real property
for underground public utility improvements. This subdivision shall
apply only where the surface of the land subject to the acquisition
is returned to the condition and use that immediately predated the
construction of the public improvement, and when the construction of
the public utility improvement will not significantly impair
agricultural use of the affected contracted parcel or parcels.
(e) The location or construction of the following types of
improvements, which are hereby determined to be compatible with or to
enhance land within an agricultural preserve:
(1) Flood control works, including channel rectification and
alteration.
(2) Public works required for fish and wildlife enhancement and
preservation.
(3) Improvements for the primary benefit of the lands within the
preserve.
(f) Improvements for which the site or route has been specified by
the Legislature in a manner that makes it impossible to avoid the
acquisition of land under contract.
(g) All state highways on routes as described in Sections 301 to
622, inclusive, of the Streets and Highways Code, as those sections
read on October 1, 1965.
(h) All facilities which are part of the State Water Facilities as
described in subdivision (d) of Section 12934 of the Water Code,
except facilities under paragraph (6) of subdivision (d) of that
section.
(i) Land upon which condemnation proceedings have been commenced
prior to October 1, 1965.
(j) The acquisition of a fee interest or conservation easement for
a term of at least 10 years, in order to restrict the land to
agricultural or open space uses as defined by subdivisions (b) and
(o) of Section 51201.

51293.1. Any public agency or person requiring land in an
agricultural preserve for a use which has been determined by a city
or county to be a "compatible use" pursuant to subdivision (e) of
Section 51201 in that agricultural preserve shall not be excused from
the provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 51291 if the
agricultural preserve was established before the location of the
improvement of a public utility was submitted to the city, county, or
Public Utilities Commission for agreement or approval and that
compatible use shall not come within the provisions of Section 51293
unless the location of the improvement is approved or agreed to
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 51293 or the compatible use is
listed in Section 51293.

51294. Section 51292 shall be enforceable only by mandamus
proceedings by the local governing body administering the
agricultural preserve or the Director of Conservation. However, as
applied to condemnors whose determination of necessity is not
conclusive by statute, evidence as to the compliance of the condemnor
with Section 51292 shall be admissible on motion of any of the
parties in any action otherwise authorized to be brought by the
landowner or in any action against the landowner.

51294.1. After 30 days have elapsed following its action, pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 51291, advising the Director of
Conservation and the local governing body of a county or city
administering an agricultural preserve of its intention to consider
the location of a public improvement within such agricultural
preserve, a public agency proposing to acquire land within an
agricultural preserve for water transmission facilities which will
extend into more than one county, may file the proposed route of the
facilities with each county or city administering an agricultural
preserve into which the facilities will extend and request each
county or city to approve or agree to the location of the facilities
or the acquisition of the land therefor. Upon approval or agreement,
the provisions of Section 51292 shall not apply to the location of
the proposed water transmission facility or the acquisition of land
therefor in any county or city which has approved or agreed to the
location or acquisition.

51294.2. If any local governing body administering an agricultural
preserve within 90 days after receiving a request pursuant to Section
51294.1 has not approved or agreed to the location of water
transmission facilities as provided in Section 51294.1 or in
subdivision (a) of Section 51293, the public agency making such
request may file an action against such local governing body in the
superior court of one of the counties within which any such body has
failed to approve the location of facilities or the acquisition of
land therefor, to determine whether the public agency proposing the
location or acquisition has complied with the requirements of Section
51292. If the court should so determine, the provisions of Section
51292 shall not apply to the location of water transmission
facilities, nor the acquisition of land therefor, in any of the
counties into which they shall extend, and no writ of mandamus shall
be issued in relation thereto pursuant to Section 51294. For the
purposes of this section, the county selected for commencing such
action is the proper county for the trial of such proceedings. In
determining whether the public agency has complied with the
requirements of Section 51292, the court shall consider the
alignment, functioning and operation of the entire transmission
facility.
Courts shall give any action brought under the provisions of this
section preference over all other civil actions therein, to the end
that such actions shall be quickly heard and determined.

51295. When any action in eminent domain for the condemnation of
the fee title of an entire parcel of land subject to a contract is
filed, or when that land is acquired in lieu of eminent domain for a
public improvement by a public agency or person, or whenever there is
any such action or acquisition by the federal government or any
person, instrumentality, or agency acting under the authority or
power of the federal government, the contract shall be deemed null
and void as to the land actually being condemned, or so acquired as
of the date the action is filed, and for the purposes of establishing
the value of the land, the contract shall be deemed never to have
existed.
Upon the termination of the proceeding, the contract shall be null
and void for all land actually taken or acquired.
When an action to condemn or acquire less than all of a parcel of
land subject to a contract is commenced, the contract shall be deemed
null and void as to the land actually condemned or acquired and
shall be disregarded in the valuation process only as to the land
actually being taken, unless the remaining land subject to contract
will be adversely affected by the condemnation, in which case the
value of that damage shall be computed without regard to the
contract.
When an action to condemn or acquire an interest that is less than
the fee title of an entire parcel or any portion thereof of land
subject to a contract is commenced, the contract shall be deemed null
and void as to that interest and, for the purpose of establishing
the value of only that interest, shall be deemed never to have
existed, unless the remaining interests in any of the land subject to
the contract will be adversely affected, in which case the value of
that damage shall be computed without regard to the contract.
The land actually taken shall be removed from the contract. Under
no circumstances shall land be removed that is not actually taken for
a public improvement, except that when only a portion of the land or
less than a fee interest in the land is taken or acquired, the
contract may be canceled with respect to the remaining portion or
interest upon petition of either party and pursuant to the provisions
of Article 5 (commencing with Section 51280).
For the purposes of this section, a finding by the board or
council that no authorized use may be made of the land if the
contract is continued on the remaining portion or interest in the
land, may satisfy the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section
51282.
If, after acquisition, the acquiring public agency determines that
it will not for any reason actually locate on that land or any part
thereof, the public improvement for which the land was acquired,
before returning the land to private ownership, the public agency
shall give written notice to the Director of Conservation and the
local governing body responsible for the administration of the
preserve, and the land shall be reenrolled in a new contract or
encumbered by an enforceable deed restriction with terms at least as
restrictive as those provided by this chapter. The duration of the
restriction shall be determined by subtracting the length of time the
land was held by the acquiring public agency or person from the
number of years that remained on the original contract at the time of
acquisition.