SECTIONS 31350-31356 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 31350-31356

31350. It is the policy of the Legislature to assure that
significant coastal resource sites shall be reserved for public use
and enjoyment. To achieve this objective, it is the intent of the
Legislature to vest in the conservancy authority to acquire, hold,
protect, and use interests in key coastal resource lands, as
indicated in the chapters of this division, that otherwise would be
lost to public use.

31351. (a) The conservancy shall cooperate with the commission, bay
commission, and other public agencies and with nonprofit
organizations in ensuring the reservation of interests in real
property for purposes of this division, as well as for park,
recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, historical preservation, or
scientific study required to meet the policies and objectives of the
California Coastal Act of 1976 (commencing with Section 30000), or a
certified local coastal plan or program; or, in the case of San
Francisco Bay, the sites identified in the bay plan, the Suisun Marsh
Protection Plan, or in any other local plan that the bay commission
determines to be consistent with those plans; or, in coastal areas
not within the coastal zone or the San Francisco Bay, any other local
plans.
(b) The provisions of this division shall not diminish or
otherwise affect the authority of the bay commission to approve,
deny, or modify permits as provided in Section 66632 of the
Government Code.

31352. (a) If a public agency or nonprofit organization is unable,
due to limited financial resources or other circumstances, to
acquire, hold, protect, or use an interest in real property for a
purpose provided in Section 31351, the conservancy may do either of
the following:
(1) Award a grant to the public agency or nonprofit organization
for a purpose provided in Section 31351.
(2) Acquire and hold the interest for subsequent conveyance to an
appropriate public agency or nonprofit organization.
(b) The conservancy may provide the technical assistance required
to aid a public agency or nonprofit organization in completing the
acquisition or related functions described in subdivision (a).

31352.5. Where a nonprofit organization is better situated than the
conservancy to acquire temporarily an interest in real property for
later acquisition by a public agency or nonprofit organization, the
conservancy may loan the nonprofit organization the necessary funds
to accomplish the acquisition. As a condition of that loan, the
nonprofit organization shall adhere to the procedures and
restrictions of this chapter in accomplishing the acquisition.

31353. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the conservancy
may enter into an option to acquire an interest in real property in
connection with a site-reservation project, when the Legislature
appropriates funds for purposes of carrying out the objectives of
this division. The cost of the option may not exceed six hundred
thousand dollars ($600,000).

31354. The conservancy may not hold fee interests acquired in
accordance with this chapter for more than 10 years from the time of
acquisition. A public agency shall have the right to acquire the fee
interest at any time during this period for the public purposes
indicated in this chapter. At any time during this period, a
nonprofit organization may acquire the fee interest if the city or
county where the lands are located approves the acquisition. The
acquisition shall be deemed approved thirty days after the
conservancy has mailed written notice, unless the city or county
objects in writing within that time. When deemed appropriate by the
conservancy, the instrument conveying an interest in real property to
a nonprofit organization may include a restriction permanently
limiting the use of those lands to the acquisition purposes. The
price to public agencies or to nonprofit organizations that acquire
interests in real property from the conservancy may include the cost
of acquisition or the conservancy's administrative and management
costs in reserving and managing the land, or both. The payment of
this acquisition price shall be either monetary or conservancy
approved property of an equivalent value, or a combination thereof.
The lands acquired under this section shall not be disposed of under
Section 11011.1 of the Government Code. If, at the expiration of this
10-year period, no public agency or nonprofit organization is
willing or able to acquire the lands, the conservancy shall request
the Department of General Services to dispose of those lands at fair
market value without restriction on subsequent land use under this
division.
Any funds received by the state upon disposition of lands acquired
in accordance with Section 31352 shall be deposited with the
conservancy and shall be available for expenditure when appropriated
by the Legislature for the purposes of funding the programs specified
in this division.

31355. The conservancy is authorized to lease interest in real
property acquired in accordance with this chapter. When the leases
are made to private individuals or groups, the conservancy shall
annually, upon appropriation of the amounts by the Legislature,
transfer 24 percent of the gross income of the leases to the county
where the interests in real property are situated.
The county shall distribute any payment received by it pursuant to
this section to itself, to each revenue district for which the
county assesses and collects real property taxes or assessments, and
to every other taxing agency within the county where the property is
situated. The amount distributable to the county and each revenue
district or other taxing agency shall be proportionate to the ratio
that the amount of the taxes and assessments of each on similar real
property similarly situated within that part of the county embracing
the smallest in area of the revenue districts or other taxing
agencies other than the county, levied for the fiscal year next
preceding, bears to the combined amount of the taxes and assessments
of all those districts and agencies, including the county, on the
property levied for that year. The county auditor shall determine and
certify the amounts distributable to the board of supervisors, that
shall thereupon order the making of the distribution.
Any money distributed pursuant to this section to any county,
revenue district, or other taxing agency shall be deposited to the
credit of the same fund as any taxes or assessments on any taxable
similar real property similarly situated.
Where a county receives a payment pursuant to this section in an
amount of twenty-five dollars ($25) or less in respect to any parcel
of leased property, all of that payment shall be distributed to the
county for deposit in the county general fund.

31356. All remaining revenue derived from leases, after allocation
to counties as specified in Section 31355, shall be deposited
annually with the conservancy and shall be available for expenditure
when appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of funding the
programs specified in this division.