SECTIONS 6331-6342 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 6331-6342

6331. As used in this article:
(a) "Ungranted tidelands" means the tide and submerged lands owned
by the State of California which have not been granted in trust to
any local agency or to the United States or to private parties.
(b) "Local agency" means any county, city, public district, or
other public agency.
(c) "Person" means any private person, partnership, association,
limited liability company, or corporation.

6331.5. The commission shall make an inventory to ascertain and
describe by metes and bounds the location and extent of all ungranted
tidelands. The commission shall, in a local agency where the
ungranted tideland boundary is described by metes and bounds, acquire
and evaluate the existing boundary description to determine whether
or not additional surveys should be conducted. When available, the
local agency shall provide copies of the descriptions, together with
all materials supporting the descriptions, including field notes and
other basic data, to the commission at no cost, other than the
reproduction cost, to the state.
No appropriation is made by the act adding this section, nor is an
obligation created thereby, for the reimbursement of a local agency
for costs, other than reproduction costs, that may be incurred by it
in carrying on a program or performing a service required to be
carried on or performed by it by this section. Reimbursements for
reproduction expenditures shall be made by the commission from
appropriations to the commission for the preparation of the
inventory.
The commission shall evaluate each survey and shall adopt boundary
descriptions already in common use where these metes and bounds
descriptions approximate the existing line of ordinary high water
where it is in a state of nature, or where the descriptions
approximate the last position occupied in a state of nature by the
line of ordinary high water in areas where the existing shoreline has
ceased to be in a state of nature, and where sound engineering
practices were used to conduct the survey. If metes and bounds
descriptions of tideland boundaries are not available, or if the
surveys do not describe the tideland boundary in a state of nature as
hereinbefore defined, or if unsound engineering practices were used
to describe a tideland boundary, the commission may conduct its own
survey. Unless otherwise provided by law, prior to undertaking a
survey on ungranted tidelands, the commission shall prepare an
inventory of those ungranted tidelands that will require a commission
survey and shall submit a report of its findings to the Legislature.
The report shall contain a geographic identification of the
ungranted tidelands that will require a survey, a plan establishing
priorities for the orderly conduct of the needed surveys, and an
estimate of the cost needed to complete the surveys.

6332. The commission shall:
(a) Adopt and enforce such rules and regulations as may be
necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of this article in
accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, in accordance with
the following requirements:
(1) All data such as survey notes and factual and historical
materials which have been obtained by investigation and survey and
considered in connection with the establishment of each ungranted
tideland parcel boundary shall be perpetuated, filed, indexed, and
made available in the office of the commission for public inspection
and use upon request.
(2) Surveys of ungranted tideland boundary lines made by the
state, or made under contract with the state, or adopted by the
state, shall sufficiently tie the surveyed boundary lines to record
monuments disclosed by the public records in the office of the county
recorder of the county in which the land so surveyed is located to
the extent that adjoining property owners and officials of the local
agency and others may determine the relation of the surveyed boundary
lines to record title boundaries without additional survey.
(3) United States Coast and Geodetic Survey data shall be used in
areas where available to establish boundary lines which are required
under the title circumstances to be established in accordance with
federal law. In areas where tideland boundary lines are required to
be established under title circumstances which require the
application of California law, available United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey data shall be used but corrected as required.
Consideration shall be given in each survey to any seiche condition
which may exist in the surveyed area.
(4) Consideration shall be given to the effect of any prior
accretion and erosion in each surveyed area. Consideration shall also
be given to the confirmation of title boundaries of lands claimed to
be in private or public ownership, which lands support improvements
of long standing authorized by governmental action.
(5) Boundary lines so established and surveyed shall take into
consideration any statutes of limitations applicable to the validity
of patents, and the finality of boundary line agreements and boundary
and exchange agreements adopted prior to, or on or after, January 1,
1976, and whether entered into pursuant to Section 6307 or 6357, or
any other statutes of this state, or otherwise.
(6) When establishing and surveying the line of ordinary high
water, the then existing location of that line shall be used unless
there is clear and convincing evidence that that location is not the
last natural position of the line according to applicable federal or
state laws.
(b) Contract with all agencies, public and private, as the
commission may deem necessary for the rendition and affording of
services and facilities to the commission pursuant to this article
and for all other purposes related thereto.
(c) Do all other acts necessary to carry out the requirements and
purposes of this article within the limit of its authority conferred
by law, including this article.

6333. The commission shall prepare and adopt, on or before March
31, 1989, a "Preliminary Map of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries in
California" based on the inventory and survey required by this
article and shall on or before that date:
(a) Transmit a copy of such "Preliminary Map of Ungranted Tideland
Boundaries in California" to the Secretary of the Senate, the Chief
Clerk of the Assembly, the Attorney General, and the State Librarian.
(b) Transmit a copy of the pertinent part of such "Preliminary Map
of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries in California" relating to each
county wherein ungranted tidelands are located to the county clerk
thereof, who shall thereupon post the same in a public place in his
office.
(c) Publish a notice in accordance with Section 6066 of the
Government Code between April 1 and April 30, 1989, in a newspaper of
general circulation within each county wherein ungranted tidelands
are located, announcing that a copy of such "Preliminary Map of
Ungranted Tideland Boundaries in California" is available for public
inspection at the office of the county clerk of such county during
the business hours of such office, and post a similar notice in three
public places in such county.
(d) Make available copies of each such "Preliminary Map of
Ungranted Tideland Boundaries in California," or pertinent parts
thereof, to the public at the approximate cost of reproduction.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the
commission may prepare and adopt such "Preliminary Map of Ungranted
Tideland Boundaries in California" in segments of the whole, whether
by individual parcels or by areas. Any reference to a particular
"Preliminary Map of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries in California"
shall be deemed to refer to such parcels or areas. Nothing in this
article shall preclude the preparation of such "Preliminary Map of
Ungranted Tideland Boundaries in California" in segments or as a
whole prior to an inventory being made pursuant to Section 6331.5.

6334. After completing the "Preliminary Map of Ungranted Tideland
Boundaries in California," the commission shall adopt and prepare a
"Preliminary Description of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" for each
parcel of ungranted tidelands inventoried pursuant to this article,
which shall be completed on or before June 30, 1989. The commission
thereafter shall:
(a) Transmit a copy of each such "Preliminary Description of
Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" for each parcel of ungranted tidelands
to the office of the county clerk of the county in which each such
parcel is located, who shall thereupon post the same in a public
place in his office.
(b) Publish a notice in accordance with Section 6066 of the
Government Code, between July 1 and July 31, 1989, in a newspaper of
general circulation within each such county, announcing that a copy
of the "Preliminary Description of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" for
each parcel of ungranted tidelands located within the county is
available for public inspection at the office of the county clerk
during the business hours of such office, and post a similar notice
in three public places in such county.
(c) Copies of each such "Preliminary Description of Ungranted
Tideland Boundaries" shall be made available by the commission to the
public at the approximate cost of reproduction.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the
commission may prepare and adopt such "Preliminary Description of
Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" in segments of the whole whether by
individual parcels or by areas. Any reference to a particular
"Preliminary Description of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" shall be
deemed to refer to such parcels or areas. Nothing in this article
shall preclude the preparation of such "Preliminary Description of
Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" in segments or as a whole prior to an
inventory being made pursuant to Section 6331.5.

6335. On or before December 31, 1989, any local agency or other
interested person affected by boundaries described by the
"Preliminary Description of Ungranted Tideland Boundaries" may file a
protest, verified under oath, on a form to be prescribed and
provided by the commission, at an office of the commission. Any such
protest shall be accompanied by a list or brief summary of all data
and pertinent evidence bearing upon the protest upon which the
protesting party intends to rely and which is in the possession of
the protesting party at the time of the filing of the protest. A
protesting party may, at least 10 days prior to the hearing or
continued hearing provided for in Section 6337, or at any time as the
commission may approve, submit a list or brief summary of any such
data and pertinent evidence obtained subsequent to the filing of the
protest. Any such data and pertinent evidence shall, upon request of
the commission, be available for inspection amd reproduction by the
commission.

6336. The commission may negotiate with any person or local agency
having or claiming an interest in any land affected by boundaries
described by the "Preliminary Description of Ungranted Tideland
Boundaries," for the purpose of reaching a boundary agreement. Any
such boundary agreement shall be binding on the state and other
parties thereto when approved by the commission. Any such boundary
agreement shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of
each county in which the land affected thereby, or some portion
thereof, is located. The boundary line so established shall be
incorporated in, and made a part of, the master map and description
to be prepared pursuant to the provisions of Section 6338.

6337. Before adopting the Master Map of Ungranted Tideland
Boundaries in California and a Description of Ungranted Tideland
Boundaries pursuant to Section 6338, the commission shall consider
all evidence submitted pursuant to Section 6335. The commission may,
in its discretion, and shall, upon the request of the protestant,
hold a hearing as to any protest or protests prior to adopting the
master map and description. The commission may authorize its
executive officer or other officer or employee of the commission to
conduct such hearing or hearings at a convenient location selected by
the commission within each county where such protested boundary is
located. Not less than 30 days before the date set for each hearing,
a notice, setting forth the time, place, and nature of such hearing,
shall be sent by such officer or employee by certified mail to each
protestant whose protest is to be heard at such hearing.

6338. On or before December 31, 1992, the commission shall prepare,
certify, adopt, and publish in final form a "Master Map of Ungranted
Tideland Boundaries in California," and a "Description of Ungranted
Tideland Boundaries" for each parcel of ungranted tidelands, either
in whole, or by segments as completed, and thereafter shall:
(a) File a copy of each of the aforementioned documents with the
Chief Clerk of the Assembly, the Secretary of the Senate, the
Attorney General, the Director of Finance, the Director of
Conservation, the Director of Parks and Recreation, the State
Librarian, and such other state departments or agencies as the
commission may deem advisable.
(b) Record one copy of the part of each such document pertaining
to the county affected in the office of the county recorder of each
county in which ungranted tidelands are located.
(c) File the original of each in the official file of the
commission as a public record.

6339. (a) Boundaries established by boundary agreements entered
into and recorded pursuant to Section 6336, as to all parties
thereto, shall be fixed and permanent without change by reason of
fluctuation due to the forces of nature, except that any lands that
may thereafter be submerged or become subject to the ebb and flow of
the tide, shall, so long as such conditions exist, be subject to the
easement in favor of the public for commerce, navigation, and
fisheries.
(b) Boundaries mapped and described pursuant to this article,
other than boundaries established by parties to a boundary agreement
entered into pursuant to Section 6336, shall not be binding upon any
upland owner or other party affected thereby, whose rights, if any,
shall not be affected by any provision of this article. If any such
rights have been previously determined pursuant to law, they shall
remain unaffected by the provisions of, and proceedings undertaken
pursuant to, this article. If any such rights have not been
previously determined, they may be determined pursuant to any law
existing as of January 1, 1976, or that may be thereafter enacted.
However, any such upland owner or other person affected by the master
map and description may consent in writing to bind his land or any
claimed title or interest therein to the boundaries so mapped and
described. Such consent shall be acknowledged by the party executing
it and shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the
county in which the land affected thereby is located. The consent
shall thereafter have the same effect as if a boundary agreement had
been entered into pursuant to Section 6336, and the provisions of
subdivision (a) of this section shall be applicable thereto.

6340. The inventory required by this article shall not extend to,
or have any bearing upon, the determination of the seaward boundary
separating lands belonging to the state and lands belonging to the
United States.

6341. Any boundary line agreement entered into pursuant to Section
6336 or 6357, or any consent recorded pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 6339, or any exchange of land made pursuant to Section 6307,
shall be conclusively presumed to be valid unless held to be invalid
in an appropriate proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction to
determine the validity of such boundary line agreement or consent or
exchange commenced prior to January 1, 1977, or within one year after
the execution and recording of such boundary line agreement or such
consent or exchange, whichever is later.

6342. The commission may enter into boundary line agreements with
any person or public entity, describing and defining the boundary
line between ungranted tidelands and adjacent uplands owned by such
person or public entity. Such boundary line agreements shall be
executed on behalf of the commission, and upon recordation shall be
binding and conclusive as between the state and all persons and
public entities executing such agreements, and the provisions of
subdivision (a) of Section 6339 shall be applicable thereto.