CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 6501-6509
PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE
SECTION 6501-6509
6501. As used in this chapter, "lease" includes a permit, easement,
or license.
6501.1. Lands owned by the state and which are under the
jurisdiction of the commission may be leased for such purpose or
purposes as the commission deems advisable, including, but not
limited to, grazing leases and leases for commercial, industrial, and
recreational purposes.
6501.2. The commission shall prepare forms of leases for use under
this chapter for such purposes as the commission deems advisable,
including grazing leases and leases for commercial, industrial, and
recreational purposes. Each form of lease shall contain such terms
and conditions as the commission deems to be for the best interests
of the state.
The commission shall also prepare forms of applications for each
type of lease.
6501.3. Any interests in lands, or lands in fee simple, acquired by
the commission or by any department, board, or other commission, of
the State by purchase, donation, lease, condemnation, or otherwise,
may, with the approval of the Department of Finance, be made
available to any lessee of the State by the commission or the
department, board, or other commission of the State, for the purposes
contained in this chapter and upon such terms and conditions as may
be determined by the state agency acquiring the land. This section
does not, however, authorize the commission or any department, board,
or other commission of the State to make any interests in lands, or
lands in fee simple acquired by the State for beach or park purposes
available to any lessee of the State.
6502. Any person, firm, or corporation desiring to lease any of the
lands owned by the state, or in which the state may have an
interest, and which are under the jurisdiction of the commission, for
any purpose not prohibited or otherwise provided for by law, may
make application therefor to the commission, describing the lands
sought to be leased by legal subdivisions, or, if such lands are
unsurveyed, by metes and bounds or by such other method as the
commission may prescribe. The application shall be accompanied by a
reasonable filing fee prescribed by the commission by rule or
regulation, but such fee may not exceed the average of the commission'
s actual costs of receiving applications and making the initial title
review for leases or the permits of the class applied for.
All applications to lease lands under this chapter shall be
approved or rejected by the commission within 180 days after receipt
thereof or within 90 days after completion of the environmental
impact report required by Section 6371, whichever shall occur later.
In no event shall an application be held more than 270 days after
receipt without approval or rejection by the commission.
6503. Upon receipt of an application to lease lands under this
chapter, the commission shall appraise the lands and fix the annual
rent or other consideration therefor.
6503.5. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 6503, no rent
shall be charged for any private recreational pier constructed on
state lands for the use of a littoral landowner. However, a littoral
landowner shall pay to the commission, in accordance with its rules
and regulations, the commission's expenses in issuing a lease or
permit for the state lands.
(b) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Littoral landowner" means (A) any natural person or persons
who own littoral land improved with, and used solely for, a
single-family dwelling or (B) any association of, or any nonprofit
corporation consisting of, natural persons who own parcels of land,
each of which is zoned or used solely for a single-family dwelling,
and who are entitled to the use of a private recreational pier on
littoral land that is owned by the association or nonprofit
corporation and is not more than one mile from any such parcel owned
by a member thereof.
(2) "Recreational pier" includes any fixed facility for the
docking or mooring of boats that is constructed for the use of the
littoral landowner.
6505.5. No grazing or recreational lease shall be for a period
longer than 10 years except that when the recreational use is
combined and is incidental to residential use on the same parcel, and
the lease so recites, the lease shall not exceed 50 years. The
lessee shall be notified by mail of the filing of any application to
purchase the leased land or any portion thereof. The lease shall
terminate as to the whole or the portion of the lands described
therein on the date the sale of the whole or of such portion of the
leased land is approved by the commission. The lessee shall be
notified by registered mail of the termination of the lease as to the
whole or portion sold. As to the portion of leased lands not sold,
it shall be the option of the lessee to terminate the lease, or to
cause the lease to be amended for the unexpired term, at the same
annual rental per acre, without the payment of any additional fees.
6506. Possession under any lease authorized by this chapter shall
not be held to be adverse to that of any person who becomes an actual
settler upon any portion of land described in such lease with intent
to purchase it in the manner provided by law.
6507. Any error in the description of any lease may, with the
consent of the holder thereof, be corrected or any description
amended by the commission when in its judgment it is to the best
interests of the state so to do.
6508. Any lease for sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections or any
portion thereof which are now or may hereafter be included within the
exterior boundaries of a national reservation or of a reserve, or
within the exterior boundaries of lands withdrawn from public entry,
shall terminate whenever the State designates the lands as bases for
indemnity selections as provided by law. The lessee shall be notified
by the commission by registered mail whenever the State so
designates the land.
6509. If a lease is terminated by reason of the sale of the land,
or by the designation of land as a base for indemnity selections, the
lessee shall surrender the lease to the commission and receive in
exchange therefor from the commission a certificate showing the
proportionate amount of the annual payment to be refunded to the
lessee, for the tract of land that has been disposed of by the State.
If the lease has been amended because of the sale of a portion of
the lands described therein, the commission shall, at the option of
the lessee, credit the lessee with the amount of the prepaid rental
applicable to rental due for the remaining term of the lease or issue
a certificate to the lessee showing the proportionate amount of the
rental to be refunded to the lessee. The State Controller, upon the
surrender to him of the certificate, shall issue to the lessee a
warrant for the amount payable out of the State School Fund or, if
the rentals received under the lease were deposited in the General
Fund, then the warrant shall be payable out of any appropriation
available for such purpose, and the State Treasurer shall pay the
same.