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Ms. Megan Aguirre, Associate Planner May 21, 2015 Page 2 of 3 The Board of Supervisors must determine whether the proposed subdivision conflicts with the Subdivision Map Act or the Williamson Act. The Board of Supervisors should not approve a tentative map or parcel map involving Williamson Act contracted land "...if it finds that either the resulting parcels following a subdivision of that land would be too small to sustain their agricultural use or the subdivision will result in residential development not incidental to the commercial agricultural use of the land... (Government Code (GC) § 66474.4(a))." The principal purpose of GC § 66474.4 is to ensure that subdivision of contracted land for residential purposes does not occur. The Legislature has acted to limit the permissibility of residential subdivisions because of a subdivision's irreversible erosion of the enforceability of the Williamson Act's requirement to protect agricultural land and, thus its constitutional basis for the preferential tax benefit. The State of California Attorney General's Office has opined that the Williamson Act prohibits subdividing contracted lands for residential purposes regardless of parcel size (75 Ops. A1t'y Gen. 278 (1992); 62 Ops. Att'y Gen. 233 (1979); 54 Ops. Att'y Gen. 90 (1971)). The Legislature, through the enactment of Senate Bill 985 (Chapter 1018, Statutes of 1999, §15), concurred with these Attorney General opinions and made them declaratory of existing law, adding the following: "In enacting Section 14 of this act...clarihying that a landowner's right to subdivide is subject to the Williamson Act...therefore, the subdivision of enrolled lands for residential purposes is prohibited by both the Williamson Act and by Section 66474.4 of the Government Code..." In a case where the landowner and County desire to develop parcels for residential uses, we recommend that the proposed subdivision be postponed until-the land is out of contract through the process of non-renewal. It is the County's responsibility to ensure that subdivision of Williamson Act land for residential purposes does not occur. To address this issue, some.counties have included "no build' provisions for Williamson Act parcel splits, and others have included agricultural income requirements for parcels before additional houses could be built. Such conditions may protect both the property owner and the County from potential Williamson Act violations. MATERIAL BREACH The County and landowner should also be aware that under GC § 51250 construction of buildings not related to agricultural use on newly created parcels of contracted land may be subject to the breach of contract provisions and penalties. While it is the County's responsibility to enforce the sanctions contained in GC § 51250, the Department is also empowered to take action if a possible breach of contract is discovered. Government Code §51250 provides an enhanced penalty for a material breach of contract. The enhanced penalty is 25 percent of the unrestricted fair market value of the land rendered incompatible by the breach and 25 percent of the value of any incompatible building and related improvements on the land. A breach of Williamson Act contract is defined as material if a commercial, industrial, or residential building is all of