Californians for Property Rights

TOPIC: MERGER OF RURAL RESIDENTIAL AND RURAL PARCELS

CPR RECOMMENDATION: DO NOT MERGE ANY RURAL RESIDENTIAL OR RURAL PARCELS

As the above discussion indicates, there is no sound reason to arbitrarily victimize rural residential property owners who have waited patiently for the water hookup moratorium to be lifted, and who have every statutory right to a sewer connection upon demand at any time, regardless of the size of their legal parcels. In any case, the number of rural residential and rural properties fitting the criteria for lot consolidation is relatively few, so no plausible argument can be made that controlling Midcoast growth is dependent on the proposed merger policy.
CPR’s recommendation is that the County encourage property owners to voluntarily merge adjacent properties under common ownership, by emphasizing creative incentives that would benefit all concerned. For example, property owners who voluntarily merge adjacent parcels have the possibility of a larger residence, space for agricultural or ranching activities, outbuildings, recreational facilities, privacy landscaping, etc.
It should also be pointed out that the one-acre minimum estimated by Environmental Health for a property to supply its own water and septic needs is based on an on-site household sewage dispersal “technology” that is widely considered backward and outdated, as the traditional septic tank and leach field system is both spatially wasteful and environmentally suspect. For this reason rural residential and rural properties should not be required to consolidate to a one-acre minimum, because that estimate of minimum physical size will inevitably decrease as San Mateo County eventually adopts cleaner and more compact on-site sewage disposal systems in the future. Septic-and-leach systems should not be forced upon the public and environment in the name of controlling growth and development, when superior on-site sanitary waste disposal systems are available.