Hearst Foes Target Loophole
Lawmakers launched an eleventh-hour attempt Tuesday to thwart Hearst Corp. from subdividing some of California’s most renowned coastal property as a prelude to opening it up to extensive development.
Proponents of the bill hope it will not only protect the sweeping tablelands below Hearst Castle on the Central Coast but also curb an increasingly popular tactic of using historic property records to circumvent zoning restrictions and increase land values.
By amending a bill that is nearing passage during the end-of-session flurry, legislators hope to have a proposal headed for the governor’s desk later this month that would, effectively, limit Hearst’s development leverage.
“There are a bunch of us who are irate how this loophole is being exploited,” said Assemblywoman Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), who chairs the Local Government Committee. “We need to address this issue now.”
Hearst officials, who said they were unaware of the last-minute legislative efforts, have nonetheless hired a powerful ally. Since July, they have retained lobbyist Darius Anderson, chief fund-raiser for Gov. Gray Davis.
Environmental activists worry that bringing Anderson into Hearst’s stable of lobbyists--which includes former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt--could hurt chances of Davis signing the bill.
“The hiring of Darius has me very nervous,” said Susan Jordan of the League for Coastal Protection, who was in Sacramento on Tuesday lobbying for the bill, which will be the subject of a public hearing today.
The governor’s office downplayed Anderson’s significance.
“There is no connection between Darius’ fund-raising for the governor and what the governor supports,” said Steve Maviglio, Davis’ press secretary. “The governor has disappointed as many of Darius’ clients as he has made happy.”
Stephen T. Hearst, who manages Hearst’s real estate, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Roger Lyon, one of Hearst’s lawyers and designated spokesman, said of Anderson: “I do not know what precise role he will play.”
At issue is the recent tactic of developers digging up old records to skirt modern restrictions on creation of subdivisions. The grandfathering of these records through “certificates of compliance” has grown popular among landowners and builders.
What they look for are old deeds and other papers indicating that their land was not always one parcel but a collection of many historical lots. Evidence that such lots existed has often been enough to let modern owners subdivide again. And they have been able to adjust the boundaries of the old lots, moving them around like pieces of a puzzle.
Hearst, for example, could redraw lines to legally create hundreds of lots by the ocean, moving them from less-desirable inland areas.
The legislation would end that practice and impose limits on the total number of lots that could be moved within a larger holding.
“This is not just a Hearst issue,” said Sara Wan, California Coastal Commission chairwoman. “You see these certificates popping up all over. They totally undermine all good planning for traffic, water, sewage and schools. This is just the opposite of the state’s intent for orderly development.”
In the latest wrinkle, owners have not necessarily bulldozed land and built homes. Instead, they have used the certificates of compliance as leverage to drive up the price of pristine acreage suddenly facing the threat of development.
Land trusts and other public entities have paid higher prices for the properties, once they were designated for greater development.
One congressman called the tactic “environmental terrorism” and said taxpayers end up paying to protect the land.
Apparently following this model, Hearst has applied for 279 certificates of compliance to subdivide its 83,000-acre cattle ranch.
But Stephen Hearst said the purpose of securing the certificates is to determine the land’s true value, not necessarily to subdivide it. Once he has figured out his rights to develop the grasslands and foothills along 18 miles of spectacular coastline, Hearst said, he wants to sell those rights.
Public agencies or private foundations that bought them would presumably retire the rights, so the Hearst Ranch would remain open space forever. Such a deal could cost up to $300 million, according to one estimate.
While the measure moves through the Legislature, San Luis Obispo County planners announced Tuesday that they had granted Hearst 143 certificates. An additional 98 will be recorded as soon as staff can complete the paperwork, said Pat Beck, principal planner. Three dozen more will be evaluated later this month, Beck said.
County officials said they have no choice but to grant the certificates if the applications meet the criteria spelled out by state law.
The statute, called the Subdivision Map Act, has been interpreted by the courts more broadly over the years, encouraging owners to use old records to justify development rather than submit subdivision plans to local planning officials. Sometimes as little as the hint of an old well site has been shown to justify designation of another lot.
The legislation, as amended into a Senate-passed bill by Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford), would only tinker in minor ways with the rules for certificates. Its most significant proposal would limit the adjustment of lot lines to four or fewer lots within a larger parcel.
“We’ve seen a whole industry that finds these antique lots to get around local government rules and then do outrageous things with lot-line adjustments,” said Assemblywoman Wiggins. “I wish this were addressing the whole big problem, but we’re going to start with lot-line adjustments.”
