Parcel Maps in Santa Rosa, CA

Santa Rosa splits its map process by size and by decision-maker. A tentative parcel map covers four or fewer lots and is approved by the Subdivision Committee at a noticed public hearing; a tentative map covers five or more and goes to the Planning Commission. The city's checklist requires a preliminary title report issued within the last three months for any development that creates a new building footprint, along with the proposed tentative map itself, and it may call for a preliminary drainage report or traffic analysis depending on the project. Approval rests on findings including general plan and specific plan consistency under Government Code sections 65451 and 66474.5.

Two Santa Rosa conditions shape the survey work more than the paperwork does. First, slope. The Hillside Development Standards in Chapter 20-32 apply on the portion of a site with a slope of 10 percent or greater and cap the average slope of each proposed lot at 25 percent, which means a hillside split lives or dies on a measured surface, not an estimate. Second, faulting. The Rodgers Creek fault crosses the city and the California Geological Survey has mapped Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones along it, with revised official maps covering the Santa Rosa quadrangle released in 2024. Inside a zone the state requires a geologic investigation for all land divisions, so a lot split on a zoned parcel picks up a fault study before it picks up a map. We check the current state zone maps at the start of a project rather than at the end.

Our scope covers boundary retracement from recovered monuments and record research, the tentative map exhibit with the topography behind it, the final map, legal descriptions, and monument setting, coordinating with the Sonoma County Surveyor at Permit Sonoma. For the terrain data underneath the map, see our Santa Rosa topographic surveys, and for map types, parcel map vs tract map.