Flowage Easement Replacement and Release
Summary
SCH Number
2025010550
Public Agency
Ventura County
Document Title
Flowage Easement Replacement and Release
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
1/17/2025
Document Description
Ventura County Watershed Protection District (District) has a flowage easement (“Existing Easement”) encumbering an approximately 37-acre unimproved parcel of real property, Assessor’s Parcel Number 662-0-010-030, located in the City of Thousand Oaks, California (“Property”), owned by Mason Partners LLC, a California limited liability company. The Existing Easement is no longer needed by the District for flood control purposes because it will be replaced by a replacement flowage easement (“Replacement Easement”). The Replacement Easement will continue to allow the District and County of Ventura (“County”) to prohibit construction and improvements on the Property and to periodically inundate the Property with storm and flood waters. The Replacement Easement, unlike the Existing Easement, would also include specific conditions that must be satisfied to trigger the potential future release of the Replacement Easement by the District. Upon satisfaction of the Replacement Easement’s detailed release conditions, the District and County would have no flood control-related need for a flowage easement encumbering the property because all flood control and hydrological issues and potential impacts affecting the Property and surrounding area will have been analyzed and addressed through alternative infrastructure and stormwater management facilities and programs provided by the owner pursuant to these release conditions.
Contact Information
Name
Jeff Palmer
Agency Name
Ventura County Watershed Protection District
Job Title
Director
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Thousand Oaks
Counties
Ventura
Regions
Countywide
Cross Streets
HWY 101-BORCHARD RD
Zip
91320
Total Acres
35.75
Parcel #
662-0-010-030
State Highways
101
Schools
Newbury Park High School
Waterways
SOUTH BRANCH ARROYO CONEJO
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
CEQA Guidelines section 15061 (b)(3)
Reasons for Exemption
Replacing the Existing Easement with the Replacement Easement would not constitute a “project” that is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or, in the alternative, would be statutorily exempt from CEQA review. CEQA only applies to discretionary “projects.” CEQA, at Public Resources Code section 21065, defines “project” as “an activity which may cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment…” The District’s and County’s actions to replace the Existing Easement with the Replacement Easement are not a “project” because they would not result in any direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change to the environment. The District’s and County’s actions also qualify for CEQA’s common-sense statutory exemption pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the actions may have a significant effect on the environment.
County Clerk
Ventura
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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