Parcels
Definition
A parcel is a piece of land or a lot (real property) identified by a unique Assessor Parcel Number (APN)
The APN is comprised of a block number and a lot number
Block number format: 4 numerical digits + 1 optional letter character (0012A)
Lot number format: 3 numerical digits + 1 optional letter character (037B)
Blocks are groupings of lots which are usually contiguous and usually bounded by streets or other features on all sides
Blocks can be discontiguous and split by other blocks or streets
The City is broken up into over 6,000 blocks and over 200,000 individual lots
Note: You will see reference to
mapblklot
in some City data. This is to reference a 1:M relationship of vertical parcels to a base parcel; e.g. condo or timeshare lots.The practice of representing a vertical lot digitally is to duplicate and "stack" the base parcel for each vertical lot in the building, assigning each a unique
blklot
number. Themapblklot
is the reference to the base APN. Soblklot
will be unique, whilemapblklot
will duplicate across vertical lots.
Illustration
Block 0117 above is bounded:
On the North and South by Union and Green Streets
On the East and West by Stockton and Powell Streets
Columbus Avenue bisects it, but both sides are still part of the same block
The block is subdivided into lots numbered from 001 through 021
A full Assessor Parcel Number would be the concatenation of the block and lot
Blocks are 4 digits with an optional letter suffix - 117 becomes 0117
Lots are 3 digits with an optional letter suffix - 4 becomes 004
The full APN for lot 4 in block 117 is 0117004
These are recorded in paper maps in the Office of the Assessor Recorder and digitized
Authority
Recordation of final parcel maps happens with the Office of the Assessor-Recorder
Before recordation, subdivision maps are approved by the County Surveyor, the Public Works Director and the Board of Supervisors
More information about the subdivision process and related codes on the Public Works website
Use
Assessor Parcel Numbers are used to tie deeds and legal records to property
Assessor Parcel Numbers used to assess and collect taxes on land and improvements
As a common administrative identifier for a number of processes like permitting
Accepted values
Must be provided in a dataset as 2 separate fields:
Block as
blk
orblock
orblock_num
- must have 4 numeric digits and an optional letter suffixLot as
lot
orlot_num
- must have 3 numeric digits and an optional letter suffix
When representing the fully qualified APN as a single field:
Name the column either
apn
orassessor_parcel_number
orblklot
orblock_and_lot
Concatenate the block and lot values together
Do not separate the block and lot number with space or other characters
0585012D instead of 0585/012D
Do not prepend with additional text like
APN
orBlock and Lot Number
Current parcels and corresponding identifiers in the current subdivision parcels below
Historic parcels and corresponding identifiers in the recorded parcel geography below (note limitations)
Reference Datasets
Dataset | Description and Constraints | Block Column | Lot Column | APN Column |
These are the current active recorded parcels. The geography can be used as reference but should not be used for anything requiring precision. |
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These are the current and historic parcels with recorded dates. Historic parcels only go back to about 1995 with some exceptions. Useful for tying historic administrative records to a location. The geography can be used as reference but should not be used for anything requiring precision. |
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Just the blocks without lots |
| N/A | N/A |
Is anything wrong, unclear, missing?
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