Board overturns planning commission, approves four-lot subdivision for family farm near Vernalis

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors voted to overturn the planning commission and approved a variance and minor subdivision on Feb. 11 that will split an 8.76-acre parcel near Vernalis into four separate lots ranging about 2.05 to 2.59 acres. The applicant appealed a planning commission denial, arguing the split would allow the next generation of the Baguetti family to live on and continue working the farm.

County planning staff had recommended denial, saying they could not make required variance findings that special circumstances existed and that the grant would not amount to a special privilege. At the Supervisors’ public hearing, the applicant’s representative described the parcel as uniquely configured: roughly half the site is zoned rural residential and half as AG-40 (40-acre minimum), creating a dual-zoned lot that the family said prevents a straightforward subdivision under current rules.

After discussion, the board concluded that the parcel’s dual zoning and site configuration provided a basis to find a special circumstance and that approving the appeal would not create an unequal privilege for other owners. The board adopted the mitigated negative declaration and approved the subdivision with the conditions of approval contained in the staff packet. The motion passed on a recorded vote recorded as five to zero. The decision allows the four family members to separately finance and build homes on the new lots rather than share a single parcel with multiple farm employee houses.