If the board approved dividing the five-acre parcel into four lots, staff estimated it could open the door for hundreds of similar requests, said county supervisor Ellen Pirie, who requested that the board take a look at the subdivision.

The parcel, on Sea View Terrace near Manresa State Beach, has a history of questions about just how many lots it contains. Back in 1971, the then-owners attempted to deed it into four parcels, an action the county refused, citing the agricultural zoning limiting it to one parcel.

Although the parcel retained separate numbers, it was deeded and sold as one unit, including when current owner Peter Cartwright and Heather Point Partners bought it.

Now he is asking for the four parcels to be recognized, thanks to a state law his attorney thinks overrides the county’s decision.

That law allowed smaller parcel subdivisions of less than five lots before 1972 if local ordinances did not prohibit it.

That argument swayed planning director Tom Burns, but not the board.

Pirie and the majority of the board believe the zoning does supercede the law, and said that Cartwright in fact used the county’s earlier ruling to lower the parcel’s tax value. Neighbors of the parcel have asked about its status over the years and been told it is one lot, Pirie said.

“We can’t just suddenly reverse it after 30 years,” she said.