The History of Tract 9300
To grasp the diversity of tract 9300, one must first
understand the history of Pacific Palisades.
In the early days Pacific Palisades* lots were laid out, drawn
on a map, and recorded in a map book by those lot numbers. Later, developers built multiple homes and
were also assigned tract numbers
typically for five or more homes build at the same time. The City of LA imposed conditions on those
tracts, including lot size and special zoning restrictions. This led to a mix of lot designations, some
with and some without tract numbers. At some point, possibly in the 1940s (to
be confirmed through research), the City of LA standardized the lot designation
in property records and assigned tract number 9300 to all lots previously
without a tract designation. For instance, the water tank above Charmel Lane in
Marquez Knolls is on a lot designated as tract 9300, as is much of the
commercial area in the center of the Palisades and numerous private lots around
Akron and Chattanooga. There may be additional examples.
Some developers established Conditions, Covenants, and
Restrictions (CC&Rs) for lots in their tracts, adding rules beyond those of
the City, like building size, lot use, or view protection. These CC&Rs are
private contracts among neighbors and are recorded with the deed in perpetuity.
Some neighbors with tract 9300 designations created
CC&Rs for themselves. The Pacific Palisades Civic League defined their
jurisdiction by drawing a line around the commercial lots in tract 9300,
resulting in CC&Rs for that area.
There is no easy way to locate all
tract 9300 lots other than to check City or County records and map them. For
specific tract 9300 lot details, such as CC&Rs, the Title Company is your most
reliable source.
*) The formal boundary of Pacific Palisades was not
established until 2003 when the Pacific Palisades Community Council, under President
George Wolfberg, reached an agreement with Brentwood to place the boundary line
between the two communities just west of Mandeville Canyon, and also include
Santa Monica Canyon.