The California Land Conservation Act of 1965--commonly referred to as the Williamson Act--enables local governments to enter into contracts with private landowners for the purpose of restricting specific parcels of land to agricultural or related open space use. In return, landowners receive property tax assessments which are often much lower than they would be under Proposition 13 because they are based upon farming and open space uses as opposed to full market value. Local governments then receive an annual subvention of property tax revenues from the state via the Open Space Subvention Act of 1971 that helps to offset revenues lost to this program.

The Assessor's Office often refers to Williamson Act properties as LCA or CLCA properties. Click here to open our comprehensive Williamson Land Conservation Act Questions & Answers guidelines.

The California State Department of Conservation also maintains web pages devoted to discussions of the CLCA at: www.consrv.ca.gov/dlrp/LCA/index.htm and www.consrv.ca.gov/dlrp/index.htm.