AS CALIFORNIA taxpayers kicked in $5 million toward the purchase of some of Big Sur's most scenic land, Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter said he would seek changes in local land use policies that would make it harder for long-forgotten subdivisions to turn into windfalls for real estate speculators.

"I think we should have some kind of public notice -- and especially notice to the property owner -- before issuing Certificates of Compliance," Potter told The Pine Cone. He said he would raise the issue at Tuesday's meeting of the Board of Supervisors in Salinas.

His comments came as the California Coastal Conservancy, meeting in Sacramento, okayed a $5 million appropriation of state tax money toward the purchase of Bixby Ranch. Last year, the federal government appropriated $10 million toward the same purchase and may add more millions this year, according to Congressman Sam Farr.

The 1,200-acre ranch -- which includes pristine beaches, coastal prairies, steep mountains and redwood-studded canyons -- is being acquired by the government for $26.25 million from Brian Sweeney, a Las Vegas land speculator who bought the ranch last year from the Allen Funt estate for about $2 million.

Sweeney closed escrow on the ranch after getting the Monterey County Planning Department to issue Certificates of Compliance that confirmed the existence of nine separate parcels on the ranch. The parcels -- created as far back as the 1870s -- were unknown to Peter Funt, who was executor of his father's estate.

The elder Funt, creator of Candid Camera, died in September 1999. His son, Peter, who has taken over as host of Candid Camera, said at the time he negotiated the sale of the ranch he had no idea that the county was about to issue official documents confirming the existence of the parcels and making his land exponentially more valuable.

"I don't know what difference it might have made if Funt and the public had some advance notice of what Sweeney was up to," Potter said. "But it certainly doesn't seem fair for the county to issue documents with such a dramatic effect on the value of someone's property without letting them know about it."

Once the solid gold certificates had been issued, an attorney representing Sweeney protected his investment by asking the county not to record them -- which would have made them readily available to the public -- until after he had closed escrow. Documents on file in Salinas show that the county readily complied, in effect keeping the certificates secret for more than five months.

As soon as escrow closed on January 28, 2000, Sweeney started offering the lots as separate building sites. To keep the renowned property from being developed, The Trust for Public Lands, a conservation group that taps government funding sources, negotiated the $26.25 million deal with Sweeney, which will yield him a stunning profit of more than $20 million.

The issuance of Certificates of Compliance is required by state law if subdivided parcels -- no matter how old -- were legal at the time they were created.

But deputy county counsel Efren Iglesia said there is nothing in state law that would prevent the county from adding a notice requirement to its procedures for issuing the certificates.

The notice requirement would protect property owners, make open space acquisitions easier and would also help prevent Certificates of Compliance from being issued improperly, Potter noted.

A California Court of Appeal ruled in 1992 that a challenge to a Certificate of Compliance must be filed within 90 days of its issuance -- a window that would be very difficult to hit when there is no public notice, he said.