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2004 SESSION
046594260Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 10.1-1010 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 10.1-1010. Creation, acceptance and duration.
A. A holder may acquire a conservation easement by gift, purchase, devise or bequest.
B. No right or duty in favor of or against a holder and no right in favor of a person having a third-party right of enforcement arises under a conservation easement before its acceptance by the holder and a recordation of the acceptance.
C. A conservation easement shall be perpetual in duration unless the instrument
creating it otherwise provides a specific time. For all easements, the holder
shall (i) meet the criteria in § 10.1-1009 and (ii) either have had a principal
office in the Commonwealth for at least five three years, or be a national
organization in existence for at least five years which has an office in the Commonwealth and has
registered and is in good standing with the State Corporation Commission. Until
a holder has met these requirements, the holder may co-hold a conservation
easement with another holder that meets the requirements.
D. An interest in real property in existence at the time a conservation easement is created is not impaired by it unless the owner of the interest is a party to the conservation easement or consents to it in writing.
E. No conservation easement shall be valid and enforceable unless the limitations or obligations created thereby conform in all respects to the comprehensive plan at the time the easement is granted for the area in which the real property is located.
F. This chapter does not affect the power of the court to modify or terminate a conservation easement in accordance with the principles of law and equity, or in any way limit the power of eminent domain as possessed by any public body. In any such proceeding the holder of the conservation easement shall be compensated for the value of the easement.