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2020 SESSION
20105601DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 10.1-1801.1 and 58.1-817 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 10.1-1801.1. Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund.
A. The Foundation shall establish, administer, manage,
including the creation of reserves, and make expenditures and allocations from
a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury to be known as the Open-Space
Lands Preservation Trust Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Fund. The
Foundation shall establish and administer the Fund solely for the purpose of
providing grants in accordance with this section to localities acquiring open-space easements fee simple title or other rights to interests or
privileges in property or persons conveying conservation or open-space easements to the Foundation fee simple title or other rights
to interests or privileges in property on agricultural,
forestal, or other open-space land pursuant to the Open-Space Land Act (§
10.1-1700 et seq.) and, if applicable, the Virginia Conservation Easement Act
(§ 10.1-1009 et seq.).
B. The Fund shall consist of general fund moneys, gifts, endowments or grants from the United States government, its agencies and instrumentalities, and funds from any other available sources, public or private.
C. Any moneys remaining in the Fund at the end of a biennium shall remain in the Fund, and shall not revert to the general fund. Interest earned on moneys received by the Fund shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it.
D. The purpose of grants made from the Fund shall be to aid
localities acquiring open-space easements fee simple title or other rights to interests or
privileges in property or persons conveying conservation or open-space easements to the Foundation fee simple title or other rights
to interests or privileges in property with the costs
associated with the conveyance of the easements property interest, which may
include legal costs, appraisal costs, or all
or part of the value of the easement property interest. In cases
where a grant is used to purchase all or part of the value of an easement a property interest,
moneys from the Fund may also be used by the Foundation to pay for an
appraisal, provided that the appraisal is the only appraisal paid for by the
Foundation in the acquisition of a particular
easement property interest.
To be eligible for a grant award, the conservation or
open-space easement property interest
shall provide that:
1. The easement is
perpetual in duration; and
2. The easement is
conveyed to the Foundation or, if the Foundation consents, the Foundation and a
local coholder.
For the purposes of
this section, "local coholder" means the governing body of the
locality in which the easement is located; a holder as defined in § 10.1-1009;
a public recreational facilities authority; other local entity authorized by
statute to hold open-space or preservation easements, or a soil and water
conservation district, if authorized to hold an easement under be compliant with the
Open-Space Land Act (§ 10.1-1700 et seq.).
The Board of Historic Resources may be a local coholder if the easement is on
land that abuts land on which a designated historic landmark, building,
structure, district, object or site is located.
E. The Foundation shall establish guidelines for submittal and evaluation of grant applications. In evaluating grant applications, the Foundation may give priority to applications that:
1. Request a grant to pay only legal and appraisal fees for a conservation or open-space easement property interest that is being
donated by the landowner;
2. Request a grant to pay costs associated with conveying a conservation or open-space easement property interest on a
family-owned or family-operated farm; or
3. Demonstrate the applicant's financial need for a grant.
F. No open-space land for which a grant has been awarded under this section shall be converted or diverted from open-space land use unless:
1. Such conversion or diversion is in compliance with subsection A of § 10.1-1704; and
2. The Any open-space easement on the
land substituted for land subject to an easement with respect to which a grant
has been made under this section meets the eligibility requirements of this
section.
G. Up to $100,000 per year of any interest generated by the Fund may be used for the Foundation's administrative expenses.
§ 58.1-817. Fee for open-space preservation.
In addition to all other taxes and fees imposed by this
chapter, beginning July 1, 2004, there
is hereby imposed a $1 $3 fee on
every deed admitted to record
each instrument or document recorded in the proper book for filing of land
records in those jurisdictions any jurisdiction in which an open-space easements are easement is held by the
Virginia Outdoors Foundation. The fee shall be collected as provided in §
58.1-812 and the clerk shall deposit all fees collected hereunder into a
special fund within the state treasury which that shall be created on the
books of the Comptroller for this revenue. On a monthly basis, the Comptroller
shall distribute all revenue collected from such fee to the Virginia Outdoors
Foundation, which shall accept, hold,
and administer such funds in accordance with its purpose and powers as set
forth in Chapter 18 (§ 10.1-1800 et seq.) of Title 10.1.