Bill Text: AZ HB2114 | 2014 | Fifty-first Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: ADOT; land acquisition; conveyances; relocation

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-04-15 - Chapter 28 [HB2114 Detail]

Download: Arizona-2014-HB2114-Introduced.html

 

 

 

REFERENCE TITLE: ADOT; land acquisition; conveyances; relocation

 

 

 

 

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-first Legislature

Second Regular Session

2014

 

 

HB 2114

 

Introduced by

Representative Fann

 

 

AN ACT

 

amending sections 11-963, 11-964, 11-966, 28‑7092, 28‑7095, 28‑7143, 28‑7144 and 28‑7146, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to the DEPARTMENT OF transportation.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 


Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1.  Section 11-963, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE11-963.  Payment of moving and related expenses; substitute payments

A.  The  displacing agency, as a part of the cost of the project, shall make a payment to a displaced person, business or farm operation, upon on proper application to the acquiring agency, for:

1.  Actual reasonable expenses in moving himself and his family, business, farm operation or other personal property, as determined by the lead agency.

2.  Actual direct losses of tangible personal property as a result of moving or discontinuing a business or farm operation, but not to exceed an amount equal to the reasonable expenses that would have been required to relocate such property, as determined by the lead agency.

3.  Actual reasonable expenses, of not to exceed one two thousand five hundred dollars, in searching to search for a replacement business or farm, provided, however, that in exceptional cases an amount greater than one thousand dollars may be authorized by as the chief executive officer or designee of the lead agency deems reasonable.

4.  Actual reasonable expenses necessary to reestablish a displaced farm, nonprofit organization or small business at its new site, as determined by criteria established by the lead agency, but not to exceed ten twenty‑five thousand dollars.

B.  Any displaced person who is eligible for payments under subsection A of this section, who is displaced from a dwelling and who elects to accept the payments authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payments authorized by subsection A of this section may receive a moving expense and dislocation allowance, determined according to a schedule established by the lead agency.

C.  A displaced person who is eligible for payments under subsection A of this section, who is displaced from the person's place of business or farm operation and who is eligible under criteria established by the lead agency may elect to accept the payment authorized by this subsection instead of the payment authorized by subsection A of this section.  This payment consists of a fixed payment in an amount determined by criteria established by the lead agency, except that the payment shall not be less than one thousand dollars nor more than twenty forty thousand dollars.  A person whose sole business at the displacement property is the rental of the property to others does not qualify for a payment under this subsection. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2.  Section 11-964, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

11-964.  Replacement housing for homeowners

A.  In addition to payments otherwise authorized by this article, the displacing agency shall make an additional payment of not more than twenty‑two thirty‑one thousand five hundred dollars to any displaced person who is displaced from a dwelling actually owned and occupied by the displaced person for not fewer than one hundred eighty at least ninety days before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the property.  This additional payment shall include the following amounts as determined by the acquiring agency:

1.  The amount, if any, which, when added to the acquisition cost of the dwelling acquired by the displacing agency, equals the reasonable cost of a comparable replacement dwelling.

2.  The amount, if any, which will compensate the displaced person for any increased interest costs and other debt service costs which the person is required to pay for financing the acquisition of any comparable replacement dwelling.  The displacing agency shall pay this amount only if the dwelling acquired by the displacing agency was encumbered by a bona fide mortgage which was a valid lien on the dwelling for not fewer than one hundred eighty at least ninety days immediately before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling.

3.  Reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by the displaced person for evidence of title, recording fees and other closing costs incident to the purchase of the replacement dwelling, if normally paid by the buyer, but not including prepaid expenses.

B.  The displacing agency shall make the additional payment authorized by this section shall be made only to a displaced person who purchases and occupies a comparable replacement dwelling within one year after the date on which the person receives final payment from the displacing agency for the acquired dwelling or the date on which the obligation of the displacing agency under section 11-971 is met, whichever is later, except that the displacing agency may extend the period for good cause.  If the period is extended, the payment under this section is based on the costs of relocating the person to a comparable replacement dwelling within one year of that date. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3.  Section 11-966, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE11-966.  Replacement housing for tenants

A.  In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this article, a displacing agency may shall make a payment to or for any person who is displaced from any dwelling and who is not eligible to receive a payment under section 11-964 if the dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for not fewer than at least ninety days immediately before the initiation of negotiations for acquisition of the dwelling, or if displacement is not a direct result of acquisition ninety days immediately before such other event as the lead agency prescribes. This payment shall be an consists of the amount necessary to enable the person to lease or rent a comparable replacement dwelling for a period of not more than forty-two months but shall not exceed five more than seven thousand two hundred fifty dollars, as determined by the acquiring agency.  At the discretion of the displacing agency, a payment under this subsection may be made in periodic installments.  Computation of a payment under this subsection to a low income displaced person for a comparable replacement dwelling shall take into account the person's income.

B.  A person who is eligible for a payment under subsection A of this section may elect to apply the payment to a down payment on, and other incidental expenses pursuant to, the purchase of a comparable replacement dwelling.  The person, at the discretion of the displacing agency, may be eligible under this subsection for the maximum payment allowed under subsection A of this section, except that, in the case of a displaced homeowner who has owned and occupied the displacement dwelling for at least ninety days but not more than one hundred eighty days immediately before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling, the payment shall not exceed the payment the person otherwise would have received under section 11-964, subsection A if the person had owned and occupied the displacement dwelling one hundred eighty days immediately before the initiation of the negotiations. END_STATUTE

Sec. 4.  Section 28-7092, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-7092.  Land acquisition; transportation purposes

A.  In the name of this state, the director may acquire, either in fee or a lesser estate or interest, real property that the director considers necessary for transportation purposes by purchase, donation, dedication, exchange, condemnation or other lawful means with monies from the state highway fund or any other monies appropriated to the department.

B.  Property acquired for transportation purposes includes land or any interest in the land necessary for:

1.  Rights‑of‑way, campsites, roadside rest areas, water or material needed in the construction, improvement or maintenance of state highways, airports, runways, taxiways or other property under the jurisdiction, possession or control of the department.

2.  Spoil banks, rock quarries, gravel pits, sand or earth borrow pits.

3.  Rights‑of‑way to the place where material required in the construction, improvement or maintenance of state highways, airports, runways or taxiways may be located.

4.  Offices, shops, maintenance camps, storage yards, inspection or weighing stations or radio transmitter or repeater stations.

5.  Rights‑of‑way for access to any location prescribed in this subsection.

6.  Relocation of existing utility or irrigation facilities and rights‑of‑way that are required to be relocated to facilitate a transportation purpose.

7.  Legal access to property acquired by the director through adjacent property.

8.  Environmental mitigation or banking credits, if necessary to satisfy the requirements of federal or state environmental laws or regulations or requirements to obtain a permit, grant or right to use property from a federal or state agency.  For the purposes of this paragraph:

(a)  "Banking credits" means payment in lieu of costs of acquisition, preservation or maintenance of habitat or other environmentally protected locations.

(b)  "Environmental mitigation" means replacement of habitat or other environmentally protected locations that are taken for or affected by a transportation facility.

9.  Private legal access to property when the access has been severed as a result of a taking for transportation purposes.

C.  If part of a parcel of land is to be taken for transportation purposes and the remainder is to be left in such shape or condition as to be of little value to its owner or to give rise to claims or litigation concerning severance or other damage, the director may acquire the whole parcel by any means provided in subsection A of this section, and the remainder may be sold, exchanged for other property needed for transportation purposes or used for rights‑of‑way for relocated utility or irrigation facilities. END_STATUTE

Sec. 5.  Section 28-7095, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-7095.  Conveyance of property not needed for transportation purposes

A.  The director may dispose of real property or any right, title or interest in the real property if the director determines that it is not needed or used for transportation purposes.  After the establishment, laying out, substantial completion of a transportation improvement or abolishment of a transportation improvement by formal action of the transportation board, the director may convey the real property or any interest in the real property that was acquired pursuant to this article and that the director determines is not necessary for state transportation purposes.

B.  Except as provided in section 28‑7099, the director may convey the real property described in subsection A of this section to an agency of the federal government, this state or a county, city or town of this state without a public sale if the director considers the conveyance to be in the public interest and if the real property is to be used for such a specific public purpose.  If the property is not used for a highway purpose, the agency shall pay the department for the conveyance based on an appraisal within twelve months of the date of conveyance establishing the fair market value of the property to be conveyed.  If the property conveyed to an agency is to be used for a specific highway purpose, the agency shall reimburse the department for its expenditures for the property.  If the property is not used for a highway purpose, the property shall revert to the department.  If the director determines any property conveyed under this section is needed by the department for a transportation purpose, the department may acquire the property from the agency at a cost equal to the amount paid by the agency, or the fair market value at the time of the repurchase by the department, whichever is less.

C.  The director may grant an easement to a state or local agency for property to be used for a specific highway purpose, on terms and conditions acceptable to the director, for no payment to the department.  The agency shall bear all liability that may be attributed to the department for incidents that occur during the period of the easement and the agency shall bear all costs of maintaining the property.  If the property is not used for a highway purpose, the department may terminate the easement as to any portion of the property that is not used for a highway purpose.  The easement terminates if the director determines that the property is needed by the department for a highway purpose.

D.  The director may convey other marketable property to the highest responsible bidder at a public auction or by direct sale after at least thirty days' notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the property is located.  If the director elects to convey property by a direct sale, and receives more than one offer before the termination of the thirty day notice period, the director shall sell the property at public auction.  At least one fee appraisal or one in‑house appraisal is required for property that is offered to the public.  The director shall disclose the amount of the low appraisal before a public auction.  If at a public auction the amount of the highest responsible bid does not equal or exceed the amount of the low appraisal, the director shall advise the bidders that the amount of the low appraisal has not been met and shall continue the bidding until the amount of the highest responsible bid equals or exceeds the amount of the low appraisal.  If the highest responsible bid does not equal or exceed the amount of the low appraisal, the director shall reject all bids.  If the director is unable to sell real property pursuant to this subsection for an amount that equals or exceeds the low appraisal, the director may convey the real property by direct sale after at least thirty days' notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the real property is located at an amount that is at least equal to eighty per cent of the low appraisal, except that, if the director receives more than one offer before the termination of the thirty day notice period in an amount that is at least equal to eighty per cent of the low appraisal, the director shall sell the real property at public auction.

E.  A sale pursuant to subsection B or D of this section may be made for cash or on terms of at least twenty per cent down with the balance payable in annual, biannual, quarterly or monthly installments for ten years, and the unpaid balance bears interest at a rate determined by the director.

F.  The director may dispose of property by quitclaim deed to adjacent property owners or the underlying fee owner if the property has no market value or a net value of ten thousand dollars or less without a public auction or thirty day notice period.  The director may notify adjacent property owners or the underlying fee owner that the estimated market value of the property may be reduced by up to twenty per cent, that the director may accept an offer between eighty per cent and one hundred per cent of the estimated market value and that, if the adjacent property owner or underlying fee owner is interested in acquiring the property, the adjacent property owner or underlying fee owner must submit a written offer to the director within sixty days after the date of the notice.  If the director does not receive an offer within sixty days after the date of the notice, the director may dispose of the property at the best price the director can obtain for the property pursuant to procedures established by the director.  For the purposes of this subsection, "net value" means the estimated market value of the property reduced by the cost to sell the property and the cost of continued maintenance of the property.

G.  The director may:

1.  Execute all deeds or conveyances necessary to convey any real property or interest in the real property to be conveyed under this section and shall sell any real property or interest in real property for the highest responsible bid, the direct sale price or the appraised market value of the property, as applicable.

2.  Assess a fee for the costs of preparing and executing any conveyance under this section.

3.  Either:

(a)  Insert in the deed or conveyance conditions, covenants, exceptions and reservations as the director deems to be in the public interest.

(b)  Convey in fee simple absolute.

H.  The director shall notify the county assessor and county treasurer of any property disposed of or quitclaimed pursuant to this section within thirty days after the close of escrow.  Proper notice includes the legal description of property being conveyed, the name and address of the new property owner and legal description of the conveyed property and the name and address of a person or persons who are identified as the correct recipients of the property tax bill.

I.  It is conclusively presumed in favor of any purchaser for value and without notice of any real property or interest in the real property conveyed pursuant to this section that the department acted within its lawful authority in acquiring the property and that the director acted within the director's lawful authority in executing a deed, conveyance or lease authorized by this article.

J.  The director may contract with a licensed real estate broker to assist in any disposition of property under this section or pay a commission to a licensed real estate broker whose client completes a purchase of property under this section.  The director shall determine the rate of commission paid to the broker.  The director may pay the licensed real estate broker from proceeds received under this section unless the broker is the purchaser or lessee or the purchaser is another governmental agency. END_STATUTE

Sec. 6.  Section 28-7143, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-7143.  Moving and related expenses; payment; substitute payments

A.  As a part of the cost of construction and on proper application to the department, the department shall pay to a displaced person, business or farm operation:

1.  Actual reasonable expenses in moving the displaced person and the displaced person's family, business, farm operation or other personal property.

2.  Actual direct losses of tangible personal property as a result of moving or discontinuing a business or farm operation, but not more than the reasonable expenses that would have been required to relocate the property as determined by the department.

3.  Actual reasonable expenses in searching for a replacement business or farm.

4.  Actual reasonable expenses necessary to reestablish a displaced farm, nonprofit organization or small business at its new site pursuant to criteria established by the department, but not more than twenty-five thousand dollars.

B.  A displaced person who is eligible for payments under subsection A of this section, who is displaced from a dwelling and who elects to accept the payments authorized by this subsection in lieu of the payments authorized by subsection A of this section may receive an expense and dislocation allowance determined according to a schedule established by the director.

C.  A displaced person who is eligible for payments under subsection A of this section, who is displaced from the person's place of business or farm operation and who is eligible under criteria established by the department may elect to accept, instead of the payment authorized by subsection A of this section, a fixed payment in an amount that is determined according to criteria established by the department and that is at least one thousand dollars but not more than twenty forty thousand dollars.  A person whose sole business at the displacement dwelling is the rental of the property to others does not qualify for a payment under this subsection. END_STATUTE

Sec. 7.  Section 28-7144, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-7144.  Replacement dwelling; additional payment

A.  In addition to other payments authorized by this article, the displacing agency shall pay not more than twenty‑two thirty‑one thousand five hundred dollars to a displaced person who is displaced from a dwelling actually owned and occupied by the displaced person for at least one hundred eighty ninety days before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the property.  This additional payment shall include the following elements:

1.  The amount, if any, that when added to the acquisition cost of the dwelling acquired by the displacing agency equals the reasonable cost of a comparable replacement dwelling.

2.  The amount, if any, that will compensate the displaced person for any increased interest costs and other debt service costs that the person is required to pay for financing the acquisition of any comparable replacement dwelling, only if the dwelling acquired by the displacing agency was encumbered by a bona fide mortgage that was a valid lien on the dwelling for at least one hundred eighty ninety days immediately before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling.

3.  Reasonable expenses incurred by the displaced person for evidence of title, recording fees and other closing costs incidental to the purchase of the replacement dwelling except prepaid expenses.

B.  The displacing agency shall make the additional payment authorized by this section only to a displaced person who purchases and occupies a decent, safe and sanitary replacement dwelling within one year after the date on which the person receives final payment from the displacing agency for the acquired dwelling or the date on which the obligation of the displacing agency under section 28‑7152 is met, whichever is later, except that the displacing agency may extend this period for good cause.  If the period is extended, the payment under this section is based on the costs of relocating the person to a comparable replacement dwelling within one year of that date. END_STATUTE

Sec. 8.  Section 28-7146, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-7146.  Replacement housing for tenants

A.  In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this article, a displacing agency shall pay to or for a person who is displaced from a dwelling and who is not eligible to receive a payment under section 28‑7144 if the dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for at least ninety days immediately before either:

1.  The initiation of negotiations for acquisition of the dwelling.

2.  In a case in which displacement is not a direct result of acquisition, another event as the department prescribes.

B.  Payment under subsection A of this section consists of the amount necessary to enable the person to lease or rent for a period of not more than forty‑two months a comparable replacement dwelling but not more than five seven thousand two hundred fifty dollars.  At the discretion of the displacing agency, a payment under this subsection may be made in periodic installments. Computation of a payment under this subsection to a low income displaced person for a comparable replacement dwelling shall take into account the person's income.

C.  A person who is eligible for a payment under subsection A of this section:

1.  May elect to apply the payment to a down payment on and other incidental expenses relating to the purchase of a decent, safe and sanitary replacement dwelling.

2.  At the discretion of the displacing agency, may be eligible under this subsection for the maximum payment allowed under subsection B of this section, except that the payment to a displaced homeowner who has owned and occupied the displacement dwelling for at least ninety days but not more than one hundred seventy-nine days immediately before the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling shall not exceed the payment the person otherwise would have received under section 28‑7144, subsection A if the person had owned and occupied the displacement dwelling one hundred eighty ninety days immediately before the initiation of the negotiations. END_STATUTE

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