Bill Text: FL S7024 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Assessment of Lands Used for Conservation Purposes

Spectrum: Unknown

Status: (N/A - Dead) 2010-01-21 - Submit as committee bill by Finance and Tax (SB 1378) [S7024 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S7024-Introduced.html

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Florida Senate - 2010         (Proposed Committee Bill) SPB 7024 
 
FOR CONSIDERATION By the Committee on Finance and Tax 
593-01064B-10                                         20107024__ 
1                        A bill to be entitled 
2         An act relating to the assessment of lands used for 
3         conservation purposes; amending s. 193.501, F.S.; 
4         providing for certain lands that are covenanted for 
5         use for conservation purposes to be assessed for ad 
6         valorem taxation in the same manner as lands used for 
7         outdoor recreational or park purposes; redefining the 
8         term “covenant”; defining the term “conservation 
9         purposes”; specifying the information that must be 
10         included in a covenant; requiring covenants to be 
11         notarized; requiring the executive director of the 
12         Department of Revenue to work with local governments 
13         and conservation organizations to develop a form for a 
14         covenant; providing that the requirements for 
15         covenants do not apply to covenants in existence 
16         before the effective date of the act; providing for 
17         retroactive application; providing an effective date. 
18 
19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
20 
21         Section 1. Section 193.501, Florida Statutes, is amended to 
22  read: 
23         193.501 Assessment of lands subject to a conservation 
24  easement, environmentally endangered lands, or lands used for 
25  outdoor recreational, conservation, or park purposes after when 
26  land development rights have been conveyed or conservation 
27  restrictions have been covenanted.— 
28         (1) The owner or owners in fee of any land subject to a 
29  conservation easement as described in s. 704.06; land qualified 
30  as environmentally endangered pursuant to paragraph (6)(i) and 
31  so designated by formal resolution of the governing board of the 
32  municipality or county within which such land is located; land 
33  designated as conservation land in a comprehensive plan adopted 
34  by the appropriate municipal or county governing body; or any 
35  land that which is used utilized for conservation, outdoor 
36  recreational, or park purposes may, by appropriate instrument, 
37  for a term of at least not less than 10 years: 
38         (a) Convey the development right of such land to the 
39  governing board of any public agency in this state within which 
40  the land is located, or to the Board of Trustees of the Internal 
41  Improvement Trust Fund, or to a charitable corporation or trust 
42  as described in s. 704.06(3); or 
43         (b) Enter into a covenant as provided in subsection (8) 
44  Covenant with the governing board of any public agency in this 
45  state within which the land is located, or with the Board of 
46  Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, or with a 
47  charitable corporation or trust as described in s. 704.06(3), 
48  that such land be subject to one or more of the conservation 
49  restrictions provided in s. 704.06(1) or not be used by the 
50  owner for any purpose other than conservation, outdoor 
51  recreational, or park purposes. If land is covenanted and used 
52  for an outdoor recreational purpose, the normal use and 
53  maintenance of the land for that purpose, consistent with the 
54  covenant, is shall not be restricted. 
55         (2) The governing board of any public agency in this state 
56  within which the land is located, or the Board of Trustees of 
57  the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, or a charitable corporation 
58  or trust as described in s. 704.06(3), is authorized to and may 
59  empowered in its discretion to accept any and all instruments 
60  conveying the development right of any such land or enter into a 
61  covenant restricting the use of such land as provided under 
62  subsection (8). establishing a covenant pursuant to subsection 
63  (1), and if accepted by the board or charitable corporation or 
64  trust, The covenant or other instrument shall be promptly filed 
65  with the appropriate officer for recording in the same manner as 
66  any other instrument affecting the title to real property and 
67  shall be indexed and maintained in such a manner that allows 
68  members of the public to locate the covenant or other instrument 
69  affecting any particular property assessed pursuant to this 
70  section. 
71         (3) After When, pursuant to subsections (1) and (2), the 
72  development right in real property has been conveyed, pursuant 
73  to subsections (1) and (2), to the governing board of any public 
74  agency of this state within which the land is located, to the 
75  Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, or to 
76  a charitable corporation or trust as described in s. 704.06(2), 
77  or a covenant has been executed and accepted by the board or 
78  charitable corporation or trust, the lands that which are the 
79  subject of such conveyance or covenant shall be thereafter 
80  assessed as provided in this section. herein: 
81         (a) If the covenant or conveyance extends for a period of 
82  at least not less than 10 years from January 1 in the year such 
83  assessment is made, the property appraiser, in valuing such land 
84  for tax purposes, shall consider no factors other than those 
85  relative to its value for the present use, as restricted by any 
86  conveyance or covenant under this section. 
87         (b) If the covenant or conveyance extends for a period less 
88  than 10 years, the land shall be assessed under the provisions 
89  of s. 193.011, recognizing the nature and length thereof of any 
90  restriction placed on the use of the land under the provisions 
91  of subsection (1). 
92         (4) After making a conveyance of the development right or 
93  executing a covenant pursuant to this section, or conveying a 
94  conservation easement pursuant to this section and s. 704.06, 
95  the owner of the land may shall not use the land in any manner 
96  not consistent with the development right voluntarily conveyed, 
97  or with the restrictions voluntarily imposed, or with the terms 
98  of the conservation easement, and may or shall not change the 
99  use of the land from conservation, outdoor recreational, or park 
100  purposes during the term of such conveyance or covenant without 
101  first obtaining a written instrument from the board or 
102  charitable corporation or trust, which instrument reconveys all 
103  or part of the development right to the owner or releases the 
104  owner from the terms of the covenant. The and which instrument 
105  must be promptly recorded in the same manner as any other 
106  instrument affecting the title to real property. Upon obtaining 
107  approval for reconveyance or release, the reconveyance or 
108  release shall be made to the owner upon payment of the deferred 
109  tax liability. Any payment of the deferred tax liability shall 
110  be payable to the county tax collector within 90 days after of 
111  the date of approval by the board or charitable corporation or 
112  trust of the reconveyance or release. The collector shall 
113  distribute the payment to each governmental unit in the 
114  proportion that its millage bears to the total millage levied on 
115  the parcel for the years in which such conveyance or covenant 
116  was in effect. 
117         (5) The governing board of any public agency, or the Board 
118  of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, or a 
119  charitable corporation or trust that which holds title to a 
120  development right pursuant to this section may not convey that 
121  development right to anyone other than the governing board of 
122  another public agency or a charitable corporation or trust, as 
123  described in s. 704.06(3), or the record owner of the fee 
124  interest in the land to which the development right attaches. 
125  The conveyance from the governing board of a public agency or 
126  the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund to 
127  the owner of the fee shall be made only after a determination by 
128  the board that such conveyance will would not adversely affect 
129  the interest of the public. Section 125.35 does not apply to 
130  such sales, but any public agency accepting any instrument 
131  conveying a development right pursuant to this section shall 
132  immediately forthwith adopt appropriate regulations and 
133  procedures governing the disposition of the development rights 
134  same. These regulations and procedures must provide in part that 
135  the board may not convey a development right to the owner of the 
136  fee without first holding a public hearing and unless notice of 
137  the proposed conveyance and the time and place at which the 
138  public hearing is to be held is published once a week for at 
139  least 2 weeks in a some newspaper of general circulation in the 
140  county involved before prior to the hearing. 
141         (6) Unless the context clearly indicates a different 
142  meaning, as used The following terms whenever used as referred 
143  to in this section, the term have the following meanings unless 
144  a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context: 
145         (a) “Board” means is the governing board of any 
146  municipality city, county, or other public agency of the state 
147  or the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. 
148         (b) “Conservation restriction” means a limitation on a 
149  right to the use of land for purposes of conserving or 
150  preserving land or water areas predominantly in their natural, 
151  scenic, open, agricultural, or wooded condition. The limitation 
152  on rights to the use of land may involve or pertain to any of 
153  the activities enumerated in s. 704.06(1). 
154         (c) “Conservation easement” means that property right 
155  described in s. 704.06. 
156         (d) “Covenant” means an agreement running with the land 
157  which restricts the use of the land exclusively to conservation, 
158  outdoor recreational, or park purposes is a covenant running 
159  with the land. 
160         (e) “Deferred tax liability” means an amount equal to the 
161  difference between the total amount of taxes that would have 
162  been due in March in each of the previous years in which the 
163  conveyance or covenant was in effect if the property had been 
164  assessed under the provisions of s. 193.011 and the total amount 
165  of taxes actually paid in those years when the property was 
166  assessed under the provisions of this section, plus interest on 
167  that difference computed as provided in s. 212.12(3). 
168         (f) “Development right” means is the right of the owner of 
169  the fee interest in the land to change the use of the land. 
170         (g) “Outdoor recreational or park purposes” includes, but 
171  is not necessarily limited to, boating, golfing, camping, 
172  swimming, horseback riding, and archaeological, scenic, or 
173  scientific sites and applies only to land which is open to the 
174  general public. 
175         (h) “Present use” is the manner in which the land is used 
176  utilized on January 1 of the year in which the assessment is 
177  made. 
178         (i) “Qualified as environmentally endangered” means land 
179  that has unique ecological characteristics, rare or limited 
180  combinations of geological formations, or features of a rare or 
181  limited nature constituting habitat suitable for fish, plants, 
182  or wildlife, and that which, if subject to a development 
183  moratorium or one or more conservation easements or development 
184  restrictions appropriate to retaining such land or water areas 
185  predominantly in their natural state, would be consistent with 
186  the conservation, recreation and open space, and, if applicable, 
187  coastal protection elements of the comprehensive plan adopted by 
188  formal action of the local governing body pursuant to s. 
189  163.3161, the Local Government Comprehensive Planning and Land 
190  Development Regulation Act,; or surface waters and wetlands, as 
191  determined by the methodology ratified in s. 373.4211. 
192         (j) “Conservation purposes” means the retention of: 
193         1. The substantial natural value of land, including 
194  woodlands, wetlands, water courses, ponds, streams, and natural 
195  open spaces; 
196         2. The land as suitable habitat for fish, plants, or 
197  wildlife; or 
198         3. The natural value of land for water quality enhancement 
199  or water recharge. 
200         (7)(a) The property appraiser shall report to the 
201  department showing the just value and the classified use value 
202  of property that is subject to a conservation easement under s. 
203  704.06, property assessed as environmentally endangered land 
204  pursuant to this section, and property assessed as outdoor 
205  recreational or park land. 
206         (b) The tax collector shall annually report to the 
207  department the amount of deferred tax liability collected 
208  pursuant to this section. 
209         (8)(a) A covenant must include: 
210         1. Identification of the land to which the covenant 
211  applies; 
212         2. The land’s allowable use or uses; 
213         3. The period of time for which the covenant applies; 
214         4. The names of all parties to the covenant and the 
215  responsibilities of each party in ensuring that the terms of the 
216  covenant are enforced; 
217         5. Penalties that apply if the covenant is breached; 
218         6. A statement that the covenant runs with the land and 
219  applies to future landowners; and 
220         7. Signatures of all parties to the covenant attesting that 
221  all information in the covenant is true, correct, and complete. 
222         (b) A covenant must be notarized. 
223         (c) The executive director of the Department of Revenue 
224  shall work with the Board of Trustees of the Internal 
225  Improvement Trust Fund, local governments, and conservation 
226  organizations to develop a form for a covenant. However, the use 
227  of the form is not mandatory. 
228         (9)(8) A person or organization that, on January 1, has the 
229  legal title to land that is entitled by law to assessment under 
230  this section shall, on or before March 1 of each year, file an 
231  application for assessment under this section with the county 
232  property appraiser. The application must identify the property 
233  for which assessment under this section is claimed. The initial 
234  application for assessment for any property must include a copy 
235  of the instrument by which the development right is conveyed or 
236  which establishes a covenant that establishes the conservation 
237  purposes for which the land is used. The Department of Revenue 
238  shall prescribe the forms upon which the application is made. 
239  The failure to file an application on or before March 1 of any 
240  year constitutes a waiver of assessment under this section for 
241  that year. However, an applicant who is qualified to receive an 
242  assessment under this section but fails to file an application 
243  by March 1 may file an application for the assessment and may 
244  file, pursuant to s. 194.011(3), a petition with the value 
245  adjustment board requesting that the assessment be granted. The 
246  petition must be filed at any time during the taxable year on or 
247  before the 25th day following the mailing of the notice by the 
248  property appraiser pursuant to s. 194.011(1). Notwithstanding s. 
249  194.013, the applicant must pay a nonrefundable fee of $15 upon 
250  filing the petition. Upon reviewing the petition, if the person 
251  is qualified to receive the assessment and demonstrates 
252  particular extenuating circumstances judged by the property 
253  appraiser or the value adjustment board to warrant granting the 
254  assessment, the property appraiser or the value adjustment board 
255  may grant the assessment. The owner of land that was assessed 
256  under this section in the previous year and whose ownership or 
257  use has not changed may reapply on a short form as provided by 
258  the department. A county may, at the request of the property 
259  appraiser and by a majority vote of its governing body, waive 
260  the requirement that an annual application or statement be made 
261  for assessment of property within the county. Such waiver may be 
262  revoked by a majority vote of the governing body of the county. 
263         (10)(9) A person or entity that owns land assessed pursuant 
264  to this section must notify the property appraiser promptly if 
265  the land becomes ineligible for assessment under this section. 
266  If any property owner fails to notify the property appraiser and 
267  the property appraiser determines that for any year within the 
268  preceding 10 years the land was not eligible for assessment 
269  under this section, the owner of the land is subject to taxes 
270  avoided as a result of such failure plus 15 percent interest per 
271  annum and a penalty of 50 percent of the taxes avoided. The 
272  property appraiser making such determination shall record in the 
273  public records of the county a notice of tax lien against any 
274  property owned by that person or entity in the county, and such 
275  property must be identified in the notice of tax lien. The 
276  property is subject to a lien in the amount of the unpaid taxes 
277  and penalties. The lien when filed shall attach to any property 
278  identified in the notice of tax lien which is owned by the 
279  person or entity and which was improperly assessed. If such 
280  person or entity no longer owns property in that county but owns 
281  property in some other county or counties of this state, the 
282  property appraiser shall record a notice of tax lien in such 
283  other county or counties, identifying the property owned by such 
284  person or entity. 
285         Section 2. The requirements for covenants to convey 
286  development rights or impose conservation restrictions in 
287  section 193.501(8), Florida Statutes, do not apply to such 
288  covenants in existence before the effective date of this act. 
289         Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, 
290  and applies retroactively to January 1, 2010.