Florida Statutes, Title XXXV, Chapter 570.70
[Rural and Family Lands Protection Act]
570.70 Legislative findings.--The Legislature finds
and declares that:
(1) A thriving rural economy with a strong agricultural
base, healthy natural environment, and viable rural communities is
an essential part of Florida. Rural areas also include the largest
remaining intact ecosystems and best examples of remaining wildlife
habitats as well as a majority of privately owned land targeted by
local, state, and federal agencies for natural resource protection.
(2) The growth of Florida's population can result in
agricultural and rural lands being converted into residential or
commercial development.
(3) The agricultural, rural, natural resource, and
commodity values of rural lands are vital to the state's economy,
productivity, rural heritage, and quality of life.
(4) The Legislature further recognizes the need for
enhancing the ability of rural landowners to obtain economic value
from their property, protecting rural character, controlling urban
sprawl, and providing necessary open space for agriculture and the
natural environment, and the importance of maintaining and
protecting Florida's rural economy through innovative planning and
development strategies in rural areas and the use of incentives that
reward landowners for good stewardship of land and natural
resources.
(5) The purpose of this act is to bring under public
protection lands that serve to limit subdivision and conversion of
agricultural and natural areas that provide economic, open space,
water, and wildlife benefits by acquiring land or related interests
in land such as perpetual, less-than-fee acquisitions, agricultural
protection agreements, and resource conservation agreements and
innovative planning and development strategies in rural areas.
History.--s. 62, ch. 2001-279.
570.71 Conservation easements and agreements.--
(1) The department, on behalf of the Board of Trustees of
the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, may allocate moneys to acquire
perpetual, less-than-fee interest in land, to enter into
agricultural protection agreements, and to enter into resource
conservation agreements for the following public purposes:
(a) Promotion and improvement of wildlife habitat;
(b) Protection and enhancement of water bodies, aquifer
recharge areas, wetlands, and watersheds;
(c) Perpetuation of open space on lands with significant
natural areas; or
(d) Protection of agricultural lands threatened by
conversion to other uses.
(2) To achieve the purposes of this act, beginning no
sooner than July 1, 2002, and every year thereafter, the department
may accept applications for project proposals that:
(a) Purchase conservation easements, as defined in s.
704.06.
(b) Purchase rural-lands-protection easements pursuant to this act.
(c) Fund resource conservation agreements pursuant to this act.
(d) Fund agricultural protection agreements pursuant to this act.
No funds may be expended to implement this subsection prior to July
1, 2002.
(3) Rural-lands-protection easements shall be a perpetual
right or interest in agricultural land which is appropriate to
retain such land in predominantly its current state and to prevent
the subdivision and conversion of such land into other uses. This
right or interest in property shall prohibit only the following:
(a) Construction or placing of buildings, roads, billboards
or other advertising, utilities, or structures, except those
structures and unpaved roads necessary for the agricultural
operations on the land or structures necessary for other activities
allowed under the easement, and except for linear facilities
described in s. 704.06(11);
(b) Subdivision of the property;
(c) Dumping or placing of trash, waste, or offensive materials; and
(d) Activities that affect the natural hydrology of the
land or that detrimentally affect water conservation, erosion
control, soil conservation, or fish or wildlife habitat, except
those required for environmental restoration; federal, state, or
local government regulatory programs; or best management practices.
(4) Resource conservation agreements will be contracts for
services which provide annual payments to landowners for services
that actively improve habitat and water restoration or conservation
on their lands over and above that which is already required by law
or which provide recreational opportunities. They will be for a term
of not less than 5 years and not more than 10 years. Property owners
will become eligible to enter into a resource conservation agreement
only upon entering into a conservation easement or rural lands
protection easement.
(5) Agricultural protection agreements shall be for terms
of 30 years and will provide payments to landowners having
significant natural areas on their land. Public access and public
recreational opportunities may be negotiated at the request of the
landowner.
(a) For the length of the agreement, the landowner shall
agree to prohibit:
1. Construction or placing of buildings, roads, billboards
or other advertising, utilities, or structures, except those
structures and unpaved roads necessary for the agricultural
operations on the land or structures necessary for other activities
allowed under the easement, and except for linear facilities
described in s. 704.06(11);
2. Subdivision of the property;
3. Dumping or placing of trash, waste, or offensive
materials; and
4. Activities that affect the natural hydrology of the
land, or that detrimentally affect water conservation, erosion
control, soil conservation, or fish or wildlife habitat.
(b) As part of the agricultural protection agreement, the
parties shall agree that the state shall have a right to buy a
conservation easement or rural land protection easement at the end
of the 30-year term or prior to the landowner transferring or
selling the property, whichever occurs later. If the landowner
tenders the easement for the purchase and the state does not timely
exercise its right to buy the easement, the landowner shall be
released from the agricultural agreement. The purchase price of the
easement shall be established in the agreement and shall be based on
the value of the easement at the time the agreement is entered into,
plus a reasonable escalator multiplied by the number of full
calendar years following the date of the commencement of the
agreement. The landowner may transfer or sell the property before
the expiration of the 30-year term, but only if the property is sold
subject to the agreement and the buyer becomes the successor in
interest to the agricultural protection agreement. Upon mutual
consent of the parties, a landowner may enter into a perpetual
easement at any time during the term of an agricultural protection
agreement.
(6) Payment for conservation easements and rural land
protection easements shall be a lump-sum payment at the time the
easement is entered into.
(7) Landowners entering into an agricultural protection
agreement may receive up to 50 percent of the purchase price at the
time the agreement is entered into, and remaining payments on the
balance shall be equal annual payments over the term of the
agreement.
(8) Payments for the resource conservation agreements shall
be equal annual payments over the term of the agreement.
(9) Easements purchased pursuant to this act may not
prevent landowners from transferring the remaining fee value with
the easement.
(10) The department, in consultation with the Department of
Environmental Protection, the water management districts, the
Department of Community Affairs, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission, shall adopt rules that establish an
application process, a process and criteria for setting priorities
for use of funds consistent with the purposes specified in
subsection (1) and giving preference to ranch and timber lands
managed using sustainable practices, an appraisal process, and a
process for title review and compliance and approval of the rules by
the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund.
(11) If a landowner objects to having his property included
in any lists or maps developed to implement this act, the department
shall remove the property from any such lists or maps upon receipt
of the landowner's written request to do so.
(12) The department is authorized to use funds from the
following sources to implement this act:
(a) State funds;
(b) Federal funds;
(c) Other governmental entities;
(d) Nongovernmental organizations; or
(e) Private individuals.
Any such funds provided shall be deposited into the Conservation and
Recreation Lands Program Trust Fund within the Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services and used for the purposes of this
act.
(13) No more than 10 percent of any funds made available to
implement this act shall be expended for resource conservation
agreements and agricultural protection agreements.
(14) The department, in consultation with the Department of
Environmental Protection, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission, and the water management districts shall conduct a study
to determine and prioritize needs for implementing the act.
(a) The department may contract with the Florida Natural
Areas Inventory for an analysis of the geographic distribution of
certain types of natural resources, or resource-based land uses that
have been identified for acquisition by previous conservation and
recreation land acquisition programs.
(b) The needs assessment shall locate areas of the state
where existing privately owned ranch and timber lands containing
resources of the type identified in paragraph (a) can be preserved
or protected through implementation of the Rural and Family Lands
Protection Act.
(c) The department shall report its findings to the
Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of
Representatives by December 31, 2001. At a minimum, the report must
include a prioritization of the types of resources to be preserved
or protected, the location of privately owned ranch and timber lands
containing such resources that could be preserved or protected by
easements or agreements pursuant to this act, and the funding needs
for the program.
History.--s. 63, ch. 2001-279.
570.72 Definition.--As used in ss. 570.70
and 570.71,
the term "department" means the Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Services.
History.--s. 61, ch. 2001-279.
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