(1) (a) If an owner of lands adjoining
or in the immediate vicinity of the boundary of an established conservation district
desires to have the owner's lands included within the district, the owner may
petition the supervisors of the district, stating the legal description of the lands
affected and the reasons why it is desired to have the lands included within the
district and shall accompany the petition with two maps showing the outer
boundaries of the lands petitioned to be included within the district.
(b) If the supervisors find that all of the owners of the lands within such
proposed addition have signed the petition and if they approve the addition of such
lands to the district, they shall notify the owners of such lands, in writing, of the
fact that their lands are included in the district and are entitled to the services and
subject to the authority of the district. The supervisors shall cause to be filed with
the county clerk and recorder of the county in which any of such land may be
located a certificate describing the legal boundaries of the land and stating that
such land has been added to and included within such district, and the owner of
such land shall pay to the district the cost of recording such certificate.
(c) When, in the opinion of the supervisors, there is public land owned by the
United States government that, by reason of its topography, drainage, and other
factors, should be included in the conservation district, the supervisors may file
with the clerk and recorder of the county in which the land is situated a notice of
inclusion of said land in the conservation district. A copy of said notice shall be
served personally or by registered mail, return receipt requested, upon the head of
the agency controlling said land, and, at the discretion of the board, information
copies may be provided to local agency officials. Said notice shall describe the land
to be included within the district and shall further state that said land shall, on the
sixtieth day after personal service or delivery of said notice by registered mail, be
deemed to be within the district until and unless the controlling agency files a
statement with the county clerk and recorder withdrawing said land from the
conservation district.
(d) All costs for including any such area within a conservation district shall
be paid by the district, and no assessment of any sort shall be made against said
land at any time on account of its inclusion within said district.
(2) In the event five or more owners of land adjoining or in the immediate
vicinity of the boundary of an established conservation district desire to have their
own and neighboring lands added to and included within such district, they shall
first secure the written consent of the supervisors of such district and may then
petition the state board substantially in the form and with the supporting data
required by section 35-70-104, and thereafter the state board shall proceed as to
the owners of land within the proposed addition substantially as provided in section
35-70-105 (5) and (7); except that the sole question to be voted upon at the meeting
of the landowners shall be the question of whether or not the lands within the
boundaries of the proposed addition to the district shall be so included.
(3) If a majority of the votes cast are against including the lands within the
conservation district, the state board shall record the fact in its minutes, and the
election shall adjourn; except that, if a majority of the votes cast are in favor of
such inclusion, the state board shall note that fact in its minutes and shall certify to
the director of the division of local government in the department of local affairs
the fact that such additional lands have been included within such district, and the
director shall issue a certificate describing the legal boundaries of the lands and
stating that the land has been added to and included within the district.
(4) Within thirty days after the date of such certificate, the supervisors of the
district shall cause the same to be recorded in the books of the county clerk and
recorder of the county in which the lands so added are located in whole or in part.
From the date of such certificate, the lands thereby included within the district
shall be entitled to the same services and subject to the same authority of the
district as are other lands of the district.
(5) If the boundary line common to two adjoining conservation districts
divides the land of any owner so that such land lies partially within each of such
districts, the owner of such land, with the written consent of the supervisors of both
such districts, may have all of such land included in whichever of the two districts
the owner selects and excluded from the other. No land shall be excluded from a
district until and unless all lawful taxes and other charges of the district against
such land have been paid. The supervisors of the district to which such land shall be
transferred shall cause to be recorded in the books of the county clerk and recorder
of the county in which the land so transferred lies in whole or in part a certificate of
such transfer, together with the legal description of the land so transferred, and
shall collect from the owner of such land the cost of recording such certificate.
(6) In all proceedings as to petitions and elections under the provisions of
this section, the qualifications of landowners participating therein shall be as
described in section 35-70-104.
(7) In the event that any lands included within a district cease to be used for
agricultural purposes and are thereafter devoted exclusively to commercial or
industrial uses or other uses related to urban development, or are subdivided for
residential purposes, or become a part of the area included within an incorporated
municipality, such lands may be withdrawn from a conservation district as follows:
(a) to (d) Repealed.
(e) When, in the opinion of the supervisors, lands included in a district cease
to be used for agricultural purposes, the supervisors, on their own initiative, may,
upon sixty days' written notice to the owner of lands involved, cause such lands to
be withdrawn from the district; or the supervisors may, in lieu of such written notice,
give notice of such withdrawal by publication, by causing notice of such withdrawal
to be published not less than sixty days nor more than ninety days before the date
on which the withdrawal of such lands from the district becomes final.
(f) The notice described in subsection (7)(e) of this section shall be published
in one issue of a newspaper of general circulation published within the district from
which the lands are to be withdrawn, and, if there is no such newspaper within the
district, one publication in a newspaper of general circulation throughout the state
shall be sufficient. The notice shall also be posted in a conspicuous place in the
conservation district office of the district from which such lands are to be
withdrawn. Both the publication and the posted notice shall state the reasons for
the withdrawal and the date on which the withdrawal becomes final and shall
describe the lands to be withdrawn with such certainty as to enable a property
owner to determine whether the property owner's property is included in such
lands.
(g) and (h) Repealed.
(8) If the supervisors of one or more districts determine that the transfer of
lands from one district to one or more other districts will increase the efficiency of
the services provided by the districts to the owner of the land that is to be
transferred, they shall proceed as follows:
(a) The supervisors of the district from which the land is to be transferred
and the supervisors of the district into which the land is to be transferred shall
forward their written request to the state board for approval of the transfer.
(b) If it is the opinion of the state board that the requested transfer is in the
best interests of the districts involved, the state board shall make and record such
determination and give written notices to the districts of its approval.
(9) (a) After a district has been formed and is in operation, the owner of land
within the district may have the owner's land withdrawn from the district by
submitting a written and notarized statement of withdrawal to the supervisors of
the district. Upon receipt of such statement by the supervisors, the land requested
to be withdrawn shall be deemed withdrawn, and no further action shall be
necessary for completion of the withdrawal; except that such land shall remain
obligated for its proportionate share of the district's expenses and debts incurred
prior to receipt of said statement.
(b) Upon receipt of a statement of withdrawal pursuant to paragraph (a) of
this subsection (9), the supervisors shall file a certificate with the county clerk and
recorder of the county in which such land is located that describes the legal
boundaries of the land being withdrawn and states such land has been withdrawn
from the district. The owner of the withdrawn land shall reimburse to the district
any fee charged for recording such certificate.
(10) No land within a conservation district shall be deemed withdrawn from
the district until the procedures set forth in subsection (9) of this section have been
met.