§ 42-17.9-5 - Rulemaking by the department.
SECTION 42-17.9-5
§ 42-17.9-5 Rulemaking by the department.– (a) The department of environmental management, in consultation with thedepartment of administration, shall by March 15, 2007, establish by rule,integrated standards and guidelines for preserving and protecting the state'sinterest in open space values; the department shall report on or before January15, 2007, to the speaker of the house, the president of the senate, thechairperson of the house committee on environment and natural resources and thechairperson of the senate committee on environment and agriculture on thestatus of the development of said standards and guidelines.
(b) Said standards and guidelines shall set forth and providefor the implementation of criteria for evaluating actions that would convey oramend state interests or constitute changes in use of state-owned and managedproperty requiring the approval of the department of administration or thestate properties committee. Said criteria shall provide at a minimum:
(1) That any conveyance or amendment affecting the state'sinterest in open space values of such property shall serve a necessary publicinterest and is the minimum needed to achieve the purposes of the conveyance,amendment, or change in use; and
(2) That to the extent reasonably feasible there is no netloss of open space values as a result of such conveyance, amendment, or changein use; and
(3) That prior to any sale, transfer, conveyance and/oramendment of interests, which would adversely affect open space values, instate-owned property that was acquired and/or dedicated to and managed for openspace purposes, a new and not yet conserved parcel at least equal in open spacevalues and acreage shall be acquired by the state for conservation purposesprovided this criterion shall not apply in instances of declared disasters oremergencies or in instances of imminent threat to public health or publicsafety.
(c) Said standards and guidelines may provide for adetermination that a parcel other than a parcel acquired or managed for openspace purposes or natural resources values does not have significant open spacevalue or that a specific amendment or change in use or type of use would nothave a significant impact on open space values, in which case the use ofstandards, guidelines, and evaluation criteria as provided for in §§42-17.9-6 and 42-17.9-7 shall not be required.
(d) Said standards and guidelines shall be reviewed by thedepartment at least once every five (5) years and shall either be amended oraffirmed by the department as appropriate.