10.1-1010 - Creation, acceptance and duration.
§ 10.1-1010. Creation, acceptance and duration.
A. A holder may acquire a conservation easement by gift, purchase, devise orbequest.
B. No right or duty in favor of or against a holder and no right in favor ofa person having a third-party right of enforcement arises under aconservation easement before its acceptance by the holder and a recordationof the acceptance.
C. A conservation easement shall be perpetual in duration unless theinstrument creating it otherwise provides a specific time. For all easements,the holder shall (i) meet the criteria in § 10.1-1009 and (ii) either havehad a principal office in the Commonwealth for at least five years, or be anational organization in existence for at least five years which has anoffice in the Commonwealth and has registered and is in good standing withthe State Corporation Commission. Until a holder has met these requirements,the holder may co-hold a conservation easement with another holder that meetsthe requirements.
D. An interest in real property in existence at the time a conservationeasement is created is not impaired by it unless the owner of the interest isa party to the conservation easement or consents to it in writing.
E. No conservation easement shall be valid and enforceable unless thelimitations or obligations created thereby conform in all respects to thecomprehensive plan at the time the easement is granted for the area in whichthe real property is located.
F. This chapter does not affect the power of the court to modify or terminatea conservation easement in accordance with the principles of law and equity,or in any way limit the power of eminent domain as possessed by any publicbody. In any such proceeding the holder of the conservation easement shall becompensated for the value of the easement.
(1988, cc. 720, 891; 2000, c. 182; 2003, c. 1014.)