A. Statement Of Intent: This exemption is intended to allow a landowner to create a parcel for gift, sale, or agreement to buy and sell, outside a platted subdivision, without local review if the parcel will be used only for the production of livestock or agricultural crops and no residential, commercial or industrial buildings, which require water or sewer, will be built on it.
B. Required Information: A certificate of survey that uses this exemption to create a parcel for agricultural use only requires a covenant running with the land in accordance with Montana Code Annotated subsection 76-3-207(1)(c), and a signed and acknowledged recitation of the covenant on the face of the survey (ARM 24.183.1104(f)(iii) in the appendix). The certificate of survey must be accompanied by a separate, recordable, document reciting the covenant.
C. Use Of Exemption:
1. "Agricultural purpose", for purposes of these evasion criteria, means the use of land for raising crops, livestock, or timber, and specifically excludes residential structures and facilities for commercially processing agricultural products. Agricultural lands are exempt from review by the DEQ, provided the applicable exemption under the sanitation in subdivisions act is properly invoked by the property owner.
2. Any change in use of the land for anything other than agricultural purposes subjects the parcel to review as a minor subdivision.
3. Residential, commercial, or industrial structures, including facilities for commercial processing of agricultural products, may not be utilized, constructed or erected on parcels created under this exemption unless the covenant is revoked.
D. Rebuttable Presumptions: The following conditions must be met or the use of the exemption will be presumed to have been adopted for the purpose of evading the MSPA:
1. The parties to the transaction must enter into a covenant running with the land and revocable only by mutual consent of the governing body and the property owner, that the divided land will be used exclusively for agricultural purposes. The covenant must be signed by the property owner, the buyer, and the members of the governing body.
2. The landowner must demonstrate that the planned use of the exempted parcel is for agricultural purposes and that no residential, commercial, or industrial buildings have been or will be built on it.
3. The parcel must meet the criteria for an agricultural designation under Montana Code Annotated section 15-7-202. (Ord. 784, 8-6-2007)
Notes
| 1 | 1. MCA § 76-3-207(1)(c). |