| Chapter 029 |
| 2023 -- H 5914 Enacted 05/18/2023 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO PROPERTY -- CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION RESTRICTIONS ON REAL PROPERTY |
Introduced By: Representatives Craven, and Caldwell |
| Date Introduced: March 01, 2023 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Section 34-39-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 34-39 entitled "Conservation |
| and Preservation Restrictions on Real Property" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 34-39-3. Restrictions enforceable. |
| (a) No conservation restriction held by any governmental body or by a charitable |
| corporation, association, trust, or other entity whose purposes include conservation of land or water |
| areas or of a particular area, and no preservation restriction held by any governmental body or by |
| a charitable corporation, association, trust, or other entity whose purposes include preservation of |
| structures or sites of historical significance or of a particular structure or site, shall be unenforceable |
| against any owner of the restricted land or structure on account of lack of privity of estate or |
| contract, or lack of benefit to particular land, or on account of the benefit being assignable or being |
| assigned to any other governmental body or to any entity with like purposes, or on account of any |
| other doctrine of property law which that might cause the termination of the restriction such as, |
| but not limited to, the doctrine of merger and tax delinquency. Conservation or preservation |
| restrictions shall be liberally interpreted in favor of the grants awarded to effect the purposes of |
| those easements and the policies and purpose of this chapter. |
| (b) This section shall not be construed to imply that any restriction easement, covenant, or |
| condition which that is not covered hereunder shall, on account of any provisions hereof, be |
| unenforceable. |
| (c) The restrictions shall not be subject to the thirty-year limitation on restrictive covenants |
| provided in § 34-4-21. |
| (d) The attorney general, pursuant to his or her the attorney general’s inherent authority, |
| may bring an action in the superior court to enforce the public interest in such restrictions. |
| (e) The court in any judicial proceeding, or the decision maker in any arbitration or other |
| alternative dispute resolution proceeding, in addition to any other relief ordered, may award the |
| prevailing party, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in the action or proceeding. |
| (f) A court action affecting a conservation restriction held by a private land trust, as defined |
| in § 42-17.1-2(28)(ii), may only be brought or intervened in by: |
| (1) An owner of a property interest in the real property burdened by the conservation |
| restriction; |
| (2) A holder of the conservation restriction; |
| (3) A person having a third-party right of enforcement stated in the recorded conservation |
| restriction; or |
| (4) The attorney general as provided in subsection (d) of this section. |
| SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC001534 |
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