Process for SRLT Easement Acceptance Decisions

Approved by Board of Directors 7/13/1

1. Staff use board-approved targeting and acceptance criteria to consider any donated or purchased easement lead.  Properties not meeting the criteria are not pursued, but are documented within our database.
   
   
   
2. After determining that targeting and acceptance criteria are likely to be met, staff (and/or board members) meet with prospective donors, inspect the property, and take photos.  The easement process and potential benefits are explained to the landowner (LO). This meeting should provide a preliminary concept as to the LO’s interest in a donated or purchased easement – including what rights the LO appears willing to give up (e.g. development, subdivision, forest clear cutting), and what the LO’s financial (tax) or other motivators are.  If the LO indicates interest in an IRS tax deduction, staff explains SRLT’s appraisal policy.  A specific staff or board contact person is established for follow-up.  Staff fills out a SRLT Site Inspection Form that becomes part of the easement project file.
   
   
   
3. Additional conversations with the LO may be needed to confirm/flesh out/refine the preliminary concepts.
   
   
   
4. Staff gathers baseline information on the property, corresponding to the fields of the SRLT Easement Data Sheet.  Staff may use their own judgment as to sending out standard research letters to public agencies at this time, or doing this later in the process.
   
   
   
5. Staff presents the proposed easement in concept to the Executive Committee, with the Easement Data Sheet as a summary and any relevant back-up materials.  This will include a first draft of “Exhibit B-conservation values.”  Exhibit B will require close review, especially whenever a LO will be seeking a federal tax deduction. The EC, using board-approved easement targeting and acceptance criteria, decides whether the project has sufficient merit for the staff to proceed.
   
   
   
6. If EC approves easement in concept, staff informs LO, with a caveat that EC green light does not signify final approval by the full board.
   
   
   
7. The LO is required to sign a commitment letter to pursue in good faith the successful completion of the easement  and asked to pay a $300 document processing fee.  The total cost of the easement process can easily run into the thousands of dollars, much of it covered by SRLT fundraising; the document processing fee reflects a minimum contribution of the LO toward those expenses.
   
   
   
8. With a green light from the EC, and guided by board-approved easement acceptance criteria, staff continues to develop, through further LO negotiations, the restrictions, prohibitions, and other terms of the conservation easement:
   
   - A qualified attorney reviews the draft easement Exhibit B, conservation values, is reviewed
   - Staff conducts further property research, including standard research letters to county and State agencies (e.g. planning & zoning)
   - Staff initiates mortgage subordination, if needed
   -The LO is advised to seek engineering review of any subdivision plans
   
   If and when questions arise as to whether and how the proposed easement meets SRLT criteria and policies, staff consults with the director, the board president, and relevant easement experts. For more complicated easements, or where special issues are involved, early communication with the entire board is strongly recommended.
   
   
   
9. Once staff reaches agreement on terms with the LO, staff mails a package to the board (a minimum of two weeks before a board meeting) that includes a summary memo in standard form, a map showing the property and surroundings, and the draft deed of easement.   The board accepts, rejects or approves with conditions.
   
   
   
10. For easements accepted by the board, staff completes any remaining exhibits and baseline tasks, and proceeds to recordation.
    
    
    
11. In cases where the board imposes conditions, staff then resumes negotiations with the LO.  When LO has agreed to meet the conditions, staff resubmits the easement to the board for final approval, UNLESS the board specifically delegates to staff the authority to ensure conditions are met and proceed to recordation.  No substantive changes are made without board approval.
    
    
    
12. Post-recordation tasks for staff include:  filling out any tracking forms, database input, filing, copies, and sending a follow-up package of items to the donor.  This includes information for obtaining any appropriate tax benefits.  A contemporaneous written acknowledgement of the donated easement is mailed to the LO. Staff reviews the easement appraisal per the guidelines of SRLT’s appraisal policy, and if no red flags are detected, the director signs “IRS Form 8283 Non-Cash Charitable Deductions,” and returns it to the donor.