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The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

AN ACT RELEASING CERTAIN LAND IN DUDLEY FROM THE OPERATION OF AN AGRICULTURAL PRESERVTION RESTRICTION.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

SECTION 1. Pursuant to section 40E of chapter 7 and section 32 of chapter 184 of the General Laws, but notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance, in consultation with the commissioner of agricultural resources, the latter referred to in this act as “the department”, may execute a certificate of release of a portion of the land covered by the agricultural preservation restriction granted by Stewart D. Peckham and Barbara A. Peckham, in this act referred to as “former owner”, to the commonwealth and the town of Dudley, dated February 11, 1988 and recorded in Book 11743, Page 201, at the Worcester district registry of deeds, in this act referred to as “the original APR”. The portion of the original APR land which shall be released is located on the westerly side of Dresser Hill road in the town of Dudley and shown as “Parcel A” on a plan of land entitled, “Plan of Proposed Land Transfers in Dudley, Mass., between Thomas Realty, Inc. and Ronald S. Dziembowski and Rhonda L. Dziembowski, February 5, 2001; scale: 1” = 60’; Para Land Surveying, Inc., Southbridge, MA”, in this act referred to as “the plan”, and shall be recorded in the Worcester county registry of deeds. Parcel A contains 43,560 square feet according to the plan.

SECTION 2. The land covered by the original APR shall, on the effective date of this act, be owned by Ronald S. Dziembowski and Rhonda L. Dziembowski, in this act referred to as “current owner”, which term shall include Ronald S. Dziembowski and Rhonda L. Dziembowski’s successors and assigns. The Parcel A described in section 1 shall be transferred by the current owner to Thomas Realty, Inc. and its successors and assigns. Thomas Realty Inc. is the owner of other, separate land located near the original APR land, and which is 5.44 +/- acres in size and shown as “Parcel B” on the plan. Thomas Realty, Inc. shall, concurrently with the transfer of Parcel A, transfer Parcel B to current owner.

In consideration of the release from the original APR of Parcel A, which shall be transferred to Thomas Realty, Inc., current owner shall execute, concurrently with the 2 described land transfers, a new agricultural preservation restriction, in this act referred to as “the new APR”, prohibiting the construction of future dwellings and containing an option to purchase at agricultural value running in favor of the commonwealth. The new APR shall cover both an agreed 30-acre parcel of the original APR land and Parcel B and shall be recorded at the Worcester district registry of deeds. Thomas Realty, Inc. shall, in consideration of the release from the original APR and the transfer to it of Parcel A, clear and prepare for active commercial agricultural production 2 +/- acres of the 30-acre parcel and approximately 3 acres of the 5.44 +/- acres of Parcel B according to standards and specifications to be provided by the department. The area to be cleared by Thomas Realty, Inc. is depicted as “area to be cleared and prepared for cultivation 5.0 acres” on the plan. Thomas Realty, Inc. shall donate $2,000 to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Agricultural Resources, Mitigation Expendable Trust established pursuant to section 6 of chapter 6A and section 4F of chapter 7 of the General Laws to be used for the acquisition of new agricultural preservation restrictions.

If current owner fails to execute the new APR or duly transfer Parcel A or if Thomas Realty, Inc. fails to prepare for agriculture the described two parcels in accordance with the specifications of the department, fails to make the described donation to the land preservation organization or fails to duly transfer Parcel B to current owner to become subject to the new APR together with the 30-acre parcel, the original APR shall be reimposed on the released Parcel A, unless it is released or discharged by the commonwealth in its entirety in the interim.

SECTION 3. Except as partially released by the recording of the certificate of release described in section 1, as authorized by this act, the original APR shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved August 7, 2008