AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A PARTIAL RELEASE OF CERTAIN LAND IN THE TOWN OF HATFIELD FROM THE OPERATION OF AN AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION RESTRICTION.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to provide forthwith for the release of a certain agricultural preservation restriction, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
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. Under section 40E of chapter 7 and section 32 of chapter 184 of the General Laws, but notwithstanding any other general or special law to the contrary, the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance, in consultation with the commissioner of agricultural resources, may execute a certificate releasing a certain parcel of land from that agricultural preservation restriction, in this act referred to as “APR”, granted by Luther Belden, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, Bradstreet Depot Road, Hatfield, MA, in this act referred to as “owner”, to the commonwealth, dated September 20, 1986, recorded in the Hampshire county registry of deeds at Book 2984, Page 0295. The parcel of land to be released is more particularly described as follows:
One certain parcel of land shown as Parcel B on a plan of land entitled, “Plan of Land surveyed for Luther Belden, Inc., located in Hatfield, Mass., scale: 1" 100', Daniel L. Werner, P.L.S., Greenfield, MA, dated December 1, 2003”, which plan is to be recorded in Hampshire county registry of deeds with a certificate of partial release.
SECTION 2. Parcel B to be released, as described in section 1, is to be transferred by owner to the owner of nearby land, the Sanford A. and Elizabeth G. Belden Revocable Trust, a trust established under New York law by Agreement of Trust dated May 23, 2003, and recorded in the Hampshire county registry of deeds at Book 7266, Page 279, 9 Lynacres Boulevard, Fayetteville, N.Y., 13066, in this act referred to as the “trust”. The trust has agreed to and shall concurrently transfer and convey to owner a certain parcel of land owned by the Trust and shown on the described plan as “Parcel A.”
SECTION 3. Parcel A, upon transfer to owner, shall become subject to the APR and shall become part of the land of owner that is currently subject to the APR. In consideration of the release from the APR of Parcel B, owner has agreed to, and shall execute concurrently with the described transfers of Parcels A and B, an amendment to the APR and property description reflecting the addition of Parcel A to the APR, in form satisfactory to the commissioner of agricultural resources. The amendment shall be recorded at the Hampshire county registry of deeds together with the new deeds to Parcels A and B, the new plan, and the certificate of partial release, as described above. If owner fails to execute the described new amendment to the APR or the trust does not duly transfer Parcel A to owner to become subject to the restriction, as amended, the APR shall be reimposed on Parcel B, unless the APR is released or discharged by the commonwealth in its entirety in the interim.
SECTION 4. Except as partially released by the recording of the certificate of partial release covering Parcel B as described in section 1, as authorized by this act, the APR shall remain in full force and effect.
SECTION 5. Chapter 225 of the acts of 2002 is hereby repealed.
Approved July 27, 2006.