AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE CONVEYANCE AND CHANGE OF USE OF A CERTAIN PARCEL OF LAND CONVEYED BY THE COMMONWEALTH TO THE CITY OF NORTHAMPTON.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to release a restriction on a certain parcel of land in the city of Northampton, 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 15A of chapter 86 of the acts of 1994, as appearing in chapter 307 of the acts of 1994, is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following 2 paragraphs:-
Notwithstanding this section, the parcel of land shown as parcel C-1 on a plan of land entitled “Plan of Land in Northampton, Massachusetts Hampshire County Prepared for the City of Northampton”, dated November 18, 2013 and recorded in the Hampshire registry of deeds in plan book 231, page 15 shall not be subject to the condition that it be used for municipal purposes and shall not revert to the care and control of the division of capital asset management and maintenance for failure to use the property for municipal purposes. Parcel C-1 may be conveyed to a developer for nominal consideration; provided, however, that such developer shall develop the property for affordable housing purposes, subject to a permanent affordable housing restriction. If parcel C-1 is not conveyed to an affordable housing developer pursuant to this section, 50 per cent of the proceeds of any conveyance shall be deposited in the General Fund and 50 per cent of the proceeds of any such conveyance shall be retained by the city of Northampton. On the effective date of this act, the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance shall release the restriction and record such release in the Hampshire registry of deeds.
If the city does not convey parcel C-1 to an affordable housing developer pursuant to the this section, an independent appraisal of the fair market value and value in use of parcel C-1 shall be prepared in accordance with the usual and customary professional appraisal practices by a qualified appraiser commissioned by the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance. Consideration for the conveyance of parcel C-1 shall be the full and fair market value or the value in proposed use, whichever is greater, as determined by the commissioner. The commissioner shall submit any appraisals to the inspector general for review and comment. The inspector general shall review and approve any such appraisals and the review shall include an examination of the methodology utilized for any such appraisals. The inspector general shall prepare a report of the review and file the report with the commissioner who shall submit the report to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on state administration and regulatory oversight. The commissioner shall submit copies of any appraisals and the inspector general’s review and approval and comments, if any, to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on state administration and regulatory oversight at least 15 days prior to the execution of any documents conveying parcel C-1 pursuant to this section.
Approved, January 5, 2023.