10.1-1020 - Virginia Land Conservation Fund; purposes of Foundation.
§ 10.1-1020. Virginia Land Conservation Fund; purposes of Foundation.
A. The Foundation shall establish, administer, manage, including the creationof reserves, and make expenditures and allocations from a special,nonreverting fund in the state treasury to be known as the Virginia LandConservation Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Fund. The Foundation shallestablish and administer the Fund solely for the purposes of:
1. Acquiring fee simple title or other rights, including the purchase ofdevelopment rights, to interests or privileges in property for the protectionor preservation of ecological, cultural or historical resources, lands forrecreational purposes, state forest lands, and lands for threatened orendangered species, fish and wildlife habitat, natural areas, agriculturaland forestal lands and open space; and
2. Providing grants to state agencies, including the Virginia OutdoorsFoundation, and matching grants to other public bodies and holders foracquiring fee simple title or other rights, including the purchase ofdevelopment rights, to interests or privileges in real property for theprotection or preservation of ecological, cultural or historical resources,lands for recreational purposes, and lands for threatened or endangeredspecies, fish and wildlife habitat, natural areas, agricultural and forestallands and open space. The Board shall establish criteria for making grantsfrom the Fund, including procedures for determining the amount of each grantand the required match. The criteria shall include provisions for grants tolocalities for purchase of development rights programs.
Interests in land acquired as provided in subdivision 1 of this subsectionmay be held by the Foundation or transferred to state agencies or otherappropriate holders. Whenever a holder acquires any interest in land otherthan a fee simple interest as a result of a grant or transfer from theFoundation, such interest shall be held jointly by the holder and a publicbody. Whenever a holder acquires a fee simple interest in land as a result ofa grant or transfer from the Foundation, a public body shall hold an openspace easement in such land.
B. The Fund shall consist of general fund moneys and gifts, endowments orgrants from the United States government, its agencies and instrumentalities,and funds from any other available sources, public or private. Such moneys,gifts, endowments, grants or funds from other sources may be eitherrestricted or unrestricted. For the purposes of this chapter, "restrictedfunds" shall mean those funds received by the Board to which specificconditions apply; "restricted funds" shall include, but not be limited to,general obligation bond moneys and conditional gifts. "Unrestricted funds"shall mean those received by the Foundation to which no specific conditionsapply; "unrestricted funds" shall include, but not be limited to, moneysappropriated to the Fund by the General Assembly to which no specificconditions are attached and unconditional gifts.
C. In any year in which the Fund contains less than $10 million in newdeposits on September 1, and after an allocation for administrative expenseshas been made as provided in subsection G, the remaining unrestricted fundsin the Fund shall be allocated as follows:
1. Twenty-five percent shall be transferred to the Virginia OutdoorsFoundation's Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund to be used as providedin § 10.1-1801.1; and
2. Seventy-five percent shall be divided equally among the following fourgrant uses: (i) natural area protection; (ii) open spaces and parks,including but not limited to, land for public hunting, fishing or wildlifewatching; (iii) farmlands and forest preservation; and (iv) historic areapreservation. Of the amount allocated as provided in this subdivision, atleast one third shall be used to secure easements to be held or co-held by apublic body.
D. In any year in which the Fund contains $10 million or more in new depositson September 1, and after an allocation for administrative expenses has beenmade as provided in subsection G, the remaining unrestricted funds in theFund shall be allocated as follows:
1. Twenty-five percent shall be transferred to the Virginia OutdoorsFoundation's Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund to be used as providedin § 10.1-1801.1; and
2. The remaining funds shall be divided equally among the following fivegrant uses: (i) natural area protection; (ii) open spaces and parks,including but not limited to, land for public hunting, fishing, or wildlifewatching; (iii) farmland preservation; (iv) forestland conservation; and (v)historic area preservation.
E. Any moneys remaining in the Fund at the end of a biennium shall remain inthe Fund, and shall not revert to the general fund. Interest earned on moneysreceived by the Fund other than bond proceeds shall remain in the Fund and becredited to it. Any funds transferred to the Open-Space Lands PreservationTrust Fund pursuant to this section and not disbursed or committed to aproject by the end of the fiscal year in which the funds were transferredshall be returned to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund and shall beredistributed among the authorized grant uses during the next grant cycle.
F. A portion of the Fund, not to exceed twenty percent of the annual balanceof unrestricted funds, may be used to develop properties purchased in feesimple, or through the purchase of development rights, with the assets of theFund for public use including, but not limited to, development of trails,parking areas, infrastructure, and interpretive projects or to conductenvironmental assessments or other preliminary evaluations of propertiesprior to the acquisition of any property interest.
G. Up to $250,000 per year of the interest generated by the Fund may be usedfor the Foundation's administrative expenses, including, but not limited to,the expenses of the Board and its members, development of the Foundation'sstrategic plan, development and maintenance of an inventory of properties asprovided in subdivision 1 b of § 10.1-1021, development of a needs assessmentfor future expenditures as provided in subdivision 1 c of § 10.1-1021, andfulfillment of reporting requirements. All such expenditures shall be subjectto approval by the Board of Trustees.
H. The Comptroller shall maintain the restricted funds and the unrestrictedfunds in separate accounts.
I. For the purposes of this section, "public body" shall have the meaningascribed to it in § 10.1-1700, and "holder" shall have the meaning ascribedto it in § 10.1-1009.
(1992, c. 426; 1999, cc. 900, 906; 2000, cc. 494, 1053; 2006, c. 227; 2007,cc. 77, 673.)