COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 94
(By Senators Helmick and Ross)
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[Originating in the Committee on Transportation;
reported February 1, 1994.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nineteen, article two-a,
chapter seventeen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the sale,
exchange or lease of real property by the commissioner of
highways; and permitting the commissioner of highways to
sell or lease at fair market value real estate owned by the
division of highways to adjoining landowners.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nineteen, article two-a, chapter seventeen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSIONER OF HIGHWAYS.
§17-2A-19. Sale, exchange or lease of real property.
The department of highways, subject to the conditions
herein, may sell, exchange or lease real property, or any
interest or right therein, held by the department of highways.
When the real property, or any interest or right therein, isbeing held for future road purposes, it may be leased. When the
real property, or any part thereof, or any interest or right
therein, is deemed by the commissioner not necessary or desirable
for present or presently foreseeable future state road purposes,
it may be exchanged for other real property, or any interest or
right therein, deemed by the commissioner to be necessary or
desirable for present or presently foreseeable future state road
purposes, or it may be sold. In addition, the department may
exchange real property, or any part thereof, or any interest or
right therein, even though it may be necessary or desirable for
present or presently foreseeable future state road purposes, if
the exchange is made for other real property, or any interest or
right therein, in close proximity thereto which the commissioner
deems of equal or superior useful value for present or presently
foreseeable future state road purposes. In making exchanges the
department may make allowances for differences in the value of
the properties being exchanged and may move or pay the cost of
moving buildings, structures or appurtenances in connection with
the exchange.
Every such sale of real property, or any interest or right
therein or structure thereon, shall be at public auction in the
county in which the real property, or the greater part thereof in
value, is located, and the department shall advertise, by
publication or otherwise, the time, place and terms of the sale
at least twenty days prior thereto. The property shall be sold
in the manner which will bring the highest and best price
therefor. The department may reject any or all bids received at
the sale. The commissioner shall keep a record, open to publicinspection, indicating the manner in which such real property, or
any interest or right therein or structure thereon, was publicly
advertised for sale, the highest bid received therefor and from
whom, the person to whom sold and payment received therefor. The
record shall be kept for a period of five years and may
thereafter be destroyed.
The commissioner may transfer, sell or otherwise dispose of
any real estate or any interest or right therein owned by or to
be acquired by the department of highways which the commissioner
in his or her sole discretion shall determine are not necessary
or desirable for present or presently foreseeable future state
road purposes by first offering the same to the principal
abutting landowners without following the procedure for public
auction hereinbefore set forth in this section.
The commissioner must give notice as a Class I legal
advertisement in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code of the sale to the abutting
landowner thirty days prior to the sale.
The commissioner shall adopt and promulgate rules in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-
nine-a of this code governing and controlling the making of any
leases or sales pursuant to the provisions of this section, which
rules may provide for the giving of preferential treatment in
making leases to the persons from whom the properties or rights
or interests therein were acquired, or their heirs or assigns,
and shall also provide for granting a right of first refusal to
abutting landowners at fair market value in the sale or lease of
any real estate or any interest or right therein owned by thedepartment of highways.
The commissioner may insert in any deed or conveyance,
whether it involves an exchange, lease or sale, the conditions as
are in the public interest and have been approved in advance by
the governor.
All moneys received from the exchange, sale or lease of real
property, or any right or interest therein, shall be paid into
the state treasury and credited to the state road fund.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, property
shall not be transferred, sold or otherwise disposed of unless
the commissioner finds that the right-of-way or other property
has no significant value to the state as a hiking trail and does
not serve as a link between two or more state owned properties,
except that any such property that lies within six hundred feet
of any dwelling house may be transferred, sold or otherwise
disposed of without such a finding pursuant to the provisions of
this section.