36.25.705    PROCEDURES FOR NOMINATING AND EVALUATING CABIN SITE AND HOME SITES FOR SALE PURSUANT TO LAND BANKING

(1) The board shall, in its sole discretion, sell individual cabin sites and home sites in configurations providing the best financial and management advantage to the affected trust beneficiary.

(2) The board reserves the right to approve or deny any nominations for the sale of state cabin sites and home sites. The department reserves the right to prioritize activities and determine the number of transactions processed related to the sale of cabin sites and home sites.

(3) The board, the department, the current lessee of, or the improvement owner may nominate that cabin site or home site for sale:

(a) nominations must be on a form issued by the department and must be sent to the appropriate department office, as noted on the form;

(b) a lessee or improvement owner may nominate and shall pay a nonrefundable $100 processing fee for each cabin site or home site nominated;

(c) the department may not accept incomplete nominations;

(d) the department shall review the classification of the parcel, as provided in 77-1-401, MCA, and classify the parcel if it is not classified; and

(e) when a parcel is nominated, the department shall notify:

(i) all persons holding a license on the parcel;

(ii) the representative of any affected trust beneficiary; and

(iii) the lessee of the parcel if the board or department nominated the parcel for sale.

(4) Sale of cabin sites and home sites are exempt from Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review under 77-2-363(7), MCA.

(5) If the department determines pursuant to ARM 36.25.704 that a cabin site or home site meets the preliminary suitability requirements for sale, the department will prepare an agenda item report for the board to seek the board's preliminary approval for a potential sale of the cabin site or home site.

(6) If the department determines the cabin site or home site is not suitable for sale, the department may, without board approval, remove the cabin site or home site from nomination and eliminate the parcel from further review.

(7) The department shall notify the lessee or improvement owner of the department's recommendation of the suitability of a cabin site or home site parcel's suitability for sale by mail, as provided in 77-2-363(3), MCA.

(a) The notification must be mailed on or before the day the department posts the notice on its web site or other equivalent electronic medium.

(b) As a courtesy, the department shall try to contact the lessee by telephone about the department's notice of suitability for sale.

(8) The department shall notify all persons holding a license on the cabin site or home site and the trust beneficiary about the determination.

(9) Any person may appeal the department's removal of a cabin site or home site from nomination to the board within 15 days of the department posting the report on the web site or other equivalent electronic medium. The board shall place the appeal on the next available agenda of a regularly scheduled board meeting no later than 15 days before the meeting.

(10) On a board or department-nominated cabin site or home site, the lessee may, within 60 days of the determination, notify the department that the lessee intends to propose a land exchange.

(11) For each cabin site or home site under review for possible sale, the department shall review the title to the tract and improvements, but the department does not warrant the accuracy of its findings to any party.

(12) Upon the department's agenda item report to the board under (5), the board may preliminarily approve, reject, or modify the terms of the proposed sale.

(a) If the board rejects the proposed sale of the cabin site or home site, the department shall remove the parcel from nomination.

(b) If the board preliminarily approves the proposed sale of the cabin site or home site, the department shall post the sale information for the parcel on the department's web site or other equivalent electronic medium within 30 days of the board's approval.

(13) If the board has preliminarily approved a proposed sale nominated by the lessee or improvement owner, the department will estimate the costs of the appraisal and will notify the lessee or improvement owner of the approval and request submission of the estimated costs of the appraisal attributable to the improvements on the cabin site or home site and associated costs of processing the cabin site or home site for sale.

(a) Where the board gives preliminary approval for the sale of the parcel, the lessee or improvement owner must submit payment for all processing costs within ten days of notification to do so by the department.

(14) If the board has preliminarily approved a proposed sale, the department shall contract with a Montana-licensed certified general appraiser to appraise the cabin site or home site, including improvements under consideration for sale in compliance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). The department will review or contract the review of the appraisal conducted by the contract appraiser.

(15) The department shall pay that proportion of the cost of the appraisal necessary to determine the appraised value of the land. The lessee or improvement owner shall pay that proportion of the cost of the appraisal necessary to determine the appraised value of the improvements.

(a) The department will provide the lessee or improvement owner with a list of no less than two acceptable appraisers to conduct the appraisal, the lessee or improvement owner will select 50 percent of the appraisers on the list, from which the department will select an appraiser to conduct the appraisal.

(b) The appraisal for cabin sites and home sites must:

(i) include a separate land value for the state-owned cabin site or home site in the valuation;

(ii) include a separate value for the non-state-owned improvements in the valuation.

(A) Valuation of the improvements must account for all forms of obsolescence;

(iii) include a total value of the property.

(A) The value of state-owned land added to the non-state-owned improvements value will not be greater than the total value of the property;

(iv) use comparable sales for like properties;

(v) be valued with the hypothetical condition that the cabin site or home site has legal access;

(vi) be reviewed and updated one year from the date of valuation stated in the appraisal report; and

(c) The department shall notify the lessee of the appraised value and post that same information in a dated notice on the department's web site or other equivalent electronic medium.

(16) The department shall give the lessee or improvement owner notice and opportunity for an informal administrative hearing before the department to contest those valuations. The department shall review the arguments and evidence received at the hearing to make a recommendation of the values of the land and the cabin site or home site improvements to the board.

(a) The lessee or improvement owner must file notice of appeal of value with the department within ten days of the department's notification to the lessee or improvements owner of the department's initial valuation of the land and the improvements. Within ten days after receipt of any notice of appeal the department shall notify the lessee or improvement owner of the time and place of the hearing before the director of the department, or the director's designee. Any such hearing shall be informal without adherence to strict rules of evidence as provided in 2-4-604, MCA. A hearings examiner may be appointed to conduct the hearing. The lessee or improvement owner shall present evidence and arguments it wishes the department to consider in recommending values of land and improvements to the board.

(17) The department shall present its findings, conclusions, and recommended values of land and improvements to the board and the lessee or improvement owner.

(18) Upon receiving the appraisal values or department's recommendation of values, the board shall set a minimum acceptable bid on the real property comprising the cabin site or home site, and determine the improvement value for compensation to the lessee or improvement owner.

(a) Upon receipt of lessee consent to the terms and conditions of the proposed sale and the valuation of cabin site or home site improvements, the sale must proceed utilizing the board's final determination of the values, and the lessee or improvement owner is obligated to transfer its interest in the cabin site or home site improvements existing on the cabin site or home site lease according to the board's final determination of their value.

(b) Nothing in this rule prohibits the lessee or improvement owner from choosing to accept a price for the cabin site or home site improvements existing on the cabin site or home site that is less than the board's final determination of value.

(19) The department shall give notice of the minimum acceptable bid for the real property comprising the cabin site or home site, and the determined value of the improvements for sale by listing the proposed sale of the cabin site or home site and the improvements upon the department's Internet web site or other equivalent electronic medium.

(20) If the board has preliminarily approved a proposed sale, the department shall make the following available to the public, all bidders, and the lessee:

(a) minimum acceptable bid for the land and the determined value of the improvements;

(b) contents and findings of any title review without any warranty of title; and

(c) any required environmental review.

(21) The department shall provide notice of the proposed sale to the following:

(a) Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks;

(b) Department of Transportation;

(c) Department of Environmental Quality;

(d) all adjacent landowners of record;

(e) the appropriate trust beneficiaries;

(f) the board of county commissioners in the county where the cabin site or home site is located;

(g) any surface lessees of the sale of the cabin site or home site by mail. The notice to lessees must include an estimate of costs necessary to complete the sale if the lessees nominated the cabin site or home site;

(h) all persons holding a license on the cabin site or home site;

(i) all persons who have requested to be placed on a notification list for the sale of the real property.

(22) If necessary, the department may conduct a survey of the cabin site or home site proposed for sale. The department shall pay for any such survey of the cabin site or home site.

 

History: 77-1-204, 77-2-308, 77-2-362, MCA; IMP, 77-2-328, 77-2-362, 77-2-363, 77-2-364, 77-2-366, MCA; NEW, 2013 MAR p. 2423, Eff. 12/27/13; AMD, 2024 MAR p. 282, Eff. 2/10/24.