THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

In the Year Two Thousand and Seven

AN ACT RELEASING CERTAIN LAND IN DEERFIELD FROM THE OPERATION OF AN AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION RESTRICTION

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. Pursuant to section thirty-two of chapter one hundred eighty-four of the General Laws and notwithstanding the requirements of sections 40 E - 40 J of chapter 7 of the general laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the commissioner of the division of capital asset management, in consultation with the commissioner of the department of agricultural resources, the former being referred to in this act as the “Commissioner” and the latter as the “Department”, may execute a certificate of release of a portion of the land covered by that agricultural preservation restriction granted by Carlos E. Allen, in this act referred to as “Former Owner”, to the Deerfield Land Trust, recorded July 27, 1999 at Franklin County Registry of Deeds, Book 3524, Page 312, in this act being referred to as the “APR Land”, being subsequently assigned to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by Assignment recorded April 6, 2000, in Book 3613, Page 75, at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds, said restriction in this act being referred to as the “Original APR”. The portion of the APR Land to be released is more particularly described as follows:

“One certain parcel of land, containing approximately 0.25 acres more or less, and located on the easterly side of Greenfield Road in Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, being a portion of Assessor’s lot 86-7, and bounded on the south by land of Albert J. Dray; bounded on the west by Greenfield Road; and bounded on the north and east by the remainder of the land comprising Assessor’s lot 86-7”. Said parcel (the “APR Release Parcel”) is to be shown on a plan of land to be prepared that is to be approved by the Town of Deerfield and is to be recorded in Franklin County Registry of Deeds with the certificate of release.

SECTION 2. The land covered by the Original APR is now owned by Molenaar LLC, aka Pioneer Gardens, Inc., in this act referred to as “Current Owner” (which term shall include its successors and assigns). The above-described APR Release Parcel, is a portion of Assessor’s parcel 86-7 and is to be transferred by Current Owner to one Albert J. Dray, (hereinafter referred to as “Dray” and which term shall include successors and assigns), who is the owner of other, separate land located near the APR Land. The separate land of Dray includes a certain parcel of land, 1.8 +/- acres in size that is Assessor’s Parcel 87-13 (the “APR New Parcel”) and is to be shown on a Plan of land to be prepared that is to be approved by the Town of Deerfield and is to be recorded in Franklin County Registry of Deeds with the plan for the APR Release Parcel and the certificate of release. Dray has agreed to and shall concurrently with the transfer of the APR Release Parcel from Current Owner to Dray, transfer by deed the APR New Parcel to Current Owner for the parcel’s agricultural value as determined by the appraisals described below, said consideration for the transfer being by agreement of Current Owner and Dray.

In consideration of the release from the Original APR of the APR Release Parcel to be transferred to Dray and the transfer to Current Owner of the APR New Parcel, Current Owner has agreed to, and shall execute, concurrently with the two described land transfers, a new, current and updated agricultural preservation restriction, in this act referred to as the “New APR”, prohibiting the construction of future dwellings and containing an option to purchase at agricultural value running in favor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The New APR shall cover certain other land located on the northerly side of Wells Cross Road a short distance from the Original APR that is owned by Current Owner and that is subject to a separate agricultural preservation restriction originally granted by Carlos E. Allen to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and recorded on April 27, 1995 in Book 2993, Page 159, at Franklin County Registry of Deeds, and shall also cover the APR New Parcel that is located close to the land subject to the 1995 restriction, and shall be recorded at the Franklin County Registry of Deeds. Dray has agreed, in consideration of the release from the Original APR and the transfer to him of the APR Release Parcel, and Current Owner has agreed, in consideration of the release from the Original APR and the transfer to it of the APR New Parcel, to obtain at their sole and own expense, appraisals of each parcel to be transferred, and/or updated current appraisals conforming to Department standards and satisfactory to the Commissioner and to the Department, and also obtain at their sole expense property surveys of each parcel together with plans from a duly licensed and qualified land surveyor to be approved by the Town of Deerfield and recorded at Franklin County Registry of Deeds, also at their sole and own expense, said surveys and plans to be acceptable to the Commissioner and to the Department. Should the fair market value of the APR Release Parcel be greater than the fair market value of the APR New Parcel to be placed under the new, updated APR, then and in that event, the difference in value shall be paid by Dray to the Department or to a non-profit agricultural land preservation organization, approved by the Department, to be used specifically for the acquisition of new agricultural preservation restrictions or for agricultural land preservation in the Deerfield area, under guidelines and time parameters to be established by the Department. No additional consideration shall be due to Dray should the fair market value of the APR Release Parcel be less than the fair market value of the APR New Parcel.

In the event that Current Owner fails to execute the New APR or duly transfer the APR Release Parcel to Dray or fails to perform those other duties described above, as determined by the Department, or Dray fails to transfer the APR New Parcel to Current Owner to become subject to the New APR or to make the described payment to the Department or the agricultural land preservation organization, as may be required dependant upon the completed appraisals described above, or fails to perform those other duties described above, as determined by the Department, the certificate of release described above shall not be executed or recorded.

SECTION 3. Except as partially released by the recording of the above-described certificate of release, as authorized by this Act, the Original APR shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage.