(1) Evaluation Report. After a period for technical review, not to exceed 120 days from the closing date of the application period, the Trust staff shall prepare a written evaluation report for consideration by the governing body that includes the following:
    (a) A summary of each project, the type of award requested and the scoring it received in the evaluation categories pursuant to subsections 62-815.008(1), (2), and (3), F.A.C.
    (b) A statement of the total amount of Preservation 2000 funds available.
    (2) Application Selection by the Trust. The governing body shall meet for the purpose of selecting applications for conceptual approval.
    (a) The Trust may schedule a sufficient number of meetings to conduct the activities described in this part, so long as the meeting at which conditions for conceptual approval of applications is given occurs no later than 60 days from the date of the meeting at which the staff evaluation report is given to the governing body.
    (b) The governing body shall consider each application submitted to the Trust for funding and approve or modify the point scoring totals assigned to each application in the staff evaluation report. Decisions to modify point totals shall be based on review of applications by the governing body, oral presentations presented to the governing body by staff, and public presentations to the governing body by applicants and other members of the general public.
    (c) Recognizing that the primary responsibility for establishing well-planned land use rests at the local government level through the implementation of the local comprehensive plan, the Trust shall place added emphasis on those projects that further the growth management and comprehensive plan implementation criteria set forth in subsection 62-815.008(1), F.A.C., by adjusting the score upward in this category by a factor of 1.5.
    (d) After a final determination of the scoring of each application in each evaluation category, the governing body shall consider the point totals in each evaluation category, as well as any other relevant factors not considered directly in the assignment of point totals, and rank the applications in descending order, with the highest ranking application being given highest funding priority.
    (e) After ranking the applications in descending order, the governing body, beginning with the application with the highest ranking and moving in order down the list, shall select applications until all of the Preservation 2000 funds available for awards are encumbered, and accounting that at least half of the funds available are matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
    (f) After application ranking but prior to the meeting for conceptual approval at which the Conceptual Approval Agreements are approved, the Trust staff may conduct site visits or other investigations. If such visits or investigations reveal undisclosed facts or erroneous evaluation conclusions, the Trust staff shall report such findings to the governing body at the meeting for conceptual approval. The Trust governing body shall have the right to impose conditions relevant to these findings, or any other conditions deemed necessary to protect the interests of the State of Florida. Such conditions will be imposed on the applicant at the conceptual approval meeting. Applicants will be advised of the conditions prior to the meeting. Any such conditions must be met by the applicant prior to receiving project plan approval. Further, the governing body shall have the right to alter the ranking of applications based on the site visit or investigation findings.
    (g) At the conclusion of the meeting for conceptual approval of applications, those applications selected for funding pursuant to the provisions of this part will be considered to have received conceptual approval for funding. The Trust shall publish a Notice of Conceptual Approval in the Florida Administrative Register that shall list all applications considered, whether the application has received conceptual approval or not, and the amount of funding conceptually approved for each applicant.
    (h) Any person with substantial interests that are or may be determined by the conceptual approval of funds for projects by the Trust may request an administrative proceeding pursuant to Florida Statutes § 120.57, within 21 days of publication of the Notice of Conceptual Approval.
    (i) If for any reason funds awarded to a conceptually approved application become available prior to the opening of the next application cycle, those funds committed to the project by the Trust may then be committed to a lesser ranked project on the Notice of Conceptual Approval for the same series funding cycle.
    (j) Conceptual approval for funding shall be for a period not to exceed nine (9) months from the date of the meeting at which the conceptual approval was given. Project plans that have not received project plan approval prior to the conclusion of the nine-month period may request an extension to the Conceptual Approval Agreement from the Trust. An extension request must be made in writing to the Program Manager of the Trust, fully explaining the reason for the delay and the extension requested. The request for an extension must be received prior to 5:00 p.m., at the Trust offices on the last day of the nine-month conceptual approval period. When a conceptually approved project has not received project plan approval and the nine-month approval period has passed without a request for an extension, the application will be deemed withdrawn and the funds committed to the project by the Trust shall then be committed to applications that are conceptually approved in subsequent funding cycles.
    (k) Pursuant to Section 380.510(3)(f), F.S., the time period of the conceptual approval agreement and extensions shall not exceed a total of 24 months; unless, however, the governing board extends a grant beyond 24 months when the grant recipient demonstrates that significant progress is being made toward closing the project or that extenuating circumstances warrant an extension of time.
Rulemaking Authority Florida Statutes § 380.507(11). Law Implemented 259.101, 375.045, 380.510 FS. History-New 11-3-91, Amended 11-1-92, 2-9-98, Formerly 9K-4.010.