A. A person who owns land within an active management area that is legally entitled to be irrigated with groundwater pursuant to an irrigation grandfathered right may apply to the director for designation of the land as protected farmland. On receipt of an application, the director shall grant the application and designate the land identified in the application as protected farmland if the director determines that the land is subject to a conservation easement that prohibits the development of the land for nonagricultural uses pursuant to the federal farmland protection program established by Public Law 104-127 (110 Stat. 888).

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 45-483

  • Active management area: means a geographical area that has been designated pursuant to article 2 of this chapter as requiring active management of groundwater or, in the case of the Santa Cruz active management area, active management of any water, other than stored water, withdrawn from a well. See Arizona Laws 45-402
  • Director: means the director of water resources, who is also the director of the department. See Arizona Laws 45-101
  • Grandfathered right: means a right to withdraw and use groundwater pursuant to article 5 of this chapter based on the fact of lawful withdrawals and use of groundwater before the date of the designation of an active management area. See Arizona Laws 45-402
  • Groundwater: means water under the surface of the earth regardless of the geologic structure in which it is standing or moving. See Arizona Laws 45-101
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Irrigation grandfathered right: means a grandfathered right determined pursuant to section 45-465. See Arizona Laws 45-402
  • Owner: means :

    (a) With respect to an irrigation grandfathered right or a type 1 non-irrigation grandfathered right, the owner of the land to which the right is appurtenant. See Arizona Laws 45-461

  • Person: means an individual, public or private corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, society, estate or trust, any other private organization or enterprise, the United States, any state, territory or country or a governmental entity, political subdivision or municipal corporation organized under or subject to the constitution and laws of this state. See Arizona Laws 45-402
  • Protected farmland: means land that has been designated by the director as protected farmland pursuant to section 45-483, subsection A and for which the designation has not been revoked by the director pursuant to section 45-483, subsection C. See Arizona Laws 45-461
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • water duty: means the amount of water in acre-feet per acre that is reasonable to apply to irrigated land in a farm unit during the accounting period, as determined by the director pursuant to sections 45-564 through 45-568 or as prescribed in section 45-483. See Arizona Laws 45-402
  • Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215

B. A person who owns land that has been designated by the director as protected farmland pursuant to subsection A of this section shall notify the director in writing if the conservation easement in the land terminates. The notice shall be given within thirty days after the termination of the easement and shall specify the reason for the termination.

C. After the director designates land as protected farmland pursuant to subsection A of this section, the director shall revoke the designation if either of the following applies:

1. The conservation easement in the land has terminated. If the director revokes a designation of protected farmland under this paragraph, the director shall determine at that time whether the conservation easement terminated because a partial or full condemnation of the land made farming impracticable. The director shall give written notice of the revocation and of the director’s determination of whether the easement terminated because a partial or full condemnation of the land made farming impracticable to the owner at the owner’s last address on file with the department.

2. The owner of the land has requested the director to revoke the designation and the conservation easement in the land has not terminated.

D. Notwithstanding any other law, if the director designates land as protected farmland pursuant to subsection A of this section, the irrigation water duty for the land shall be the irrigation water duty in effect for the land under the applicable management plan when the application for designation was filed, including any subsequent adjustments to that water duty as a result of an application for administrative review filed with the director pursuant to section 45-575, subsection A. If the director revokes the designation of protected farmland pursuant to subsection C of this section, the irrigation water duty for the land shall be the irrigation water duty established for the land in the applicable management plan pursuant to section 45-566, 45-567 or 45-568.

E. Notwithstanding any other law or rule, the director shall not establish or grant an assured water supply credit for the extinguishment of an irrigation grandfathered right under the rules adopted by the director pursuant to section 45-576, subsection H if the land to which the irrigation grandfathered right is appurtenant was previously designated by the director as protected farmland pursuant to subsection A of this section. This subsection shall not apply to land that was designated by the director as protected farmland if the director revoked the designation pursuant to subsection C, paragraph 1 of this section and the director determined at that time that the conservation easement in the land was terminated because a partial or full condemnation of the land made farming impracticable.

F. Section 45-114, subsections A and B govern administrative proceedings, rehearing or review and judicial review of final decisions of the director under this section.

 

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