DEVELOPMENT REVIEW

Release of Conservation Easement

The Board of County Commissioners of Seminole County has adopted a procedure for requesting the release of a Seminole County conservation easement. The procedure is fully set forth in Resolution 2001-R-33 approved by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on February 13, 2001, and a copy of this Resolution is attached for your information. Please note carefully the types of properties and easements that may be released (see Section 1(b) of the Resolution). The fee is $700.00, however, if the application does not meet the criteria for processing, the application and $500.00 of the fee will be returned.

The purpose of this Resolution is to provide regulations and procedures to govern requests for the release of conservation easements held by Seminole County. The procedures set forth herein are not intended to and shall not be construed to create any right to such a release.

This resolution and the procedures contained herein apply to the following types of properties and easements:

(1) Easements obtained for stormwater or drainage retention purposes which were erroneously denominated as conservation easements; and

(2) Properties encumbered by a conservation easement through inadvertence, mistake or scrivener’s error.

No other type of conservation easement may be released

In short, the BCC has created the following four step process to consider applications for the release of a conservation easement:

(1) Submission to the Development Review Division of a completed application for the release of a conservation easement accompanied by the appropriate fee.

(2) Review of the application by the Development Review Division (and return of ineligible requests, together with a portion of the application fee).

(3) Providing public notice of a BCC hearing to consider the application, including the publishing of two advertisements in the newspaper.

(4) Public hearing before the BCC for consideration of the application to release the conservation easement. The BCC must find that the release of the conservation easement would not be adverse to the public interest prior to approving the application.

The amount of time required for processing a request for release of a conservation easement depends on the type of request, timely submittal of required documents, and scheduling of the public hearing with respect to established scheduling procedures. That time may vary depending on the information received and the completeness of your application. PLEASE NOTE THAT IF THERE ARE ANY ERRORS IN THE LEGAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ITEM TO BE RELEASED, THIS APPLICATION CANNOT BE ACCEPTED BY THIS OFFICE FOR PROCESSING.

If the request is approved by the Board of County Commissioners, the Development Review Division will submit to the Clerk of the Circuit Court the proof of advertisements, along with the Resolution adopted by the Board and any associated documents for recording in the public records. Subsequent to such recording, the Development Review Division will mail the applicant a certified copy of the Resolution, thereby completing the release of conservation easement process.

If you should have any questions regarding this process, please contact this office at (407) 665-7331.

Release of Conservation Easement Application (PDF)