(a) The county recorder in each county shall develop and maintain, within the existing indexing system, a comprehensive index of conservation easements and Notice of Conservation Easement on land within that county. The conservation easement index developed and maintained pursuant to this subdivision shall include all conservation easements recorded on and after January 1, 2002.
(b) For the purposes of this section, “conservation easement” means any limitation in a recorded instrument that contains an easement, restriction, covenant, condition, or offer to dedicate, which is or has been executed by or on behalf of the owner of the land subject to that limitation and is binding upon successive owners of the land, and the purpose of which is to retain land predominantly in its natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, forested, or open-space condition. “Conservation easement” includes a conservation easement as defined in Section 815.1 of the Civil Code, an open-space easement as defined in Section 51075 of this code, and an agricultural conservation easement as defined in Section 10211 of the Public Resources Code.
(c) On and after January 1, 2002, when a county recorder records a new conservation easement affecting property within the county, he or she shall include the easement in the index developed and maintained pursuant to subdivision (a), if the document containing the easement is entitled “Conservation Easement,” or the following document is properly filled out by the submitter, and recorded at the same time, or at a later date:
Recording Requested by and
When Recorded Return to:
NOTICE OF CONSERVATION EASEMENT
The undersigned hereby gives notice that a Conservation Easement
was recorded in the County
Recorder’s Office on
and recorded as Document Number .
The grantors and grantees of the conservation easement were
Grantors
Grantees
I declare under penalty of perjury that the above statement is true and
correct.
Signed ___________________________
Dated ___________________________
THIS NOTICE IS FOR INDEXING PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES
NOT, BY ITSELF, CONSTITUTE A CONSERVATION EASEMENT
(d) In order to include conservation easements recorded prior to January 1, 2002, the comprehensive index of conservation easements and “Notice of Conservation Easement” developed and maintained pursuant to subdivision (a), any parties to conservation easements, including, but not limited to, the counties, cities, recreation and park districts or agencies, state conservancies, state agencies, the California Coastal Commission, land trusts, and nonprofit organizations may fill out and record a Notice of Conservation Easement pursuant to subdivision (c) for each previously recorded conservation easement, in the county in which the affected real property is located.
(e) Pursuant to Section 27361, the standard fee charged by the county recorder for recording the conservation easement document shall include funds to cover the costs associated with indexing the document.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature that nothing in this section shall be construed to require a county recorder to develop and maintain an index separate from the existing indexing system, and that the conservation easement index be established by using existing resources.
(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 531, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2007.)