                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CREATION, ACCEPTANCE AND DURATION (§ 10.1-1010)

A. A holder may acquire a conservation easement by gift, purchase, devise or
bequest.

B. No right or duty in favor of or against a holder and no right in favor of a
person having a third-party right of enforcement arises under a conservation
easement before its acceptance by the holder and a recordation of the
acceptance.

C. A conservation easement shall be perpetual in duration unless the instrument
creating it otherwise provides a specific time. For all easements, the holder
shall (i) meet the criteria in &#xA7; 10.1-1009 and (ii) either have had a
principal office in the Commonwealth for at least five years, or be a national
organization in existence for at least five years which has an office in the
Commonwealth and has registered and is in good standing with the State
Corporation Commission. Until a holder has met these requirements, the holder
may co-hold a conservation easement with another holder that meets the
requirements.

D. An interest in real property in existence at the time a conservation easement
is created is not impaired by it unless the owner of the interest is a party to
the conservation easement or consents to it in writing.

E. No conservation easement shall be valid and enforceable unless the
limitations or obligations created thereby conform in all respects to the
comprehensive plan at the time the easement is granted for the area in which the
real property is located.

F. This chapter does not affect the power of the court to modify or terminate a
conservation easement in accordance with the principles of law and equity, or in
any way limit the power of eminent domain as possessed by any public body. In
any such proceeding the holder of the conservation easement shall be compensated
for the value of the easement.

HISTORY: 1988, cc. 720, 891; 2000, c. 182; 2003, c. 1014; 2004, c. 364.