571—33.18(455A) Private cost-sharing program. At least 10 percent of the funds placed in the open spaces account shall be made available for cost sharing with private entities for cost sharing at a maximum level of 75 percent.
	33.18(1) Protection defined. Protection is defined as the purchase of all or a portion of the rights associated with ownership of real property so as to ensure that open space values associated with that property are protected in perpetuity. Protection methods, in order of preference, include, but are not limited to, fee title acquisition, purchase of easements, or other mechanisms that provide long-term assurance of open space protection. Title for acquired properties shall be vested in the state of Iowa, and projects must be consistent with priorities established by the department.
	33.18(2) Eligibility to participate. Any trust, foundation, incorporated conservation organization, private individual, corporation or other nongovernmental group able to provide funds or interest in land sufficient to equal at least 25 percent of a proposed protection project may submit or cause to have submitted a project for funding consideration. Except however, a private organization established to benefit a specific governmental entity is not eligible to submit a project. Governmental entities are also not eligible to submit a project.
	33.18(3) Grant amount. The department will provide grants for up to 75 percent of the appraised cost of the land plus incidental acquisition costs. Costs in excess of these must be borne by the grantee.
	33.18(4) Project review and selection committee.
	a. 	The director shall appoint a committee to review and score projects. The committee shall include the following: three persons representing the private sector and two alternates selected from a pool of potential names as submitted to the director by the various private eligible groups; administrator of the conservation and recreation division of the department, or the administrator’s designee; and the bureau chiefs of the department’s wildlife bureau and parks, forests, and preserves bureau or their designees. The committee shall elect its own chairperson from its members. The committee will report to the director the order in which proposed projects were ranked using criteria as specified in subrule 33.18(5).
	b. 	Conflict of interest. An individual who is a member, volunteer, or employee of an entity that has submitted a project shall not serve on the scoring committee during that award cycle. Instead, one of the alternates shall review and score in the individual’s place.
	33.18(5) Project selection criteria. A project planning and review committee shall establish criteria and scoring systems to be utilized in project evaluation. The criteria and scoring system shall be submitted to the director and natural resource commission for approval. Criteria and scoring systems must be distributed to all counties at least 90 days prior to the project application deadline. In order to be eligible for award, an applicant must receive, at a minimum, 50 percent of the total allowable points.
	33.18(6) Department rejection of applications. The director may remove from consideration by the project review and selection committee any application for funding the acquisition of property that the department determines is not in the state’s best interest for the department to manage. The department’s basis for determining such interest may include, but not be limited to, inaccessibility to the project area, environmental contamination and unacceptable use restrictions, management cost, the proximity to other governmental entities that may impose use restrictions or special tax assessments on the area, or lack of conformance with priorities established by the department. Examples of use restrictions can include prohibitions on hunting, trapping, timber harvest, vegetation management, and easements that affect the range of public use and activities that could otherwise be allowed.
	33.18(7) Certification of availability of funds. Applicants must certify at the time of application that sufficient funds, land, letter of credit, or other acceptable financial instrument is available from private sources to cover the private share of the project.
	33.18(8) Acquisition responsibilities and process. The grantee is responsible for obtaining an appraisal that is approvable by the department and for obtaining the director’s written approval of that appraisal. The grantee is responsible for negotiating an option to purchase the property with the seller. If the option contains any requirements for action by the department or restrictions on the use of the land, those requirements or restrictions must be approved by the director and the commission before they are incorporated into the option. The grantee is responsible for closing the transaction, recording the transaction with the appropriate county recorder, and providing the department with a copy of the deed naming the department as owner and a title vesting certificate. The director may, under special conditions, allow title to be vested in the name of a city or county. Necessary assurances may include the placement of special conditions on that title, the existence of an approved, long-term management agreement or other measures as deemed appropriate by the commission. The department may provide assistance at the request of the grantee, or at the director’s recommendation.
[ARC 7910C, IAB 5/1/24, effective 6/5/24]