Arizona Laws 37-1152. Auction and sale of released public trust lands
A. If the department determines that any portion or reach of a bed of a navigable watercourse may be released from the public trust, the department shall cause an appraisal of the property to be made to determine its fair market value. The property shall not be disposed of for an amount less than that appraised value.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 37-1152
- Appraisal: A determination of property value.
- Bed: means the land lying between the ordinary high watermarks of a watercourse. See Arizona Laws 37-1101
- Department: means the state land department. See Arizona Laws 37-101
- Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
- Improvements: means anything permanent in character which is the result of labor or capital expended by the lessee or his predecessors in interest on state land in its reclamation or development, and the appropriation of water thereon, and which has enhanced the value of the land. See Arizona Laws 37-101
- navigable watercourse: means a watercourse that was in existence on February 14, 1912, and at that time was used or was susceptible to being used, in its ordinary and natural condition, as a highway for commerce, over which trade and travel were or could have been conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water. See Arizona Laws 37-1101
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
B. At the same time, the department shall also cause an appraisal to be made of such reasonable improvements to the property as the record owner or lessee may have made in good faith. The amount of that appraised value of the improvements shall be credited and applied to the bid of the record owner or lessee at any sale or public auction of the land that the department conducts. If the record owner or lessee is not the successful bidder at the sale or auction, the successful bidder shall reimburse the owner or lessee by the amount of the appraised value of the improvements.
C. Sections 37-236, 37-237 and 37-238 apply to the sale of such lands at public auction.