H 4973

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding section 5A of chapter 3 of the General Laws, section 20 of chapter 6C of the General Laws, section 7E of chapter 81 of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation or his or her designee, shall convey to the Fall River redevelopment authority certain parcels of land, owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, containing 21.55 acres of vacant land, previously taken and used for highway purposes, bounded by Davol Street northbound on the east and Davol Street southbound on the west. The northern limit of the parcels is Brightman Street and the southern limit is Turner Street; included are the parcels between Turner Street and Hathway Street, and Hathway Street and President Avenue, and President Avenue and Brightman Street, and the northern portion of Lindsey Street that is bordered by Brightman Street in the North and Davol Street North in the city of Fall River to be fully described on a survey to be prepared and approved by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Said conveyance shall be subject to adequate compensation as set forth in section 3 of this act and agreed to by the Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation or his or her designee and the executive director of the Fall River redevelopment authority. SECTION 2. (a) Notwithstanding chapter 121B of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the Fall River redevelopment authority may purchase from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation subject to terms acceptable to the parties and to the parcels of land described in this act. (b) The Fall River redevelopment authority may develop the parcels of land described in this act for residential, retail, commercial, restaurant and other economic development purposes, without the necessity of adopting or adhering to an urban renewal plan, as defined in section 1 of chapter 121B of the General Laws, and with respect to said land the Fall River redevelopment authority shall enjoy the statutory authority it would possess for land and structures and other property within an urban renewal project as defined by said section 1 of said chapter 121B. SECTION 3. An independent appraisal of the full and fair market value of the parcels described in section 1 shall be prepared in accordance with the usual and customary professional appraisal practices by a qualified appraiser commissioned by the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance. The consideration shall be the full and fair market value or the value in use, whichever is greater. The commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance shall submit any appraisal required pursuant to section 3 to the inspector general for review and comment. The inspector general shall review and approve the appraisal and the review shall include an examination of the methodology utilized for the appraisal. The inspector general shall prepare a report and file the report with the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance. The commissioner shall submit copies of the appraisal, and the inspector general’s review and approval and comments, if any, to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on state administration and regulatory oversight not less than 15 days prior to the execution of documents effecting the transfers described in section 1. SECTION 4. The consideration for the conveyance as authorized in this act shall be $1, if the Commonwealth did not award any payment for the parcels or part of the parcels described in section 1 that were owned by the city of Fall River. If the Commonwealth paid for the parcels or part of the parcels described in section 1, then consideration shall be the net proceeds of the fair market value of each parcel described in section 1 sold or leased by the Fall River redevelopment authority and shall be allocated between the Fall River redevelopment authority and the commonwealth in equal shares over a 10-year period from the time of the enactment of this act. The parcels shall be conveyed in its present condition, as is, where is and with all faults, through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s standard form release deed. SECTION 5. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Fall River redevelopment authority shall be responsible for all costs and expenses associated with the conveyance authorized in this act including, but not limited to, all costs associated with any engineering, surveys, appraisals and deed preparation as such costs may be determined by the secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. SECTION 6. In the event that the parcels of land comprising 21.55 acres conveyed by this act cease to be used by the Fall River redevelopment authority, the developers selected and any other subsequent owners for the purposes described in section 2 of this act at any time then, upon notice by the secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation or his or her designee, said parcels of land shall revert to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Should said undeveloped parcels of land comprising the 21.55 acres revert to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, any further disposition thereof shall be subject to the provisions of section 5A of chapter 3 of the General Laws, section 20 of chapter 6C of the General Laws and section 7E of chapter 81 of the General Laws and to the prior approval of the general court. SECTION 7. This act shall take effect upon its passage.