HB 352 – AS INTRODUCED

2011 SESSION

11-0218

03/10

HOUSE BILL 352

AN ACT relative to merger of lots or parcels.

SPONSORS: Rep. Bates, Rock 4; Rep. Pilliod, Belk 5; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3; Sen. Barnes, Jr., Dist 17; Sen. Forsythe, Dist 4

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

ANALYSIS

This bill permits the owner of involuntarily merged lots or parcels to have the lots restored to their premerger status.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

11-0218

03/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven

AN ACT relative to merger of lots or parcels.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Voluntary Merger. Amend RSA 674:39-a to read as follows:

674:39-a Voluntary Merger. Any owner of 2 or more contiguous preexisting approved or subdivided lots or parcels who wishes to merge them for municipal regulation and taxation purposes may do so by applying to the planning board or its designee. Except where such merger would create a violation of then-current ordinances or regulations, all such requests shall be approved, and no public hearing or notice shall be required. No new survey plat need be recorded, but a notice of the merger, sufficient to identify the relevant parcels and endorsed in writing by the planning board or its designee, shall be filed for recording in the registry of deeds, and a copy mailed to the municipality's assessing officials. No such merged parcel shall thereafter be separately transferred without subdivision approval. No city, town, county, or village district may merge preexisting subdivided lots or parcels except upon the consent of the owner. Lots or parcels that were merged prior to September 18, 2010 by a city, town, county, village district, or any other municipality without the express consent of the owner, shall at the request of the owner, be restored to their premerger status and all zoning and tax maps shall be updated to identify the premerger boundaries of said lots or parcels as recorded at the appropriate registry of deeds.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.