In any urban area, the owners of any transmission right-of-way and the fee owner of any land subject to any transmission right-of-way may offer to dedicate or grant use of the transmission right-of-way to the park board for a public park, a public trail, or a public open space. This article shall not apply to any dedication or grant of use of a transmission right-of-way unless both the owner of the transmission right-of-way and the fee owner of the land involved consent to the dedication or grant of use. The park board may accept or reject this offered dedication or use of the transmission right-of-way based on the reasonable needs of the public, applicable rules and regulations governing the park board, and other criteria normally applied by the park board in accepting or rejecting dedications of land. In accepting or rejecting such offer, the park board shall consider, among other factors, methods for enhancing the safety of the transmission right-of-way involved through design of the park, trail, or open space improvements. The park board shall also consider and protect the interests and property rights of adjacent landowners, particularly those adjacent to the termination points of trails, who are not participating in the dedication or grant of use of the transmission right-of-way. If needed, the park board shall provide an access or egress from the point of termination to a public street or highway. For purposes of this article, the right of eminent domain shall not be exercised to obtain ingress or egress. Nothing in this article shall prevent negotiations for a dedication or grant of use of a transmission right-of-way in incorporated areas from occurring during the subdivision approval process; except that such dedication or grant of use shall not be finalized until the final subdivision plat is approved.
Source: L. 84: Entire article added, p. 808, § 1, effective April 30.