1. Before any state land may be leased, exchanged, sold or contracted for sale, the State Land Registrar, in consultation with the Department of Transportation and with counties and local governments, shall designate any existing routes over the land which the State Land Registrar determines to be necessary for public access to any other land that is open to public use. If such a route is designated, the land must be conveyed with a right-of-way and all rights of access and abutter’s rights for the route reserved in the name of the State of Nevada. Any right-of-way reserved pursuant to this subsection may, when necessary as determined by the State Land Registrar and otherwise approved as required by law, be used by a public utility pursuant to the requirements set forth in NRS 322.050 and 322.060.

2. After the land or interest in the land is conveyed, if the route is determined by the State Land Registrar, in consultation with the Department of Transportation and with counties and local governments, to be no longer necessary for public access to other land which is open to public use, the State Land Registrar shall, subject to the provisions of subsections 3 and 4, release the right, title and interest of the State in and to the right-of-way to the purchaser or lessee of the land, his or her assigns or successors in interest.

3. Before releasing the state’s interest in the right-of-way, the State Land Registrar shall cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the right-of-way is located a notice of intent to release that interest. The notice must be published at least 30 days before the proposed date for the release and must contain:

(a) A description of the location of the right-of-way;

(b) The date upon which the release is to be effective; and

(c) The mailing address of the State Land Registrar to which persons may send protests against the proposed release.

4. The State Land Registrar may, or upon the receipt of a written protest against the proposed release shall, hold a public hearing. The hearing must be:

(a) Held in the county in which the right-of-way is located; and

(b) Advertised at least 30 days before the date of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the right-of-way is located.

(Added to NRS by 1981, 339; A 1995, 642; 1997, 969; 2011, 2477)