(A)

(1) An owner of land that is enrolled in an agricultural security area may withdraw from the area by sending written notice of withdrawal, by certified mail, to all of the following:

(a) The county auditor of each county in which the land is located;

(b) The board of township trustees of each township in which the land is located;

(c) The board of county commissioners of each county in which the land is located.

(2) The owner of land that is enrolled in an agricultural security area shall send written notice, by certified mail, to the parties listed in division (A)(1) of this section when all or a portion of the land becomes ineligible for enrollment in the area due to the occurrence of any of the following events:

(a) The owner of the land withdraws all or a portion of the land from an agricultural district under Chapter 929. of the Revised Code.

(b) The land is removed from the agricultural district in which it is situated because of the termination of the district, and a renewal application has not been filed within the time prescribed in division (C) of section 929.02 of the Revised Code or has not been approved under that division.

(c) All or a portion of the land is converted from being land devoted exclusively to agricultural use within the meaning of section 5713.30 of the Revised Code unless the conversion is incident to the appropriation of land by the state, one of its political subdivisions, or an agency as defined in section 163.01 of the Revised Code.

(3) The county auditor of a county in which land enrolled in an agricultural security area is located who discovers that any of the events described in division (A)(2) of this section has occurred and that the owner of the land has not complied with the notice requirements established in that division shall provide the required notice to the parties listed in division (A)(1) of this section, except that for the purposes of division (A)(1)(a) of this section, the auditor need notify only the county auditors of the other affected counties.

(B) Upon receipt of a notice under division (A) of this section, a board of township trustees or a board of county commissioners immediately shall send a certified copy of the notice to the director of agriculture. The copy shall indicate the name of the township or county, as applicable.

(C)

(1) If an owner of land that is enrolled in an agricultural security area withdraws from the area under this section or if at any time an owner's land fails to satisfy either of the criteria established under division (B)(2) or (3) of section 931.02 of the Revised Code, any other owners of land that is enrolled in the area who do not withdraw and whose land satisfies those criteria may continue to have their land enrolled in the agricultural security area until the enrollment expires under any of the following circumstances:

(a) Within the first five years of a ten-year enrollment period, enrollment may continue if the number of acres remaining in the agricultural security area equals five hundred or more.

(b) Within the first five years of a ten-year enrollment period, if the number of acres remaining in the area has diminished to fewer than five hundred, enrollment may continue only if additional contiguous farmland is enrolled in the area to the extent that the number of acres in the area increases once more to equal five hundred or more. Such an increase in acreage may occur through the addition of contiguous farmland to the area either by a landowner who already has land enrolled in the area or by another landowner. In either case, in order to enroll the land in the area, the landowner shall submit, not later than sixty days following the date on which the acreage in the area diminished to fewer than five hundred, an application in accordance with section 931.02 of the Revised Code. The landowner shall obtain approval of the application from all appropriate boards of township trustees and boards of county commissioners in accordance with section 931.03 of the Revised Code. Enrollment of the additional land in the agricultural security area shall continue until the expiration of the existing, partially elapsed ten-year enrollment period and may be renewed in accordance with section 931.06 of the Revised Code.

(c) Within the last five years of a ten-year enrollment period, enrollment may continue regardless of the number of acres remaining in the agricultural security area.

(2) If the state or a municipal corporation appropriates part of the land that is enrolled in an agricultural security area and, as a result of the appropriation, the area fails to satisfy the criterion established under division (B)(1) of section 931.02 of the Revised Code, the owners of land enrolled in the area whose land satisfies the criteria established under divisions (B)(2) and (3) of that section may continue to have their land enrolled in the agricultural security area until the enrollment expires.

(D) If at any time land that is enrolled in an agricultural security area ceases to be enrolled in the agricultural security area, the statement made by the owner of that land under division (A)(3) of section 931.02 of the Revised Code and the statement made by a board of township trustees or board of county commissioners under division (C)(1) of section 931.03 of the Revised Code are no longer applicable.

Effective Date: 05-18-2005