R850-30-500. Application Procedures

1. Applications for special use leases shall indicate the appropriate lease category, as set forth in R850-30-300.

2. Solicitation of Competing Applications.

(a) Upon acceptance by the director of a completed special use lease application, the agency shall solicit competing lease applications and, if appropriate, sales applications. The solicitation of competing applications may be waived by the director based on a written finding that the waiver is in the best interest of the trust beneficiaries.

(b) The following classes of leases are exempt from the requirements of R850-30-500(2):

i) Communication sites.

ii) Mineral and oil and gas extraction facilities when the agency does not own the mineral estate.

(c) Competing applications shall be solicited through publication of a notice at least once a week for three consecutive weeks in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county where the subject property is located.

(d) Copies of the notice shall be sent by certified mail at least 30 days prior to the selection of the successful applicant to lessees/permittees of record on the subject property and adjoining landowners as shown on county records.

(e) Notices shall also be sent to the appropriate county authority in which the subject property is located with a request to have the notice posted in the local governmental administrative building or courthouses.

(f) Notification and advertising shall include a general description of the parcel including township, range, and section, and any other information which may create interest in the parcel that does not violate the confidentiality of the initial application. The successful applicant shall bear the cost of the advertising.

(g) The agency may solicit applications on trust lands when no application has been received by advertising a parcel pursuant to the process described in R850-30-500(2) or any other means, when in the best interest of the trust beneficiaries.