West Virginia Code § 5A-11-5

Public Land Corporation to hold public hearing before sale, lease,
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exchange or transfer of land or minerals.
(a) Prior to any final decision of any state agency to sell, lease as a lessor, exchange or
transfer land or minerals title to which is vested in the Public Land Corporation pursuant to
this article, the Public Land Corporation shall:
(1) Prepare and reduce to writing the reasons and supporting data regarding the sale, lease,
exchange or transfer of land or minerals. The written reasons required under this section
shall be available for public inspection at the office of the county clerk at the county
courthouse of each county in which the affected lands or minerauls are located during the two
successive weeks before the date of the public hearing required by this section;
(2) Provide for a public hearing to be held at a reasonable time and place within each county
in which the affected lands or minerals are located to allow interested members of the public
to attend the hearing without undue hardship. Members of the public may be present,
submit statements and testimony and question the lcorporation's representative appointed
pursuant to this section; s
(3) Not less than thirty days prior to the puiblic hearing, provide notice to all members of the
Legislature, to the head of the govergning body of any political subdivision having zoning or
other land use regulatory responsibility in the geographic area within which the public lands
or minerals are located and to the head of any political subdivision having administrative or
public services responsibility in the geographic area within which the lands or minerals are
located;
(4) Cause to be published a notice of the required public hearing. The notice shall be
published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area shall be each county in which the
affected lands or minerals are located. The public hearing shall be held no earlier than the
fourWteenth successive day and no later than the twenty-first successive day following the
first publication of the notice. The notice shall contain the time and place of the public
hearing along with a brief description of the affected lands or minerals;
(5) Cause a copy of the required notice to be posted in a conspicuous place at the affected
land for members of the public to observe. The notice shall remain posted for two successive
weeks prior to the date of the public hearing;
(6) Appoint a representative of the corporation who shall conduct the required public
hearing. The corporation's representative shall have full knowledge of all the facts and
circumstances surrounding the proposed sale, lease, exchange or transfer. The
representative of the corporation conducting the public hearing shall make the results of the
hearing available to the executive director of the Real Estate Division and the Secretary of
the Department of Administration for consideration prior to making final decisions regarding
the affected lands or minerals. The representative of the corporation shall make a report of
the public hearing available for inspection by the public or, upon written request of any
interested person, provide a written copy thereof and to all individuals previously receiving
written notice of the hearing within thirty days following the public hearing; and
(7) If the evidence at the public hearing establishes by a preponderance that the appraisal
provided for in subsection (d), section four of this article does not reflect the true, fair
market value, the Public Land Corporation shall cause another appraisal to ebe made.
(8) If the evidence at the public hearing establishes by a preponderance that the sale or
exchange of land does not meet the criteria set forth in subdivision three, subsection (a),
section three of this article, the public land corporation may not uproceed with the sale or
exchange of said land without judicial approval.
(b) The corporation may not sell, lease as lessor, exchange or transfer lands or minerals
before the thirtieth successive day following the publica hearing required by this section, but
in no event may the sale, lease, exchange or transfer of lands or minerals be made prior to
fifteen days after the report of the public hearings lare made available to the public in
general. s
(c) If the corporation authorizes the staff tio proceed with consideration of the lease or sale
under the terms of this article, all regquirements of this section shall be completed within one
year of date of the authorization by the corporation.

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