MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                        313

CHAPTER 134
(Senate Bill 554)

AN ACT to repeal Section 6 of Article 89B of the Annotated Code
of Maryland (1964 Replacement Volume), title "State Roads,"
subtitle "In General," and to enact new Section 6 in lieu thereof
relating to the sale and disposition of land owned by the State
Roads Commission of Maryland and not needed for highway pur-
poses and providing for the requirements and methods of disposal
thereof.

Whereas, the State Roads Commission has some 3,000 parcels
of land that it has acquired which are not needed for present or future
highway purposes or other public purposes, and

Whereas, a substantial number of these parcels are one-quarter of
an acre in size or larger and many of such parcels are susceptible of
private development, and

Whereas, many of these parcels of excess land have been owned by
the Commission for many years; therefore,

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 6 of Article 89B of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1964 Replacement Volume), title "State Roads," subtitle "In Gen-
eral," be and it is hereby repealed and new Section 6 is hereby en-
acted BE AND IT IS HEREBY ENACTED IN LIEU THEREOF,
AND to read as follows:

6.

(1)  It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that the State
Roads Commission should divest itself from ownership of land not
needed for current or future highway purposes or other public pur-
poses in order that such land can be placed back on the tax records
of the several counties and be used for residential development or
be otherwise developed by private enterprise thus benefiting the
economy of the counties and the State.

(2)  The State Roads Commission is hereby authorized and directed,
and ANY statute to the contrary notwithstanding, to dispose of land
not needed for present or future highway purposes or other public
purposes as soon as practicable after the completion of the project
for which the land was acquired. Disposal of such land shall be
accomplished as follows:

a.  Any parcel of land which is of sufficient size and otherwise
susceptible, in the opinion of the Commission, of use or development
shall be sold by the Commission at public auction.

b.  All such parcels shall be appraised by the Commission prior
to their disposal and parcels having a value, in the opinion of the
Commission, in excess of $5,000 shall also be appraised by at least
one independent qualified real estate appraiser.

c.  Notice of the public sale shall be advertised for two consecutive
weeks in a newspaper published in the county where the property
is located or in a newspaper having general circulation in such county.
The advertisement shall generally describe the property, specify the