Gifts of Land

During the development of the Boundary County Comprehensive Plan, one of the important issues raised upon which all the citizen volunteers drafting the plan agreed was to protect the rights of property owners to provide gifts of land to members of their family; and this provision was included in the Boundary County Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance at Chapter 6, Section 1.

Property owners who choose to give their immediate family members; including spouses, parents, grandparents, children, step-children, siblings or grandchildren, gifts of property which are below the minimum parcel size in the underlying zone district, must do so by gift deed to qualify for the exemption.

The Certificate of Exemption for Gifts of Property provides relief from minimum lot size requirements in the zone district and eliminates the public hearing process in filing a final plat when such splits result in the creation of four or more parcels.

This provision is not available in subdivisions which have been platted and recorded.

After the property has been gift deeded and the gift deeds recorded in the Clerk/Auditor/Recorders office, a new tax parcel number for each lot so created must be assigned by the Assessors Office. This process may take up to two weeks. Once this is done, it is necessary for the original property owner to complete and submit a certificate of exemption form, attach a sketch map showing the original parcel boundaries and each parcel created by gift deed, and provide copies of each gift deed filed to the Planning and Zoning Department in order to allow issuance of a zoning certificate prior to residential construction on those lots.

Parcels created by this exemption and which are below the minimum lot size in the zone district in which they are located are considered non-conforming lots of record, which are buildable lots provided setback requirements in that zone district are met. Should the property be sold after having been gift deeded, no expansion of the non-conforming use may be established without the issuance of a variance.

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