Public notice and hearings.

(1) After receiving an application in compliance with such forms as may be required by this chapter requesting the board to sell, exchange, lease, or grant an easement on, over, under, above, or across any land to which it holds title, the board must provide notice of the application. The notice shall include the name and address of the applicant; a brief description of the proposed activity and any mitigation; the location of the proposed activity, including whether it is located within an Outstanding Florida Water or aquatic preserve; a map identifying the location of the proposed activity subject to the application; a diagram of the limits of the proposed activity; and a name or number identifying the application and the office where the application can be inspected, and any other information required by rule. A copy of this notice shall be sent to those persons who have requested to be on a mailing list and to each owner of land lying within 500 feet of the land proposed to be leased, sold, exchanged, or subject to an easement, addressed to such owner as the owner’s name and address appears on the latest county tax assessment roll.

(2) The board of trustees, the department, or a water management district, as is appropriate, shall consider comments and objections received in response to the public notice required by this section in reaching its decision to approve or deny use of board of trustees-owned lands for a proposed activity. In the event that substantive objections are raised, the department or water management district may hold an informal public hearing in the county in which the proposed activity lies. If the board of trustees, the department, or a water management district, as is appropriate, determines that the sale, lease, exchange, or granting of an easement is not contrary to the public interest, or is in the public interest when required by law, it may approve the proposed activity. The sale of sovereignty submerged lands shall require a determination that the proposed sale is in the public interest.

(3) The board may also publish, or require an applicant to publish, in a newspaper of general circulation within the affected area, a notice of receipt of the application and a notice of intended agency action. The board shall also provide notice of intended agency action to the applicant and to those who have requested a copy of the intended agency action for that application.

(4) Failure to provide the notice as set out in subsections (1) and (3) shall not invalidate the sale, exchange, lease, or easement.

(5) The notice and publication requirements of this section do not apply to:

(a) The release of any reservations contained in Murphy Act deeds or deeds of the board of trustees;

(b) Any conveyance of land lying landward of the line of mean high water, which land does not exceed 5 acres in area;

(c) Any lands covered by the provisions of ss. 253.12(6), (9), and (10), and 253.129;

(d) The lease or easement for any land when the land is being leased to a state agency;

(e) Sovereignty land easements for existing activities completed prior to March 27, 1982;

(f) The conversion of existing marina licenses to sovereignty land leases;

(g) Sovereignty land leases for registered and existing unregistered grandfathered facilities;

(h) The conveyance of lands pursuant to the provisions of former s. 373.4592(4)(b);

(i) Renewals, modifications, or assignments; or

(j) Lands managed pursuant to ss. 253.781-253.785.

(6) The board may establish alternative notice requirements to those in subsections (1) and (3), including a waiver of notice, if adopted by rule for proposed activities under this section which also qualify for a general permit pursuant to chapter 373. Such alternative notice requirements shall take into account the nature and scope of the proposed activities and the effect on other persons.

(7) In the disposition of parcels of state-owned uplands, the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund may procure real estate sales services, including open listings, exclusive listings, or auction or other appropriate services, to facilitate the sale of such lands.