(a) The State Director shall make and issue a proposed classification decision which shall contain a statement of reasons in support thereof. Such decisions shall be served upon (1) each petitioner-applicant for the land, (2) any grazing permittee, licensee, or lessee on the land, or his representative, (3) the District Advisory Board, (4) the local governing board, planning commission, State coordinating committee, or other official or quasi-official body having jurisdiction over zoning in the geographic area within which the lands are located, and (5) any governmental officials or agencies from whom the record discloses comments on the classification have been received. If the decision affects more than 2,560 acres and would lead to the disposal of the lands, the decision will also be published in accordance with the provisions of subpart 2462.

(b) When there are multiple petition-applications for the same land, the proposed classification decision shall state which petition-application, if any, will be entitled to preference under applicable law; or where no petition-application has been filed for the purpose for which the land is proposed to be classified, the decision shall so state.

(1) When multiple petition-applications have been filed for the same land, the one first filed for the purpose for which the land is classified will be entitled to preference under applicable law.

(2) When two or more petition-applications have been simultaneously filed for the purpose for which the land is classified, the petition-application entitled to preference will be the first to be selected by drawing.

(3) If no petition-application has been filed for the purpose for which it is proposed to classify the land, the proposed decision shall state that the land will be opened to application by all qualified individuals on an equal-opportunity basis after public notice.