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Councilor Bettman asked if there was documentation to prove that the City’s grant application would be more competitive if there was a 50 percent match. Ms. Weiss replied that the advice had come in conversa- tions staff had been party to after a training staff had attended in Portland. Councilor Bettman ascertained from Ms. Weiss that the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Bond contained $2 million dedicated to the Golden Gardens Park. She asked how much more the additional acreage that was being purchased allegedly for the potential move of the county fairgrounds. Ms. Weiss responded that the POS division was not exceeding the $2 million bond money for the Golden Gardens Park. Councilor Bettman commented that now the City was getting 300 acres for $2 million, whereas before it was purchasing 100 acres for that amount of money. She called that a “huge discrepancy in numbers.” She asked how the City could do this. Ms. Weiss replied that she believed that there were additional funding sources that could be used for that park, such as systems development charges (SDCs). Councilor Bettman ascertained from Ms. Weiss that SDCs were also available for the Beverly/Green properties. She asserted that people voting for the bond did not know that land was being purchased with the money with the thought in mind that the land could eventually be purchased by the County. She opined that this was a misuse of that money. She said she would support the grant application at the 25 percent level, as agreed upon at the CCIGR. She did not support leveraging additional grant money for land outside of the urban growth boundary (UGB) when there was land within the UGB that the City wished to purchase. She feared that money spent on the land outside the UGB would deplete funding and threaten the purchase of the Beverly/Green properties. Councilor Clark said as an effort of good faith he would be willing to not support the item in order to make sure that the council would bear in mind while working on the acquisition of the Beverly/Green properties that a promise of a community park had been made to the people of Santa Clara since 1998. He did not want to see more money spent from the bond funds without this being assured. Councilor Taylor averred that money was already set aside for Santa Clara. She believed that the acquisition of the Beverly/Green properties should be the City’s top priority. She did not think the properties should cost $7 million. She asked if the council could approve the item contingent on receiving the grant. In response to a follow-up question from Councilor Taylor, Ms. Weiss affirmed that the City could back out of the funding if the cost of the land proved to be more than $4 million. Councilor Taylor favored the application but felt that the acquisition of the Beverly/Green properties was more important. She observed that there would be approximately $6 million left in the PROS funds and asked if that would be enough to purchase the properties. Ms. Weiss responded that she could not say at this point. Councilor Taylor asked if SDC funds were being diverted from the acquisition of those properties by the Golden Gardens Park project. Ms. Weiss replied that there was approximately $2.5 million available in SDCs at present. Councilor Taylor asked who made the decision to apply SDC funds to that project. Ms. Weiss surmised that it was a staff decision made by executive management. Councilor Pryor thought it would be difficult to get the Forest Legacy grant at the higher level. He wanted the grant request to go through. He underscored that the City had sent a lobbyist to Salem to lobby for MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 8, 2007 Page 10 Regular Meeting