09/08/1975 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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tensity of use. He foresaw a major discussion if the property was acquired because of budgetary implications. There is no agreed -upon concept at this time, he said, of how the property will be used. He added that the road was a city street and that it would have to be improved. Councilwoman Shirey commented that although there have been no discussions in the e city with regard to use of the property, there have been ideas presented from other sources. The University, she said, had done a study including graphics which is on display at the Morse ranch, and Ed Smith, parks director, had mentioned several things that would fit in with the community needs. So she thought there would be the appropriate input when it was time for that. Councilman Haws asked if there was any breakdown of maintenance costs showing how much money was going into various areas of the city. Assistant Manager answered that historically maintenance costs were not allocated on the basis of individual areas of the city. Maintenance costs, he said, depend upon the level of park im- provements and can run to a substantial amount. He cited the downtown mall (in ex- cess of $100,000 per year) and the Hendricks Park rhododendron garden (about $35,000) as examples o~ parks requiring high maintenance costs. Undeveloped areas take pro- portionately less, there were no definite figures. Councilman Haws wondered if attendance and maintenance figures could be made available to give an idea of the comparative costs of operating the different facilities. Manager said the figures requested could be prepared for Council members. Mayor Anderson thought the Council was dealing with the question of having already made a commitment to the State Legislature to maintain the Morse property should it be acquired. If acquisition of open space was deemed valuable to the community, and he considered buying the Morse property was really buying open space, then the city should proceed with spending the $3,000/$4,000 for the appraisals necessary to determine a purchase price. He didn't think that was too much money to put out e for the amount of open space involved and its potential use. The difficult decisions with reyard to its actual use would have to be "hammered out" later and would depend upon whether its continued use as a farm was wanted or a "classy, expensive, recrea- tional center almost regional in nature." He compared the appraisal fees to a pur- chase option - sometimes it is lost but if the potential investment is considered good the money is still put out. Councilman Murray agreed completely with the Mayor. He mentioned the strong indica- tors apparent in a recent public attitude survey pointing to open space and parks preservation as very high priority items so far as citizens were concerned. He also pointed to the successful bond elections in years past for purchase of park lands. So he felt this expenditure was a minor expense in view of the commitment made with regard to maintenance when the Legislature was considering the issue of acquisition. Mrs.. Shirey moved second by Mr. Murray to authorize necessary appraisals of the Morse property, and transmittal of a letter Comm to Nature Conservancy stating the city's intent to co-operate 8/27/75 in furthering acquisition of the property. Approve In response to Manager with regard to including in the letter to Nature Conservancy the city's intent to take no responsibility in actual purchase of the property, Councilwoman Shirey and Mayor Anderson both thought there was no question on that point, that in previous discussions it was understood the city would not participate in the purchase Vote was taken on the motion as stated. Motion carried - all e Council members present voting aye, excpet Councilman Keller voting no. gj8j75 - 8 49fo