Item C: Ridgeline Acquisition Proposal from Arlie and Company

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ANALYSIS General The Park, Recreation and Open Space Project and Priority Plan (hereafter “Project and Priority Plan”) is the City’s adopted policy document that guides future park and open space acquisition and development. The Project and Priority Plan was developed through an extensive public process over four years, and covers a planning horizon of twenty years, from 2006 through 2025. Each project is assigned a priority level of 1 through 5, with Priority 1 projects being highest priority, and generally being completed first. The creation of a community or metropolitan park east of Mt. Baldy is not among the park projects contained in the Project and Priority Plan. The acquisition of additional natural area acreage in the corridor east of Mt. Baldy could be considered consistent with a Priority 3 project in the Project and Priority Plan that says: “acquire natural areas to connect Ridgeline system east to Pisgah and Willamette River system.” On the other hand, that project could be considered to have been completed with the 2008 acquisition of 200 acres from Arlie and Company. Since the Project and Priority Plan does not address the creation of a new community or metropolitan park in this area, the decision and policy direction to implement this project must come directly from the council. Potential Funding Sources The letter of intent referred to above sets out a proposed sale price of $1,944,000 for the 315 acres described therein. To fund a purchase of this size, capital funding sources, such as general obligation bond funds, Park Systems Development Charge (SDC) funds, stream corridor acquisition funds, where appropriate, or general capital funds, are the most likely sources of funding for acquisition of park lands. Arlie and Company has made it a requirement to close the acquisition by the end of December 2010, which precludes seeking funding from potential sources not currently in-hand (e.g., state or federal grant programs). FY11 projected revenue for Parks SDC and Parks General Capital Funds combined is $562,000. Clearly, these funds will be insufficient to fund this purchase, and spending the funds on this proposal would delay other high priority, planned projects. The remaining option is to re-allocate funds from the 2006 Parks, Recreation and Open Space bond measure. Approximately $10.2 million of the remaining 2006 Bond Measure funding is uncommitted. The specific projects listed on the ballot included “purchasing land for neighborhood and community parks in the Bethel, River Road/Santa Clara, South Eugene, Willakenzie and Willow Creek areas.” These five areas are park planning sub-areas associated with the adopted Project and Priority Plan, and the site of the Arlie acquisition proposal is mostly within the South Eugene sub-area. The informational brochure disseminated to households throughout Eugene by the City about the bond measure provided additional information about the bond measure, including five focus areas (see table below) and what would be accomplished within each category. For the acquisition of neighborhood and community parks, the brochure listed:  “13 new neighborhood park sites across Eugene. Parks site acquisitions would be targeted for the following neighborhoods: Bethel, River Road/Santa Clara, South Eugene, Willakenzie and Willow Creek.  A new community park in Santa Clara. Existing funds would be supplemented to acquire a 35-40 acre site to provide active and passive recreation opportunities. Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M101108\S101108C.doc