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8 <br />term needs. It is recommended that Orange County and Carrboro develop plans <br />to match other funding with the current payment-in-lieu funds to use these <br />resources. Even with its limitations, the existing payment-in-lieu program should <br />be kept and modified where possible.. The. potential for an impact fee or impact <br />tax should be explored, using existing legislation. <br />H, Address Existing Needs <br />While more thorough standards are needed, apopulation-based standard from <br />the 1996 Assembly of Governments report was used to determine needs .for <br />parklands. Using this standard, the County. as a whole has a current deficit of <br />645 acres of parkland. With expected population growth, this is County and <br />Towns combined with have a deficit of 1,265 acres by the year 2025. <br />Based on average land sales (weighted for .urban and rural lands) and existing <br />.bond funds, the cost of purchasing lands to erase the long-term deficit is $10.12 <br />million in 1999 dollars. Since this will unquestionably rise in the future, they Work <br />Group again recommends immediate action in terms of land acquisitions. <br />I. Use of Current Funds and Future Funding Needs: <br />While it may be -more practical to develop recreation facilities over time as the <br />population increases, amore-proactive approach. to land acquisition is needed to <br />identify and purchase sites that offer both. active -and low-impact recreation <br />potential. Matching funds from the different .jurisdictions (coordinated through <br />the aforementioned joint capital funding mechanism) should be an important <br />component, and an acreage threshold and additional standards for joint <br />school/park sites are also warranted. <br />To address long-term needs, the Work Group recommends that the following <br />actions occur: <br />- Tlie remaining $2.89 million for land acquisition from the County parks bond <br />should be used for .acquisition of lands identified as sites for long-term <br />acquisition as soon as possible. <br />- The remainder of the $10 million in long-term land acquisition should be <br />addressed through an $8 million parks bond placed before the voters in <br />November 2000. The Parks and Resource Lands Council should .develop the <br />specifics of the bond proposal. <br />7 <br />