Agenda - 10-12-2010 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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R 4 ,o ORANGE COUNTY LANDS LEGACY PROGRAM STATUS OF AVAILABLE FUNDS - oCTOE~ER 200 The County's award-winning Lands Legacy Program celebrates its 1Ot" year of existence in 2010. To date, the LLP has conserved or otherwise protected 2,547 acres (or 1 % of the County's total land area) of natural or cultural resource lands -and has participated or facilitated the conservation of an additional 1,307 acres by conservation partners. This has been accomplished by funding from Orange County voter-approved bonds, alternative financing approved by the Board of Commissioners, charitable donations, and over $5 million in grants from State and federal agencies. Fundina Sources -Past and Present Beginning with the 1997 Parks and Open Space bond, .up through pay-as-you-go funds in 2006, the LLP has used a variety of different sources to fund conservation efforts. The following is a brief synopsis of these sources: 1997 Parks and Open Space Bond -This $6 million bond was approved by County voters in November 1997. Half of the bond amount went for park facility construction and half for parks and open space land acquisition. Most of the $3 million from this source was expended to purchase the 193-acre Twin Creeks (Moniese Nomo) Park and Educational Campus in May 2001. All of these funds have been expended. Pay-As-You-Go Funds and Donations -Between 1999 and 2006, the Board of Commissioners made appropriations of `pay-as-you-go' capital funds for Lands Legacy acquisitions. Initial CIP's projected $500,000 per annum, but the 2002 State budget crisis and other needs required changes to this plan. Charitable donations or around $10,000 have also been received. To date, a total of $1,943,250 has been received from this source.' To help address the budget crisis and necessary department reductions in spring 2010, $450,000 of this amount was transferred back to the County's General Fund effective July 1, 2010. 2001 Parks and Open Space Bond (later converted to Alternative Financing) - In November 2001, County voters approved a $20 million Parks and Open Space bond. Of this amount, $7 million was designated for the Lands Legacy Program (for acquisition of parks and publicly-accessible open space). However, within six months, the State budget crisis of 2002 was in full swing, and the An additional $350,000 in pay-as-you-go funds was specifically designated for conservation easements in 2005 and 2006. these funds are accounted for in the Conservation Easement Fund.