Minutes - 19991012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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David Stancil mentioned that a very thorough assessment was just completed of the County's park needs. He said that the criteria for parklands are identified on pages 23-25 of the document. He briefly summarized the management and funding tools of land acquisition. In researching other places around the country, he found that a lot of local governments achieve land acquisitions through the development process. He is proposing that the ERCD and Planning Department staffs work over the next few months to develop a process for addressing acquisitions in this fashion. He referred to section six on page 38 that explains options for land management. The three options that have been identified in the document are land acquisitions through existing County statutory authority, County land trust, and Open Space Authority. He said that there is not a recommendation at this time for land management. He referred to part three of the document on page 47 and said that this section would be developed after initial direction and guidance is received from the County Commissioners and advisory boards. Commissioner Carey made reference to the New Hope corridor open space and asked if any of the land had been acquired. David Stancil said that Durham County has acquired some of the parcels. Commissioner Brown referred to page seven of the document about the wildlife corridor network and asked how this would be done. David Stancil said this process has been incorporated into the comprehensive plan as part of the primary conservation areas and is implemented through the voluntary flexible development program. Commissioner Brown made reference to page nine of the document and asked when the ground water recharge report would come to the County Commissioners. David Stancil said that the report should be finished by August 2000. Commissioner Brown made reference to page 10 and asked David Stancil if he is interested in getting support about connecting the New Hope Corridor system to Eno River State Park. David Stancil said that any guidance would be helpful if the Board sees this as an important area. Commissioner Brown asked about computer issues and if it would help if the ERCD staff attended the IT committee meeting to update the committee on what is happening. She also asked about the priorities on page 18 and the impact of noise and David Stancil said that the impact on natural areas and wildlife habitat from noise is low. Commissioner Brown made reference to page 29 and the payment-in-lieu and asked if David Stancil had a recommendation about when the Board should look at this issue. David Stancil said that the ERCD is going to be convening a group to think about related issues and this group could take the work that was done by the Master Recreation and Parks group and give the Board an assessment of any improvements. In answer to a question from Commissioner Brown, Geoffrey Gledhill said that the land trust for affordable housing has a different purpose, although it has the same corporate structure. He said that the County could not form a nonprofit organization. If the County is going to be the only funding authority for the nonprofit organization, then there is no reason to go to the IRS. Commissioner Brown asked if there could be an outcome so that the Board could see what was being accomplished. She suggested that the baseline indicators should be worked into the document so that forests, farmland, water quality, parks development, etc. could be tracked. David Stancil said that an annual action plan is proposed in the document and the indicators could be folded in very easily. Commissioner Brown asked how the purchase or development of any of the properties would fold into the countywide trail system.