Minutes - 02-13-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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County is going to proceed in any kind of partnership with the private organizations, that these private organizations are going to have to cooperate. He said that we are not investing public money in a private venture, but we are investing public money in a public venture that requires partnership. Chair Halkiotis said that he agrees with what Commissioner Carey said in the interpretation of #2, page 3 of the agenda, regarding field development by private organizations. He gave examples of land that was awned by a school and used by the Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association and the Orange County Parks and Recreation Department. He said that the model of cooperation is there, and he thinks that there should not be competing forces. He thinks a small group of two Commissioners {he does not wish to serve}, Economic Development Director Dianne Reid, Recreation and Parks Director Bob Jones, and representatives from the soccer organizations should be set up to talk about the issues. Commissioner Gordon said that she would be comfortable with the small group as suggested by Chair Halkiotis. She said that she was worried that the recommended entity would become too much of a closed group too soon. She is concerned that the recommended entity was heavily male and white, and that it involved a sport that required payment to participate. She would feel comfortable with Chair Halkiotis' suggestion. Commissioner Carey asked Jahn Link, Bob Jones, and Dianne Reid to research and help in any way they can with the new task force. Commissioner Jacobs and Commissioner Brown volunteered to be on this task force. b. Proposed Land Legacy Action Plan {Appendix 6 in Retreat notebook) Environment and Resource Conservation Director David Stancil spoke about the action plan and asked for direction from the Board of Commissioners. He said that the annual action plan is the process that drives the acquisitions for parklands, natural areas and wildlife habitat, farmlands, cultural and archaeological areas, and riparian watershed buffers. In September and October of 2444, each of the advisory boards related to the different types of resources identified some priorities. The priorities were put into the first draft of the action plan. The idea is to bring this back to the Commissioners for adoption, concurrent with consideration of the Capital Improvement Plan. He spoke about some of the activities of the lands legacy program. The County has been able to acquire 1.2 million dollars in state and federal grants to put towards land acquisitions. He showed some maps of natural areas and priority areas. There have been 4,644 acres of land identified as significant natural areas to date. He said that ERCD would continue to aggressively pursue grants. He made reference to the table on page five, which is the recommended priority list. Some of the priorities include: purchase of additional lands adjacent to the Cedar Grove District Park and the Northern Human Services Center, beginning of the Seven Mile Creek nature preserve, acquisition of land in Bingham Township {working with OWASA for a community park}, tying together pieces of open space in the New Hape basin, park needs in Eno Township -north and east of Hillsborough and continuing the process of working with the soil and water district and OWASA to identify areas far farmland conservation easements. He asked for guidance from the Board on the priority list. Commissioner Jacobs commented on David Stancil's last point in regard to the upcoming band issue. He thinks it is a good action plan, but he thinks we need to do a better job of articulating why some of the priorities are of value to people that live in urban parts of the County. He made reference to the heritage corridors and the historic preservation goal and said that he would like to see this in more detail, Commissioner Brown and Commissioner Gordon both commended David Stancil and his staff on their effort in pulling this program together. Chair Halkiotis also praised David Stancil `s work. Commissioner Gordon also said that she wanted to underscore what has been said, in that it is important to explain the County's vision. She recommended trying to articulate our vision to the citizens for what we are trying to accomplish. This would also be good information for the bond committee.