Agenda - 06-21-2016 - 5-a - Minutes

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15 1 Rich Shaw, Land Conservation Manager, reviewed the contract information: 2 3 The property is located four miles west of Hillsborough, and is part of a larger, 87-acre tract that 4 is divided by Interstate 85/40. The County was only interested in acquiring the middle portion of 5 the tract located south of the Interstate and north of West Ten Road. The 37-acre site shares a 6 property boundary with the center and has 600 feet of frontage along West Ten Road. 7 8 The existing Soccer.com Center is highly popular for both recreational leagues and also for club 9 teams, tournaments and soccer showcase events. It features five full-sized soccer fields, one 10 practice field, a '/2-mile walking track, concession stand, shelters, and restroom facilities. If the 11 County acquires the adjacent property, it would allow for the potential of an additional three 12 playing fields, vehicle parking, restroom facilities and a retention pond to capture stormwater 13 and drainage from the existing fields. The collected water could be used to supplement well 14 water used to irrigate the fields. Other potential uses of the site include nature/running trails and 15 tennis courts. 16 17 The site would address a significant need - additional parking. Currently, there are 108 spaces 18 for vehicles at the park and another 120 spaces available for use at Gravelly Hill Middle School. 19 20 There is a need for 250 additional parking spaces or more to accommodate league play and 21 special soccer tournaments and events. 22 23 The subject property is zoned Economic Development Buckhorn Higher Intensity (EDB-2), 24 which is intended for a range of light industrial, distribution, retail, office, and services uses in 25 the Buckhorn Economic Development District. Allowed uses include parks, government 26 buildings, manufacturing, assembly and processing, wholesale trade, as well as various retail 27 and services with a conditional use permit. Although the property is in an Economic 28 Development District, there are no public water and sewer services currently available to this 29 site, and this particular property has topography that would have made it more expensive for a 30 business to link the property to the existing or future public sewer network. The appraised value 31 of the property was reduced by $300,000 to account for that constraint on land use. 32 33 The property is entirely undeveloped and forested with a mixture of immature pine and 34 hardwoods. A perennial stream runs from north to south along the eastern property boundary 35 and will need to be buffered from any construction. The stream flows to a small wetland located 36 in the far southeast corner of the property, and then enters a culvert under West Ten Road. 37 38 The owners have agreed to sell the property to Orange County for $740,000 (appraised value). 39 The County is currently completing its due diligence by completing a title search, a Phase 1 40 environmental site assessment (ESA), and a boundary survey. Following the completion of 41 those items, and the findings are deemed satisfactory, the parties will schedule a closing for the 42 transaction to occur by July 31, 2016 or as soon as possible thereafter. 43 44 FINANCIAL IMPACT: The purchase price is $740,000 ($20,000 per acre), with an additional 45 $12,000 - $15,000 anticipated in transaction costs (survey, Phase 1 ESA, title search/closing). 46 A portion of the funding for the acquisition ($425,000)would come from the approved Capital 47 Improvement Project funds budgeted for Soccer.com Center land acquisition in FY 2015-16, 48 and the remaining approximately $330,000 would come from the Lands Legacy Capital Project. 49 With this allocation, approximately $3.2 million remains available in the Lands Legacy Capital 50 Project.