Agenda - 04-18-2006-10b - Laserfiche WebLink

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z County staff was asked to facilitate development of a conservation easement at some paint in the future.. Accordingly, staff has periodically discussed this possible easement with Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC), to assess that organization's interest in being the fourth- party/easement holder, To date there has been positive feedback from TLC, and in the last several months, these discussions have become more formalized with renewed discussions about the Greene Tract. Site visits have been held and the TLC Land Committee is preparing to consider the easement, One of the questions posed informally so far by TLC staff is about the potential for including the 60-acre County portion in the lands to be protected by easement, As one of the few local governments with a formal land conservation program in the Lands Legacy Program, the County could choose to enroll the 60 acres in that program, and/or allow for an easement to be placed on it if additional conservation limitations were desired. Letters of March 24, 2000 from the BOCC to the Town governing beards stated that "it is the intent of the current Board of Commissioners that this sixty acres remain undisturbed," While there was an assessment conducted of the property's physical attributes at the time the 60 acres was conveyed, the BOCG has held no further formal discussion of the County's plans for the 60 acres. The 1999 interlocal agreement explicitly provided that "any non System use of any portion of the remainder of the Greene Tract or any disposition of any portion of the remainder of the Greene Tract shall result in payment to the County of the Reimbursement Amount for deposit in the system enterprise fund". Arguably, a similar approach might be applied to any portion of the County's 60 acres that are ultimately used for other than solid waste system purposes, The calculation of the "Reimbursement Amount" is spelled out in the agreement. This agenda item provides an opportunity for the Board to receive a verbal report from staff about the conservation easement discussions to date, to discuss the degree of desirability of including the County~~owned 60 acres in any possible conservation easement, and to discuss matters related to the amounts and timing of possible reimbursement payments from the County and Towns to the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund, FINANCIAL IMPACT: The Greene Tract Work Group recommendations included a "triggering mechanism" for reimbursements to the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund based on the placement of former Greene Tract property under formal conservation easements. Estimated reimbursement shares based on proportional LOG ownership shares (Orange County - 43%; Carrboro - 14%; Chapel Hill - 43%) of the original March 1984 Greene Tract acquisition cost of $608,823, are noted in a document under separate cover.. If a conservation easement is granted to a fourth party, there would be transaction costs and potentially an endowment request from the easement holder, These costs are not yet known. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board discuss matters related to possible conservation easements on portions of the Greene Tract, and direct the Manager to coordinate with the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Town Managers to develop a proposed reimbursement schedule to the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund for discussion at the next Assembly of Governments meeting in September 2006.