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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: June 6, 2017 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-f <br /> SUBJECT: Request for Funding Assistance — Botanical Garden Foundation, Inc. <br /> DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks <br /> & Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Letter from Botanical Garden Foundation David Stancil, 245-2510 <br /> Grant Application Narrative Kim Livingston, 245-2514 <br /> Letter from Natural Heritage Program <br /> Maps of Property <br /> Draft Letter of Funding Commitment <br /> Orange County Grant Agreement <br /> PURPOSE: To consider a request for matching grant funding assistance from the Botanical <br /> Garden Foundation, Inc. for the purchase of a 12.8-acre property adjoining the Botanical <br /> Garden's Parker Preserve. <br /> BACKGROUND: The North Carolina Botanical Garden and Botanical Garden Foundation own <br /> and manage 600 acres of natural areas and preserves south of NC 54 in the southeastern <br /> corner of Orange County. These lands abut 42,000 acres of gamelands and significant natural <br /> areas and wildlife habitat known collectively as the Jordan Lake Natural Area Macrosite. The <br /> portions of this natural area within Orange County have been listed as a high priority in the <br /> County's Inventory of Natural Areas and Wildlife Habitat, and has also been a conservation <br /> priority for the County's Lands Legacy Program for many years. <br /> In recent months, a 12.8-acre property known as the "Cochrane property" was listed for sale. <br /> Lying on Parker Road and adjacent to the Parker Preserve of the Botanical Garden <br /> Foundation's landholdings, the Botanical Garden Foundation is working to acquire the property <br /> and has submitted a grant application to the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund for <br /> acquisition of the site (please see attached letter from the Botanical Garden Foundation). <br /> The site, while small in size and substantial in price, is considered "exceptional" for conservation <br /> values as part of the larger conservation nature preserves and gamelands. The North Carolina <br /> Natural Heritage Program has submitted a letter addressing the conservation values of the <br /> property (attached). The site includes a portion of the Mason Farm/Laurel Hill Oak-Hickory <br /> Forest Natural Area. <br /> The Botanical Garden Foundation has asked Orange County to consider funding a portion of the <br /> matching funds needed for the Clean Water Trust Fund grant (the grant request is for <br /> $550,000). Commitments for matching funds are required by June 30 for the grant to be <br /> considered. The Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County have been asked for funding <br />