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3 <br />Preliminary Report of the <br />Orange County Open Space Task Force <br />Apri 117, 2001 <br />Executive Summary <br />The Open Space Task Force, formed in May 2000, includes Commissioners Margaret <br />Brown and Alice Gordon and County staff. <br />A. Background <br />In the spring and fall of last yeaz, the Task Force worked to help develop the Annual <br />Action Plan for the Lands Legacy program. <br />In the last few months, the attention of the Task Force has turned to evaluating the many <br />different needs that have been identified for parks and open space. This evaluation has <br />been compiled in the Open Space Task Force report. The report uses the following source <br />materials to identify short-term and long-term priorities for pazk and open space land <br />acquisition, and pazks faciliries development: <br />1. The 1999 Joint Master Recreation and Parks Report (adopted by the BOCC 5/3/00) <br />2. Joint Pazks Guidelines and Criteria (adopted 12/7/99 and 5/3/00) <br />3. The State of the Environment report (February 2000) <br />4. "A Lands Legacy Program for Orange County", (adopted by the BOCC 4/4/00) <br />5. The Lands Legacy Interim Action Plan (adopted 5/3/00) <br />6. Lands Legacy Long-Term Priorities 2002-2010 (presented 3/27/01) <br />A theme that is common to all of these reports is the need for proactive steps for "land- <br />banking" to preserve future pazklands and existing natural azeas, before they are gone. <br />The 1999 Joint Master Recreation and Pazks (JMRP) report emphasizes that point, as <br />shown in this quotation from that report: <br />...the Work Group has determined that the current critical need is to begin long-term land <br />acquisition (land banking°)_ This concept is similar to any kind of bank - it essentially <br />establishes a "savings account" of land. Once the savings account has been fully funded, <br />land can be withdrawn and developed for specific parks and recreation needs. <br />The JMRP report then goes on to note: <br />Simultaneous with the population increase, land in Orange County is rapidly increasing in <br />value. Large fracfs are being subdivided, and options for geographic locations of parkland <br />in every township .are diminishing. A priority for use of future funds clearly must be land <br />acquisition far long-term park needs, rather than simply developing recreational facilities <br />(which can be developed over time as the population increases). <br />A program for land acquisition for long-term park needs should be developed That <br />identifies sites that could meet needs (including potential for siting active and low-impact <br />