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<br /> <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: June 16, 2020 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-h <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Resolution of Approval – Conservation Easement on Triangle Land <br />Conservancy’s Patterson-Thornton Property <br /> <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks <br />and Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />1. Resolution of Approval <br />2. Location Map <br />3. Site Map <br />4. Draft Conservation Easement <br /> <br /> <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, 245-2510 <br />Christian Hirni, 245-2514 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />PURPOSE: To consider a resolution to approve the acceptance by Orange County of a <br />conservation easement donation for Triangle Land Conservancy’s Patterson-Thornton Property. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: The acquisition of conservation easements to protect highly important natural <br />and cultural resource lands in Orange County is a longstanding goal of the Board of <br />Commissioners, and is a priority of the Lands Legacy program. Since 2001, the County has <br />partnered with landowners and other entities to protect over 2,700 acres of significant natural <br />areas and prime farmland with permanent conservation easements, leveraging over $4 million in <br />outside funding and grants toward these easements. <br /> <br />Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) contacted DEAPR asking if the County would hold a <br />permanent, donated conservation easement on the approximately 54-acre Patterson-Thornton <br />Property. TLC obtained a mini grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to cover <br />the transaction fees associated with the property donation to TLC. A condition of the grant is for <br />an outside organization to hold a conservation easement on the property. <br /> <br />The property is entirely forested with mature mixed hardwoods. It is bound on the north by <br />approximately 3,250 stream feet of Morgan Creek located in the University Lake Protected <br />Watershed. <br /> <br />The property is directly downstream from TLC’s Morgan Creek riparian buffer easements, <br />OWASA’s Tilley’s Creek Conservation Easement, and less than two miles upstream of <br />University Lake (managed by Orange Water & Sewer Authority (OWASA)). The property also <br />contains a large portion of the priority Calvander Laurel Bluff and Bottom listed in the State <br />Natural Heritage Area Inventory. Conservation of this property will protect the drinking water of <br />southern Orange County and protect the habitat of a multitude of wildlife and unique plant <br />1