Agenda 04-07-2026; 8-a - Minutes for March 5, 2026, March 10, 2026, and March 17, 2026

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21 1 Travis Myren said it was $1.9 million for the full 79 acres. 2 Commissioner McKee said he believed that the property would bring in more than $25,000 3 an acre. 4 David Stancil said it may be helpful to look at the recent revaluation assessment. 5 Commissioner Greene said she would take an appraisal at face-value. 6 Commissioner Carter said housing is an important point of the strategic plan and she will 7 look for opportunities with county-owned property. She asked if the Board would investigate using 8 a portion of the property for housing. 9 Commissioner Portie-Ascott echoed Commissioner Carter's comments and asked if it is 10 possible for some of the land to be set aside for housing. 11 Commissioner Bedford said a study was done in 2018 on the possibility of housing on the 12 property, and the costs were prohibitive. She said there are other potential properties with access 13 to water and sewer. She said potential buyers need to know about easements for future trails on 14 the property. She said she wanted to sell the land for recreation. She said she did not want a 15 public-private partnership. She expressed concern about negotiating after multiple offers are 16 received. She highlighted item 5 in the proposed uses; she said it should say "for the public 17 purpose of recreation use." She expressed concerns that the ownership should revert to Orange 18 County if any time the buyer doesn't meet the stipulated conditions. She wanted to put conditions 19 in to be fair to a buyer who may not be able to meet conditions long-term. She said item 4.1 says 20 that prospective buyers shall have experience with the express purpose for this site, and the 21 operation and management of athletic field facilities with similar or greater size and complexity. 22 She said that would potentially cut Rainbow Soccer out. She asked that"similar size" be removed 23 and for prospective buyers to just describe their experience. She did not want to eliminate people 24 off the bat. She highlighted item 3.3 and said that the weighting seemed to be off, and the Board 25 should discuss it further. 26 Commissioner Greene said she is comfortable knowing that there was an appraisal and 27 that there will be multiple bidders. She said Commissioner Bedford's points about the criteria 28 were good. She asked where conditions were outlined in the document, as that is part of the 29 weighted criteria. 30 David Stancil said they were in section one, the proposal contents of section 2.6, and the 31 scope of services. He said that they can revise the document and create a conditions section. 32 Commissioner Greene said more specificity would help. 33 Vice-Chair Fowler said there was vagueness in the criteria. She said she was comfortable 34 with the previous appraisal. She said she did not see a need for setting a price, but she would 35 like to see a buyer that was going to serve Orange County residents. She said she would like to 36 see an emphasis on the number of Orange County residents that would be served. She said that 37 the land was purchased for recreation. She said the difficulty and expense of building affordable 38 housing on the site would make the housing unaffordable by the time it it's built. 39 Chair Hamilton asked which commissioners wanted to consider using the property for 40 housing. Commissioners McKee, Carter, and Portie-Ascott indicated they would like to see 41 affordable housing on the property. Chair Hamilton, Vice-Chair Fowler, and Commissioners 42 Bedford and Greene did not want to change the purpose. 43 Commissioner McKee said it was a large portion of land for recreation. 44 Chair Hamilton said that is what the Board had discussed in November. 45 Commissioner McKee expressed concern about the costs to the county for future 46 recreational use. 47 Chair Hamilton said the proposal is to solicit offers for fields and anything else is way in 48 the future. She said the Board needs to decide if they want to move forward with the solicitation 49 document. She said the Board needs to decide if they want to set a recommended price for the 50 property.