5.3. SR 08-01-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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~~~~ ;~~,. ,r Elk ~~... REQUEST FOR ACTION Rive TO ITEM NUMBER Ci Council 5.3. AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY Administration Au st 1, 2011 R. Thistle, Interim Ci Administrator ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By Approve Funding Option fox DNR Grant Application for Bailey Park Acquistion REVIEWED BY ACTION REQUESTED Approve funding approach for City portion of Bailey Park Acquistion should Elk River receive an award of DNR Natural and Scenic Areas Grant Program. BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION The following is a summary of the Bailey Park project provided by Joe Hiller of the DNR. Joe's summary, found below, is consistent with City staff perspecitve that are familiar with the issue. Since 1983, the City has received 6 grants from the State to acquire and develop Lions Park and Woodlands Trail Park (see attached list of the 6 grants). Each grant includes an agreement between the City and the State whereby the City agreed to retain all lands within the park boundaries solely for outdoor recreation. The City inadvertently violated two of these grant agreements when they allowed the Boys Club to construct its facility along the southern border of Lions Park. The facility trespasses on approximately 12,870 square feet of park land, thus converting it, in violation of the grant agreements, to non recreation use. The remedy for such conversions is to acquire replacement lands of at least equal market value. Working with Lori Johnson, the previous City Administrator, the value of the converted lands in Lions Park was determined to be $20,592. The City must therefore acquire replacement lands of at least equal value and add them to an existing park or establish a new park. When the City requested grant application forms last spring, I informed Ms. Johnson that the City would not be eligible to apply unless the conversion at Lions Park was mitigated. Lori suggested using part of the value of the Bailey Point Acquisition as mitigation. I told her this would be acceptable to the State. Since funding from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LAWCON) was also used in these grants, the National Park Service would have to agree as well. Based on my experience with the Park Service, I believe they would also accept this mitigation. The City has submitted an application to the Natural and Scenic Areas Grant Program fora 50% matching grant to acquire approximately 22.58 acres at Bailey Point appraised at $99,150. A 50% grant would be $49,575. The City's application has ranked high enough to be considered for funding. If the City were to agree to use $20,592 of the appraised value to mitigate the Lions Park C:\Users\jjohnson\Appllata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.0utlook\SFWAYSNS\bailey park project 2011.docx