8.1 SR 07-01-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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(Attachment 1 Letter of Intent) July 1,2013 Richard Erdmann Executive Vice President and General Counsel The Conservation Fund 1655 North Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300 Arlington, Virginia 22209 RE: Houlton Farm, Elk River, MN Dear Mr. Erdmann; We have discussed this project with Steve Hobbs and the City of Elk River (City) requests the assistance of The Conservation Fund (the "Fund") to acquire and permanently protect the above referenced property. We believe your help is critical as we assemble all of the necessary resources to obtain ownership of this roughly 340-acre natural resource area(the "Property"). Protection of the Property is a high priority for the City and our partners as an important regional park and natural area. The City is requesting that the Fund provide professional guidance and technical assistance to the City to facilitate the process of acquiring the Property. It is anticipated that the Fund will provide transactional assistance in acquiring the property from the current willing seller and work with the City to secure funding for the purchase. The City and the Fund understand that it may not be possible to either secure sufficient funding or complete this acquisition. The parties acknowledge that a great deal of time, effort, and risk is required of the Fund to successfully complete this project, including securing funding, working with the seller, and completing the necessary due diligence. It is also understood that the Fund may need to pre- acquire the Property and hold it for a time, at some risk and cost to the Fund, in order to secure the transaction for the City. The City agrees to reimburse the Fund, only from grant funds and donations it receives with the assistance of the Fund, for its costs related to the transaction including; actual expenses for appraisal, legal, title review, survey, property taxes, environmental survey, staff time of the Fund, in accordance with the billing rates attached hereto as Exhibit "A", (not to exceed $77,000), closing costs and interest at 4.25% annually should we incur such expenses. These costs are only payable to the Fund upon final acquisition of the Property by the City from the Fund. If the Fund pre-acquires the Property, but, for any reason, the City is unable to complete its acquisition of the property by May 15 2014, the Fund may sell the Property commercially as it deems appropriate to recoup the resources it has invested without liability or obligation to the City. The City will provide coordination and the resources of its realty staff and legal department and