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of parcels offered for donation. Certain factors may prove more significant than others and <br /> should therefore receive a heavier weighting. <br /> 3. Potential donations should be evaluated based on a set of established guidelines that consider <br /> natural resource values, management and maintenance costs, nuisance conditions, and other <br /> factors identified in this paper. <br /> 4. There are currently no established guidelines nor process to facilitate a thorough and timely <br /> evaluation of such land donation requests. <br /> Recommendations <br /> 1. City acceptance of donated parcels determined to be of high resource and recreational value <br /> based on evaluation of acceptance criteria, as long as maintenance and management funding <br /> is available. It is recognized that the donation of non - developable parcels offers an excellent <br /> opportunity for the City to increase the natural area /open space resource while offering the <br /> possibility to preserve valuable habitat for T &E species. To remain a valuable asset, the <br /> availability of funding necessary to manage and maintain the site must be budgeted. City <br /> acceptance may be the best means of ensuring that the City's natural resource and open space <br /> goals are met. However, a parcel should only be accepted after a thorough evaluation of the <br /> acceptance criteria discussed . The following two recommendations are aimed at this goal: <br /> a. Development of an evaluation matrix which can be used to rate parcels on how well they <br /> meet the acceptance criteria presented in this discussion. The development and <br /> implementation of an evaluation matrix is perhaps the most important recommendation to <br /> emerge from this discussion. This tool will help in the decision making process when <br /> acceptance of areas may result in costs, liabilities, and requirements for the City which <br /> may outweigh natural resource and open space values. During times of limited <br /> management and maintenance budgets this rating matrix will allow the available funding <br /> to be applied to acceptance of the highest value sites. <br /> b. Establish an interdepartmental review team to perform the matrix evaluations. This team <br /> should include representative staff from all program areas likely to be affected by such an <br /> acquisition, such as Planning and Development, Parks Planning, Urban Forestry, Parks <br /> Maintenance, Water Resources Team, and Maintenance Planning. By averaging the <br /> individual rating scores of all team members, an overall suitability rating could be arrived <br /> at for each parcel offered for donation to the City. <br /> 2. Possible options to City ownership which exist for parcels not accepted for City ownership <br /> because they do not meet acceptance criteria or do not rate as high as others and have no <br /> funding available. <br /> 8 <br />