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• land development, time can be a "deal killer ". The owners, while they desire to acquire the City property to improve the development potential, clearly have the ability to move forward on their own land without the land trade. The owners are at the point of hiring consultants to begin the environmental and land use permitting processes by the end of this month. Given these factors, staff does not recommend that the longer park planning process be started at this time. Following Council's direction, staff is proceeding to negotiate a land trade with the following conditions: 1. Any land trade will be at equal value with value being determined by the statutory process requiring an independent appraisal. 2. The City would accept the property owners' offer of an equal trade in- cluding the owners contingency of the trade being concluded only if land use and environmental permits /approvals can be obtained which will allow development of a public golf course. The property owners will be re- sponsible for all costs relating to obtaining these approvals. 3. The City will request that Lane County amend the deed restrictions on the property to expand the requirement that the land can only be used for recreational purposes to specifically include language allowing public golf courses. This step would be required regardless of whether the golf course developer was a private party or the City. 4. The land to be traded will include at least three acres for an active park area, plus additional acreage that would yield some water frontage on the pond(s), and include access from the ends of Melrose and Golden Garden Avenues. The owners will be responsible for arranging and paying for all required surveying, land partitioning and recording. 5. All public access to the golf course will be from Clear Lake Road. 6. The City expressly makes the land trade acknowledging that the site is outside of the current Urban Growth Boundary and makes no commitment toward adjusting that boundary. During the Council's discussion on this subject, questions were raised re- garding design of the golf course, the status of wetlands, and availability of and environmental concerns regarding water. After analysis, staff be- lieves that these issues, given that the site is outside the City and UGB, are best left in the hands of the State regulatory agencies. Our experience is that the regulatory agencies share the Council's concerns on these issues and have generally taken a very conservative perspective toward protecting the public's interest. We do not believe that City involvement would con- tribute to a significantly different result than that which would arise from leaving the matter solely with the regulatory agencies. ACTION REQUESTED: This update is intended for informational purposes only. Staff is continuing to proceed with preparing for the land trade as directed. Council should expect to receive a specific offer for approval, under the conditions outlined above, in January. The offer will be a fair market equal value trade with the only issue being whether the future park site offered is in an acceptable location.