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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 12/11/2018 - NATURAL AREAS ACQUISITION PROCESS AND FINANCIAL PADATE: STAFF: December 11, 2018 John Stokes, Natural Resources Director WORK SESSION ITEM City Council SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION Natural Areas Acquisition Process and Financial Partnerships. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to review the City’s Natural Areas Department process to identify and acquire land, as well as the decision-making approach that informs financial partnerships with Larimer County and other conservation entities. GENERAL DIRECTION SOUGHT AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED 1. Does Council have any questions or concerns related to these topics? 2. Does Council wish to make any changes to the current acquisition process or cost-sharing approach? BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Brief History of Acquisitions Since 1992, the City has conserved approximately 180 properties and 44,704 acres of land. Of the total, 37,082 acres are fee properties, 6,725 are conservation easements, and 897 are leased. Starting in 1994, the City began to partner financially with other entities, in particular, Larimer County and Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO). In the ensuing 24-year period, nearly 70,000 acres were conserved in partnership with Larimer County (Attachment 2). A total of 32 projects were completed and 15 of those were with assistance from GOCO. As required by GOCO, a conservation easement is placed on any property that it helps conserve. The City holds conservation easements on 15,205 acres of County Open Lands. In addition to external partnerships, Natural Areas also participates in internal collaborations, for example in concert with the Stormwater Utility at Red Fox Meadows or the former Forney property. Overview of Acquisition Process The City process for acquiring natural areas begins with the Council adopted 2014 Natural Areas Master Plan (<https://www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/pdf/nat-areas-masterplan-final14.pdf>). The Plan outlines broad areas of land conservation interest which include local, regional, and community separator elements. Professional real estate staff maintain an inventory of key parcels that may be of interest and works continuously to cultivate landowner relations. Properties are located in areas identified as a priority in the Master Plan and have some combination of conservation values, restoration potential, community separation, connectivity with other owned land, and recreation opportunities. While the City engages in extensive planning to identify key parcels and potential internal and external partnerships, the work of acquiring land can be opportunistic. The City may acquire natural areas from willing sellers only. Landowners may not be interested for long periods of time but then their circumstances or motivations change. Occasionally the City contacts a landowner and a transaction is crafted in a very short December 11, 2018 Page 2 period of time. Sometimes, however, it can take many years to develop a land transaction and some transactions have taken from 10 to 15 years to develop and complete. Even relatively small transactions can entail very complex and sensitive negotiations and transactional details. In 2005, Council adopted Resolution 2005-136 (Attachment 1). The policy notes the guide rails of the Master Plan and describes Council’s desire to be more involved in projects that are significant in size, value, or that raise significant policy questions. In particular Council will be more involved if an acquisition is more than $2 million or if it raises policy questions related to the Master Plan or the use of dedicated funds. In addition, any collaborative transaction with Larimer County (or other government bodies) require an Intergovernmental Agreement that must be approved by Council. Based on the adopted policy, staff may proceed with acquisitions that fit within the Master Plan objectives without direct Council involvement unless they are expensive or potentially controversial. Since 2005, staff has completed approximately 9 projects a year or approximately 112 total transactions, excluding leases and right-of- way projects. Several projects met or exceeded the $2 million mark or raised policy questions. For example, the former Resource Recovery Farm at the intersection of I25 and Prospect was acquired and then partially exchanged with Colorado State University for additional land at Reservoir Ridge Natural Area. However, the majority of transactions have remained well below the $2 million threshold. At Council’s request, since 2015 staff has provided Council with a Quarterly Confidential Land Conservation Report. The report describes in detail lands actively being considered for conservation, the costs, conservation values, any issues associated with each and progress to date. The approach to acquiring natural area properties is not dissimilar to the approach used by the City to acquire other properties for public use, such as community parks and stormwater properties. Master plans describe areas of interest and the departments seek out parcels and acquire them in accordance with the master plans. The following chart provides information about how natural area or open space acquisitions are processed by Fort Collins and other local governments. The chart also includes a column representing the average number of transactions a year. Agency Land Conservation Master Plan Y / N Planning Approval Y / N Board Recommendation Y / N Council or Commission Approval Y / N Average # of transactions annually Fort Collins Natural Areas Y N Y Y/N 9 City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Y N Y Y 5 Boulder County Parks and Open Space Y N Y Y Not available Jefferson December 11, 2018 Page 3 As noted by the chart, Fort Collins has a hybrid approach to Council approval as compared to other communities. At the request of the Leadership Planning Team, staff reached out to program staff from these localities and asked for descriptions of their approval systems. Boulder County and the City of Boulder staff do not, as a regular matter, take proposed transactions to decision makers until the terms of a deal have been finalized. Jefferson County staff described a board and commissioners process that can extend the length of transaction by as much as six months to a year. A consideration with this process is that on occasion Jefferson County has had to renegotiate prices with landowners and some agreements have been lost. Larimer County staff noted that its citizen Board plays an important role in reviewing and making recommendations to the County Commissioners on proposed transactions. The Commissioners meet every Tuesday and items can be placed on the agenda the Thursday before a Tuesday meeting. All the localities described citizen board involvement in their process, which is similar to Fort Collins in that Natural Areas staff take all proposed transactions to the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board for its review. The advantages of the current hybrid Fort Collins’ approach include: • A process that is regarded as less uncertain by sellers • The ability to move quickly if necessary • An efficient acquisition process Bringing all transactions to Council may create benefits such as: • More transparency about what parcels the City is buying • More involvement from Council in decision making • Discussions regarding deal points or negotiations From the perspective of staff, the Fort Collins’ approach to natural areas acquisition represents a good balance between oversight by Council and latitude provided to staff to efficiently achieve the conservation objectives of the Master Plan. The Master Plan provides an overarching road map to conservation and the Council-adopted policy provides appropriate touch points with Council. As a practical matter, staff is concerned that if Council were to require Council action on every transaction it would likely entail numerous Council meetings. For example, with an average of 9 transactions a year the number of Council meetings required could be 18 or more (based on a work session and regular meeting and excluding second reading and executive sessions). Financial Partnerships As noted there have been 32 partnership acquisitions with Larimer County over the past 24 years. All transactions involving a partnership with Larimer County must be approved through an Intergovernmental Agreement. Some of the acquisitions with the County also have included Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO), The Nature Conservancy, and Loveland. Over the years, the County has been extremely successful at garnering GOGO grants on behalf of joint County and City projects. The total value of the partnerships was $74.3 million (Attachment 2). Fort Collins contributed $26 million or 35%. Larimer County contributed $21 million or 28%. The other partners contributed the remaining 37%. Nearly 70,000 were conserved at an average cost per acre of $1,070. There is no formal cost sharing arrangement between Larimer County and the City. Partnerships have been utilized to leverage collective resources on projects where conservation goals overlap; for example, in the foothills area and at regional locations, most notably Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space. December 11, 2018 Page 4 Staff considers a set of questions when considering a financial and/or conservation partnership: • Does the land conservation project align with the land conservation priorities set forth by the Council Adopted - City of Fort Collins Land Conservation and Stewardship Master Plan? • Does the partner/s have a positive track record of partnerships with the City and or other organizations? • Is the project identified as a priority in the partnering agency/organizations’ adopted plans? • Is the project of mutual interest due to existing land ownership or previous investments by partners? • Will the land conservation project benefit citizens of the contributing partners? • How can/should the land conservation project be funded? o Do the partners have the financial ability to participate at the time? o Are there grants available to help fund the project? o How much can each of the partners afford to contribute at the time? o Is there a stronger benefit to one partner over the other/s? o Is there justification for partner/s to provide more funds than the other partner/s. • If the property is purchased: o Which partner is best suited to manage the property? • If the land is conserved with a conservation easement? o Which partner is best suited to hold and monitor the conservation easement? • Will the financial partnership positively affect a grant application? o Which partner is best suited to apply for and manage the grant? • Will this land conservation project not be possible without the partnership? If Council desires to develop a more formal approach to partnering with the County, one option could be to develop the preceding questions into an assessment that would be shared with Council well in advance of any potential transaction. If there were any concerns, they could be addressed in writing or through a work session as needed. ATTACHMENTS 1. Council Approval Policy December 20, 2005 (PDF) 2. County City Partnerships (PDF) 3. PowerPoint Presentation (PDF) ATTACHMENT 1 Year Property Total Site Acres Fort Collins Larimer County Loveland TNC GOCO Donation Total Cost 1994 Coyote Ridge 442 $ 824,053 $ 100,000 $ 924,053 1995 Cathy Fromme Prairie 80 $ 211,180 $ 60,000 $ 250,000 $ 521,180 1995 Coyote Ridge 315 $ 330,941 $ 330,750 $ 661,691 1997 Cathy Fromme Prairie 160 $ 120,799 $ 362,397 $ 483,196 1997 Coyote Ridge 84 $ 185,676 $ 92,824 $ 21,500 $ 300,000 1997 Long View Farm 479 $ 691,721 $ 1,032,500 $ 344,166 $ 400,000 $ 2,468,387 2000 Prairie Ridge Natural Area 785 $ 309,280 $ 437,881 $ 1,892,768 $ 500,000 $ 3,139,929 2001 Fossil Crk Res reg OS 7 $ 50,000 $ 50,000 $ 100,000 2001 Fossil Crk Res reg OS 152 $ 1,200,205 $ 800,000 $ 2,000,205 2001 Fossil Crk Res reg OS 230 $ 2,014,206 $ 2,012,500 $ 4,026,706 2001 Fossil Crk Res reg OS 12 $ 68,000 $ 68,000 $ 136,000 2001 Fossil Crk Res reg OS 54 $ 594,050 $ 594,050 $ 1,188,100 2002 Kerbel Conservation Easement 84 $ 98,749 $ 98,749 $ 197,498 2002 Rimrock Open Space 225 $ 56,588 $ 509,292 $ 565,880 2002 Rimrock Open Space 212 $ 100,000 $ 935,100 $ 1,035,100 2003 Devil's Backbone 878 $ 2,306,815 $ 768,498 $ 3,075,313 2003 Fossil Crk Res reg OS 10 $ 300,000 $ 220,000 $ 520,000 2004 Devil's Backbone 667 $ 1,785,694 $ 97,609 $ 500,000 $ 2,383,303 2004 Horsetooth Mountain Park 288 $ 200,000 $ 975,000 $ 325,000 $ 1,500,000 2004 Roberts Ranch Conservation Easement 4,557 $ 1,801,665 $ 211,100 $ 1,500 $ 889,500 $ 109,000 $ 3,012,765 2004 Wellington Community Sep 139 $ 182,651 $ 182,651 $ 365,302 2004 Wellington Community Sep 70 $ 99,069 $ 99,069 $ 198,138 2007 Laramie Foothills Partnership 55,562 $ 8,350,000 $ 2,689,000 $ 550,000 $ 11,604,000 $ 1,880,000 $ 25,073,000 2007 Hermit Park 1,362 $ 91,000 $ 4,700,000 $ 400,000 $ 700,000 $ 700,000 $ 6,591,000 2010 Three Bells I & II 338 $ 704,131 $ 519,108 $ 120,000 $ 914,237 $ 254,524 $ 2,512,000 2017 Coyote Ridge 481 $ 1,054,675 $ 1,051,787 $ 1,000,000 $ 3,106,462 2017 Horsetooth Foothills 259 $ 186,246 $ 184,070 $ 860,906 $ 1,231,223 2017 Horsetooth Foothills 36 $ 17,048 $ 15,930 $ 139,094 $ 172,071 2017 Horsetooth Foothills 358 $ 751,084 $ 764,500 $ 995,500 $ 2,511,084 2017 Horsetooth Foothills 199 $ 501,741 $ 614,047 $ 1,115,788 2017 Horsetooth Foothills 831 $ 484,215 $ 368,103 $ 1,557,500 $ 2,409,818 2018 Horsetooth Foothills 320 $ 370,498 $ 122,250 $ 300,500 $ 793,248 Totals 69,676 $ 26,041,980 $ 21,066,764 $ 2,756,934 $ 1,251,500 $ 20,936,237 $ 2,265,024 $ 74,318,440 ATTACHMENT 2 1 Natural Areas Acquisition Process and Cost Sharing John Stokes 12-11-18 ATTACHMENT 3 General Direction Sought 2 1. Does Council have any questions or concerns related to these topics? 2. Does Council wish to make any changes to the current acquisition process or cost‐sharing approach? Acquisition Process 3 CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL AREAS DEPARTMENT NATURAL AREAS MASTER PLAN October 7, 2014 Since 1992 4 180 properties 44,704 acres Process Staff maintains an extensive set of relationships with landowners Execute on average 9 deals a year There are no easy deals 5 Process Resolution 2005-136 provides guide rails to staff as to when to approach Council  $2 million  Policy implications Staff also provides a confidential quarterly update 6 Comparison to other programs 7 Agency Land Conservation Master Plan Y / N Planning or Real Estate Approval Y / N Board Recommendation Y / N Board Approval Y / N Council or Commission Approval Y / N Average # of transactions annually Fort Collins Natural Areas YNYNY/N 9 City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks YNYNY 5 Boulder County Parks and Open Space YNYNY Not available Jefferson County Open Space YYYNY3 Larimer County Natural Resources YNYYY 4 to 6 Process Considerations 8  More transparency about what parcels the City is buying  More involvement from Council in decision making  Discussions regarding deal points or negotiations  A process that is regarded as less uncertain by sellers  The ability to move quickly if necessary  Efficiency with respect to completing transactions under $2 million and pursuing the objectives of the Master Plan Partnerships 9 32 partnered projects with Larimer County and others 70,000 acres $74 million 35% from the City 28% from the County 37% from other partners (GOCO) Informal Partnership Approach  Mutual conservation objectives  Does it support previous partnered projects  Ability of partners to leverage resources 10 Partnership Example 11 $3.36M Larimer County $3.35M Fort Collins $4.85M GOCO General Direction Sought 1. Does Council have any questions or concerns related to these topics? 2. Does Council wish to make any changes to the current acquisition process or cost-sharing approach? 12 County Open Space Y Y Y Y 3 Larimer County Natural Resources Y N Y Y 4 to 6