Sarah Ellison, Christian Huettemeyer, Christy Clark, Hallinan Woods Ad Hoc Committee. Sarah gave an update on the Committees goal and desire to purchase the Yates property. She gave a brief overview of the Committees efforts for the last 5 years.
The committee members spoke to the board at the April 19 meeting when the Parks board made a motion to not support the request for the City to allocate fiscal 2017/ 2018 general fund monies for the purchase of the private two acres adjacent to Hallinan Woods.
The board moved that the potential purchase be included in the list of Park’s CIP projects but without priority.
The Committee is asking the City to purchase a portion of the property as a recreational easement. The plans for the property includes trails and a recreational easement that would be managed by the City. The recreational easement would be the best way to manage the property and allow public access. The neighborhood is working on raising 15 to 25 thousand dollars to help in the purchase of the easement and the lots. The Committee has already raised 5 thousand. In addition to neighborhood private individuals raising money to purchase the property the Hallinan Heights NA board has applied for a neighborhood enhancement grant. The Committee has also reached out to 5 neighboring neighborhoods that are in the Hallinan school boundary to see if they would collaborate in the neighborhood enhancement grant. They have heard from 3 neighborhoods who are enthusiastically wanting to help. The collaboration would allow them to apply for more enhancement grant money.
Two City Counselors including Skip O’ Neil support purchasing the property. Sarah is planning to meet with other City Counselors in the next couple of weeks. She has met with Scott Siegel, Director of Planning and Debra Andreades, Senior Planner in charge of the application. Scott and Debra do not see any problems in the plans to purchase a recreational easement and lots. The application has not been submittedyet.
The Committee is asking the Parks Board and Parks & Recreation department to find out how much the recreational easement and lots would cost.
Ivan told the board the consideration of the cost of the recreational easement and the lots is the first step. He will speak to an expert at Metro to get an appropriate number on the cost of conservation and recreation easement properties. Based on the plans he will be able to come back to the board with appropriate pricing information for the board to consider. The Budget Committee will need an exact number to purchase the lots and the easement for consideration