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Boa 94 FAI,J,r- 895 SUMMARY Staff recommends that the Board of County Commissioners purchase the Korangy property with land acquisition bond funds. The proposed purchase contract (already executed by the seller) is -summarized as follows: Purchaser: Indian River County Board of County Commissioners Seller: Trust for Public Lands (TPL) after executing purchase option with Amile and Parvone Korangy Cost Share: State of Florida CARL Program Total Price: $672,000 Other Costs: $13,000 (reimbursement to TPL for survey costs) Acreage: 131.5 Acres Principal Conditions_: • Closing subject to county and state executing multi-party acquisition agreement • Purchaser will pay for title insurance policy • Purchaser will obtain environmental audit of the site The Land Acquisition Advisory Committee (LAAC) considered this proposed acquisition at a special meeting on April 13, 1995. Since this staff report was prepared prior to the LAAC meeting, the committee's action could not be reported in this staff report. Staff, however, will report LAAC's recommendation to the Board at the April 18, 1995 Board meeting. DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS Among the properties initially identified for acquisition by Indian River County with the proceeds of its $26 million environmentally sensitive lands acquisition bond program was the Korangy tract. Located on the north barrier island to the west of SR A -1-A, the subject property is approximately 131.5 acres in size, consisting of 5.5 acres of uplands and 126 acres of wetlands and submerged lands. Besides its extensive wetlands and location adjacent to the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the property also contains archeological sites and borders a segment of Jungle Trail. The uplands portion of the tract has been incorporated within the State of Florida Archie Carr CARL project. For the past two years, staff has been actively negotiating the purchase of the Korangy property. Since the seller recently accepted and executed a staff proposed purchase contract for the property, appraisal results, purchase offers and other confidential information can now be released. •Ownership Characteristics Currently, the subject property is owned by Amile and Parvone Korangy. The Korangy's live in Baltimore and have owned the property since 1983. At present, the Korangy's are involved in bankruptcy proceedings, and an IRS lien has been placed on the subject property. While the Korangy's currently hold title to the property, the Trust Fund For Public Lands has a purchase option for the land. To facilitate public purchase of the property, TPL acquired its option over a year ago and has extended the option several times. Obtaining the purchase option and extending that option several times has cost TPL thousands of dollars. In addition, TPL has paid for a survey of the property and two appraisals. TPL has also spent significant staff resources and incurred substantial travel costs in negotiating with the Korangy's. 28 APRIL 18, 1995 M s M