3/19/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

*Contract In coming to terms with DSL and county staff on the negotiated purchase price (subject to County Commission and State approval), the seller has executed a standard DSL purchase contract Option Agreement with minor modifications. A copy of'that contract is attached to this staff report. ANALYSIS •Environmental Significance & Cost -Share Opportunity In assessing the Cairns property, staff determined that the property is considered to be of unusually high environmental value by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory (k*VAI) and the vepartment of Environmental Protection (DEP) by virtue of its high density turtle nesting beach, and a large, relatively undisturbed endangered ecological community, the maritime hammock west of Highway AlA. As previously mentioned, LAAC ranked the Cairns property relatively high on its 1995 acquisition list, number 7 out of 20 projects. Staff interpreted this high ranking as an indication that LAAC accepted the fact that the Cairns property warranted acquisition despite its potential expense, since property value is a criterion of the ranking process. At about the same time, the State indicated that the Cairns/Irwin property was important to the State by agreeing to add the property (out of the normal order of the CARL process) to the Archie Carr Sea Turtle Refuge CARL Project. Archie Carr was then number 1 on the CARL list. Both the LAAC's ranking vote and the County's consideration of the project were critical factors influencing the CARL action. The State was willing to consider funding for the entire Cairns Tract in significant part because the County had indicated a general willingness to fund one-half of the acquisition. Based on the apparent willingness of the County and State to jointly purchase this large and expensive property, county staff obtained appraisals, persuaded the Division of State Lands to undertake an expensive survey, and commenced a long course of negotiation with the landowner. Given the appraised value, and recognizing that the property's value was several times that of other single tracts -on the County acquisition list, staff sought ways to reduce or eliminate County costs. Consequently, the estimated total of all County costs for this acquisition will be approximately $13,000, only 0.12% of the purchase price. Besides the low acquisition cost, another advantage of the acquisition is that the purchase reflects a discount below the appraised property value. The negotiated contract reflects a purchase price of 92% of the property's appraised value, a potential savings below appraisal of about $865,000. •Value Since the inception of the County's acquisition program, staff has placed a high priority on using appraisers with the highest level of experience and expertise in appraising the types of property that the County was considering for acquisition, including large and expensive tracts such as the Cairns property. Because appraisals for CARL acquisitions undergo extensive review by State 39 March 19, 1996 X09 97 FIKIF.5 l9