§ 2-25-57. Environmental lands procedure for setting priorities.

(a)

Procedure. The county's procedure for listing and ranking sites on the protection priority list will be as follows:

(1)

Site nominations. County staff will assemble all available resources and identify sites nominated by the county consultant, general public, public organizations and private conservation organizations. There will be no ranking of the sites nominated; the sites will be listed randomly and not in order of importance. Sites may be nominated at any time.

(2)

Eligibility. County staff will review nominated sites, apply the selection criteria to determine eligibility, and report to ELMAC. The ELMAC committee will review the list of eligible sites for approval to develop priority groupings.

(3)

Participation. County staff will contact or oversee contacts with the landowners of sites based upon priority groupings to introduce the program, determine their willingness to participate in the program, and advise ELMAC if the landowner is a willing participant.

(4)

Designation. County staff will revise the eligible sites to include only those lands for which willing participants exist, thereby comprising the priority list. Owner participation may be withdrawn or initiated at any time until a legal agreement for protection has been fully executed.

(5)

Work plan. The ELMAC committee and county staff will develop a work plan for each site on the priority list. The work plan will include protection methods, strategy to achieve protection, funding sources and methods, land management strategies and costs, and public access.

(6)

Approval. The work plan adopted by ELMAC will be presented by county staff to the board. The board may either accept, reject, or modify the work plans.

(7)

Implementation. Upon board approval, county staff will implement the work plans.

(8)

Contractual negotiation. Contractual negotiation for lands identified on the priority list will not begin until:

a.

A work plan has been completed and approved by the board.

b.

Required funds are identified.

(9)

Evaluation. The ELMAC committee and county staff will review and update the priority list at least once annually. Owner willingness and conformance with the criteria will be the basis for changes to the list. Any changes to the list must be forwarded from the ELMAC committee to the board for consideration, except for deletions at the landowner's request, which will be deleted immediately by county staff.

(Ord. No. 03-62, § 7, 10-7-03)