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Union County poised to sign Mount Emily land purchase
(The Observer (La Grande, Ore.) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 28--Union County continues to iron out details of its pending purchase of land for the proposed Mount Emily Recreation Area, or MERA, from Forest Capital Partners.
The board of commissioners last week approved several actions that advance the $4.65-million deal, in which the county will buy 3,700 acres on La Grande's signature peak and one-third of the property's timber value.
The board of commissioners last week approved several actions that advance the $4.65-million deal, in which the county will buy 3,700 acres on La Grande's signature peak and one-third of the property's timber value.
The property was officially designated a public park and recreation area, a move that Planning Director Hanley Jenkins said allows the county to apply for maintenance funding from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
That agency, through its ATV Program, is providing a $4.5-million grant for the MERA purchase. The remainder is accounted for by $250,000 from the Blue Mountain Habitat Restoration Council, funded by Union Pacific Railroad mitigation dollars.
These allocations were established formally in a MERA fund, created by a resolution after a supplemental budget hearing on Wednesday.
Both entities are applying conditions to their support. OPRD calls for a recreational easement on MERA's upper portion, with access off Igo Lane. The Blue Mountain dollars come with requirements for the protection of big game winter range from the Mount Emily rim down the east face and other management criteria, such as allowing hunting and limited snowmobile use on the property and securing a quarter-mile buffer around a peregrine falcon nesting site.
These qualifications, Jenkins said, have been accounted for throughout the consideration process.
He said this morning that the county was preparing to sign the final purchase agreement this week.
On Wednesday, the commissioners also officially appropriated $1 million in Federal Aviation Administration grant funds to improvements at the La Grande/Union County Airport.
In addition, the board gave authorization for Administrative Officer Shelley Burgess to apply for grant funding from the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department for the construction of the new dispatch/cache building at the airport.
In other business, the board approved a $30,000 bid for a used 1998 Kenworth T800 truck tractor to replace an older vehicle in the Department of Public Works fleet; and appointed McClure, Russ Smith and George Bertels to the 2008 Board of Property Tax Appeals.
The Union County Board of Commissioners typically meets twice a month at 1106 K Avenue.
To see more of The Observer or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Observer, La Grande, Ore.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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