§ 54-280. Criteria for evaluating lands for acquisition and management.

(a)

The evaluation of each acquisition proposal shall be based on satisfying at least two of the initial screening criteria below. Qualified sites shall then be further prioritized by secondary evaluative criteria listed below under Subsection (b). The initial screening criteria are:

(1)

Land with the most rare, unique and endangered habitats found in Collier County, order of preference: tropical hardwood hammocks, xeric oak scrub, coastal strand, native beach, xeric pine, riverine oak, high marsh (saline), tidal freshwater marsh, other native habitats.

(2)

Lands offering the best human social values, including equitable geographic distribution, appropriate access for natural resource-based recreation, and enhancement of the aesthetic setting of Collier County.

(3)

Land which protects the most water resource values, including aquifer recharge, water quality, wetland dependant species habitat, and flood control.

(4)

Land containing the most biological value, including biodiversity, listed species habitat, connectivity, restoration potential, and ecological quality.

(5)

Land which enhances and/or protects the environmental value of current conservation lands through function as a buffer, ecological link, or habitat corridor.

(6)

Any qualified land which meets at least two of the above criteria and has matching funds available and/or which Conservation Collier funds availability would leverage a significantly higher funding rank in another acquisition program.

(b)

Those proposed acquisition proposals which are initially qualified under the screening criteria shall be evaluated and ranked by the staff and Land Acquisition Advisory Committee using Secondary Ranking Criteria based on site visit information which confirms or refutes the initial screening criteria evaluation, and based on comparative size (to prefer larger of similar parcels), vulnerability to destruction (to prefer most threatened of qualified parcels), overall resource ecological quality (to prefer highest quality of similar parcels) and the estimated feasibility and costs of management (to prefer the most manageable parcels).

(c)

The Board of County Commissioners hereby shall approve and make a part hereof the attached initial list of Target Protection Areas within which are located specific sites which generally satisfy the initial screening criteria and meet the goals of Conservation Collier. Inclusion on this list is not a guarantee of any specific purchase. All specific proposals will be evaluated and ranked by staff and the Land Acquisition Advisory Committee for a recommendation of approval to the Board of County Commissioners.

In accordance with the goals, policies and procedures of this Conservation Collier Implementation Ordinance, the following list is the Target Protection Areas adopted for consideration by the Land Acquisition Advisory Committee, County Staff and the Board of County Commissioners.

(1)

All designated Urban lands with predominantly native vegetative cover.

(2)

All Collier County Natural Resource Protection Areas and Sending Lands, as shown on the Future Land Use Map of the Collier County Growth Management Plan.

(3)

All undeveloped lands with predominately native vegetative cover in the Northern Golden Gate Estates, as shown on the Future Land Use Map of the Collier County Growth Management Plan.

(4)

The Flow-way and Habitat Stewardship Areas as depicted on the Future Land Use Map of the Collier County Growth Management Plan.

(d)

The County Manager shall prepare and periodically update for presentation to the Board of County Commissioners, a Conservation Collier Program Manual, developed by staff and the Land Acquisition Advisory Committee, which, upon approval by the Board of County Commissioners, shall be used as a guide for implementing the provisions of this ordinance, and shall also include the initial and secondary criteria listed herein above for evaluating Conservation Collier Acquisition Proposals. Commencement of the acquisition and management program shall be immediate upon approval by the Board of County Commissioners, passage of the referendum and appointment of the Land Acquisition Advisory Committee, even if the manual has not been completed.

(Ord. No. 02-63, § 10; Ord. No. 07-65, § 10; Ord. No. 2019-03, § 10)