EXPLANATION
BACKGROUND:
The City of Columbus, Ohio, an Ohio municipal corporation (“City”), owns and manages the Scioto River and adjacent riverbank parkland in the vicinity of the City’s North Bank Park south to the intersection of the Scioto River and Interstate-70 (collectively, “Downtown-River-Corridor”). The City contracted with the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation (“CDDC”), for the implementation of the City’s Scioto River Greenway Dam Removal Project (“Scioto-Greenway-Project”).
The Board of Park Commissioners of the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District, a park district organized under Ohio Revised Code, Chapter 1545 (“Metro-Parks”), and the Board of Commissioners, Franklin County, Ohio, a body politic and corporate organized and existing pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 301 ("Commissioners"), each desire to contribute support for the Scioto-Greenway-Project by providing additional funding. Specifically, Metro-Parks agreed to provide grant funding in the amount of One Million and 00/100 U.S. Dollars ($1,000,000.00) to CDDC by January 30th, 2016 February 28th, 2016, and the Commissioners agreed to provide grant funding in the amount of Two Million and 00/100 U.S. Dollars ($2,000,000.00) by March 31st, 2015. In exchange, Metro-Parks and the Commissioners request a non-exclusive, perpetual, conservation easement over and burdening portions of the Downtown-River-Corridor associated with the Scioto-Greenway-Project (“Conservation-Easement”).
The City’s Departments of Recreation and Parks and Finance and Management reviewed and determined that it is in the City’s best interest to grant the Conservation-Easement, at no cost, to Metro-Parks and the Commissioners, because Metro-Parks and the Commissioners will each provide additional monetary funding to CDDC for the Scioto-Greenway-Project. Additionally, the Conservation-Easement to Metro-Parks and the Commissioners helps to protect, restore,...
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