Presenter: Tim Hogsett

Commission Agenda Item No. 2
Action
Outdoor Grant Recreation Funding
May 24, 2007

I. Executive Summary: Outdoor Recreation Grants are made available from the Texas Recreation and Parks Account and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to Texas local governments for the acquisition and/or development of outdoor recreation sites. At the January 2007 Commission Meeting, 13 projects were approved for funding out of the 32 eligible applications received for the July 31, 2006 funding deadline review cycle. Support for those 13 projects was approved in the amount of $4,534,992. The projects were recommended for funding based on their priority ranking scores applying the criteria of your approved priority scoring system. Staff recently discovered that an application from the City of Creedmoor did not receive deserved priority ranking points for their proposed dedication of city owned property for park purposes. The error denied Creedmoor 15 priority points that would have resulted in their project being eligible for funding in January. Staff is proposing to correct this error by recommending funding for the Creedmoor application at this time.

II. Discussion: The Texas Recreation and Parks Account Program (TRPA) was authorized in 1993 to assist local political subdivisions of the state in providing basic public recreation facilities. TRPA revenue is generated from a portion of the state sales tax on sporting goods.

Funding for grants is recommended on the basis of site visits and analyses, scoring of applications with the Commission adopted priority scoring system and ranking of projects in descending order of priority. Staff recently discovered that an application from the City of Creedmoor submitted for your consideration at the January Commission meeting did not receive deserved priority-ranking points for their proposed dedication of city owned property for park purposes. The error denied Creedmoor 15 priority points that would have resulted in their project being eligible for funding in January. Staff is proposing to correct this error by recommending funding for the Creedmoor application at this time. Sufficient funds are available from the Texas Recreation and Parks Account to enable support for this project.

III. Recommendation: Staff recommends the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission adopt the following motion:

"Funding for Creedmoor Community Park in the amount of $400,000 is approved."