Open Space panel’s staff report heads to supervisors early in year

More than 3,300 acres of land were obtained, with the price tag exceeding $18 million, according to a report on 2012 Carson City Open Space Advisory Committee activities. The 3,339 acres were obtained either by purchases, transfers or donations, said the staff-written report, with a Question 18 cost of more than $10 million and additional grants for more than $8.1 million.Question 18, the Quality of Life tax initiative approved by voters 16 years ago, increased sales tax for Parks and Recreation Department improvements and expansions, purchase of open space and maintenance of facilities involved. “We have managed to leverage 55 percent of our monies,” the 2012 report informs the city’s Board of Supervisors, which will review a presentation on the document early next year.Plans at Monday night’s meeting, in which the report was reviewed briefly and sent along unanimously by advisory committee members, would put the matter before supervisors in January or early February.The report also said the acquisition account is almost depleted, that future purchases will be “minimal at best,” and in accordance with a supervisors’ directive will require, “by necessity, very creative thinking.”The report opened with a statement on an outgrowth of the directive mentioned.“In preparation for the paradigm change from emphasis on acquisition to the intensive management of lands acquired, we held a full-day public workshop,” it said. “We developed a vision and mission statement and spent time discussing the concept of passive recreation, which is one of the program’s fundamental requirements.“We also had a candid assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Open Space program.”The body of the five-page report and 18 pages in exhibits deal at length with land management, activities with volunteers, preservation of lands and the various financial considerations.