The primary benefit of the property inventory discussion is planning. The intent is to ensure City staff fully understands the intended use of City of Flagstaff owned parcels so it can best plan City operations and manage the expectations of the public. The secondary benefit of this exercise is to ensure the Regional Plan, when and if it is adopted, does not unintentionally preclude a desired City Council use.
 
Staff's initial step was to indentify parcels that were worthy of Council consideration. This was accomplished through an exclusion based process in which staff used the City’s Geographic Information System (GIS) layer for City owned property and began to exclude parcels based on specific criteria such as, but not limited to:
 

• legally restricted uses
• complete encumbrance for floodplain
• size below 1 acre
• existing long term commitment

 
In general, to avoid exclusion based on opinion, staff did not remove parcels from consideration unless there was a legally binding reason to do so.
 
After the initial exclusion process, the remaining parcels were researched either through title reports or direct staff document analysis. The intention of the research was to determine, to the best extent possible, why, when and how the parcel was acquired. This research led to additional exclusions and, after the majority of the research was completed, seventeen parcels remained. These parcels were over an acre in size and appeared to have some flexibility in use (although virtually every parcel has some easement or restriction on it that impacts potential use).
 
City staff from across the organization met to develop recommendations for use of the seventeen parcels. One philosophy that was present through discussions was that parcels should not necessarily be limited to one use or another, but where appropriate a shared use could be a viable option.
 
Presentations of the parcels and of the staff recommendations have been provided to a number of Commissions / Community Groups. Some of the groups chose to take a position on specific parcels or staff’s recommendations as a whole. Those are mentioned below and included in an attached document. The groups that reviewed and discussed the parcels and on City staff’s recommendations are:
 

• Flagstaff Housing Authority Board (Supportive of Staff recommendations for the Thorpe Parcel and the O'Leary/Lonetree Parcel and interested in possible inclusion of mixed use on the Phoenix Parcel if it is developed.)
• Open Spaces Commission (Took action and formal positions on each parcel - see attached)
• Parks and Recreation Commission (Did not take formal action but provided generally positive verbal feedback)
• Economic Attraction Committee of ECoNa (Did not take formal action and had quite varied verbal feedback - no consensus)
• Pedestrian Advisory Commission (Did not take formal action but verbally supported all 17 of the recommendations)
• Bicycle Advisory Commission (Took formal action supporting 16 of the recommendations. Recommended the San Francisco Parcel be preserved as open space to enhance the trail experiences in the area)
• Planning and Zoning Commission (Formal action recommending the N San Francisco Parcel have no action taken and be left as is, and the parcel along the Sawmill complex be preserved as Open Space). Agreement with the remainder of Staff's recommendations.

 
Also attached is the presentation prepared for the October 28 City Council meeting and maps showing City owned land designated for future Affordable Housing, future Economic Vitality, and Open Space. There are two maps illustrating Open Space. One shows those City owned parcels designated for Affordable Housing, for Economic Vitality and formally designated for Open Space. The second map represents Open Space with a broad definition including: open space, passive and active parks, rural drainage and trails.