Authorize minor revisions to a previously approved letter agreement with the General Services Administration, adopt a resolution appropriating $375,500 for the first of two equal installment payments to acquire unrestricted title to 25.8 acres of land within Grasslands Regional Park that is dedicated to a solar energy project, and authorize the Director of General Services to sign all transactional documents. (No general fund impact) (Pogledich)

The purpose of this item is to adopt a resolution (Attachment A) appropriating funding from the Accumulated Capital Outlay fund ($375,500) for the first installment of the purchase price for 25.853 acres of real property that includes the solar project at Grasslands Regional Park. The Board approved a letter agreement with the United States General Services Administration (GSA) for the acquisition on July 22, 2025, and the appropriation is consistent with that letter agreement and the proposed release of federal deed restrictions that it authorizes. Because the GSA requested minor edits to the letter agreement after Board approval, this item also seeks Board approval of those edits. The revisions are shown in Attachment B (comparison version), and a clean version of the revised agreement is included as Attachment C.

As shown in Attachment B, the changes to the letter agreement include very minor changes to the deadlines for the two installment payments of $375,500 each, including by changing the second installment to July 15, 2026 (rather than August 30, 2026). The changes also contemplate placing the Release of Restrictions document into escrow before, rather than after, the County pays the second installment. Finally, certain terms relating to the order of events for the close of escrow are deleted from the final version of the letter agreement and will be set forth instead in the escrow instructions. 

This Office recommends approval of the proposed appropriation and the revised letter agreement. The Department of Financial Services and the County Administrator were consulted on the resolution and the use of ACO funds. Additional detail on the appropriation appears in the fiscal impact section of this staff report.

General Services, National Park Service.