(a) Council is committed to a program for the acquisition of land, or incorporeal rights or interests in land, including conservation easements as prescribed in Ohio R.C. 5301.67 through 5301.70, in order to accomplish the public purpose and objectives set forth in Section 1113.03. That acquisition may take several forms, including, but not limited to, the purchase of land to be held by the Village in fee, or the purchase of land for the purpose of applying restrictive covenants or conservation easements to such land and then reselling such land, or the purchase of conservation easements as defined in Ohio R.C. 5301.67, or the acceptance of a donation of such lands or conservation easements, all in such manner as Council may at such time in each case determine.
(b) Council, either acting on its own volition, or upon the advice and recommendation of the Open Space Commission, or upon the advice and recommendation of any committee appointed by it, may make such acquisitions as it deems desirable in order to accomplish the aforesaid objectives. In deciding whether or not to enter into such acquisition the following factors shall be taken into account:
(1) Whether the property is located in the Zones mentioned in Section 1113.02(d) and as identified on the Master Plan, or, if such property is not within such Zones, whether such property is determined to have unique flora, fauna, ecological or scenic values which should be preserved;
(2) Whether the acquisition of the property will achieve some or all of the objectives set forth in Section 1113.03 and, if so, which of those objectives will be met by such acquisition;
(3) Whether the acquisition will be by purchase, and, if so, the estimated cost of such purchase, and if such purchase is of land which would be resold after having appropriate restrictive covenants or conservation easements applied thereto, the estimated price at which such land could be resold;
(4) Whether the property is being marketed or is planned to be marketed by the owner thereof with a view to increasing development on the property and thereby significantly altering the natural state of the property in a manner contrary to the Master Plan and the objectives stated in Section 1113.03;
(5) Whether efforts have been made to persuade the owner to donate the property or conservation easements thereon to the Chagrin River Land Conservancy, or a nonprofit organization whose purpose is the conservation and retention of property in the Village in its natural, scenic, open or wooded condition; and
(6) Such other factors as Council may deem to be relevant and appropriate to consider at such time for each particular acquisition.
(c) Each such acquisition shall be held in the name of the Village and administered so as to achieve the purposes of this chapter by the Open Space Commission, any committee, officer or department appointed by Council, or, if appropriate agreements are entered into between the Village and such organizations, by the Chagrin River Land Conservancy or a nonprofit organization whose purpose is the conservation and retention of property in the Village in its natural, scenic, open or wooded condition. Council shall determine the appropriate body to administer each acquisition as it is made and shall so indicate in legislation determining to proceed with such acquisition, provided, however, that Council may at any time redesignate the appropriate body to administer such acquisition so as to achieve the purposes of this chapter.
(Ord. 1989-107. Passed 4-11-89.)