Truckee Donner Land Trust seeks 26-acre riverfront property
hjones@sierrasun.com
The Truckee Donner Land Trust has set its sights on preserving open space near downtown Truckee with the proposed acquisition of a 26-acre riverfront property.
“It’s all about riverfront access and open space in the downtown and how unique that might be,” said Ted Owens of the Truckee Donner Land Trust.
The property, formerly known as the Bright Property, sits on the south bank of the Truckee River west of South River Street. The acquisition will help protect the watershed from development and allow more public access to the land, Owens said. The trust also believes that it will help attract people to downtown businesses.
“One of the things that is very important to us is conservation at the town’s core,” said Owens. “It offers people an opportunity to access habitat and those small pockets of that habitat that we don’t always look at because we’re moving too fast. This gives us an opportunity to slow down a little bit.”
To help fund the purchase, the Town of Truckee has agreed to provide $500,000 to the Land Trust, money that was designated in the 2016 General Fund for acquisition of open space.
“Normally when we spend this type of money we’re buying a bunch of concrete and asphalt,” said Council member Anna Klovstad. “I’m pretty excited to help buy dirt this time. This is going to be a key piece of property for our community.”
PRIVATE, PUBLIC MONEY
With the acquisition the town will have more options when it comes to designing Phase 4 of the Truckee River Legacy Trail which will run through the property. Additionally, the Land Trust has committed to raising three quarters of the cost for a pedestrian bridge over the Truckee River at the end of South River Street, which is included in Phase 4.
The entire project will cost $10 million, according to Owens, $6 million of which will go toward the acquisition. The other $4 million will go toward the bridge.
Currently the trust has $2 million secured in funding, according to Perry Norris, executive director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust. So far, the Land Trust has received $1 million from California Department of Resources and recently submitted a $1 million proposal for Prop 68 funding.
“On numerous projects we’ve pursued we’ve been able to marry private fundraising with public dollars and this will be no exception,” said Norris. Of the $10 million, the Land Trust anticipates $4 million to come from within the community and Land Trust supporters.
If they fail to come up with the money they will be breaching their contract and forced to forfeit $1 million in deposits.
“We have a very large incentive to get this done,” Norris said.
Hannah Jones is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. She can be reached at 530-550-2652 or hjones@sierrasun.com.
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