OAR 736-019-0070: Criteria for Exchange

(1) In considering an acquisition that includes a sale or exchange of real property owned by the Department, the Department will: (a) Apply all elements of the “Criteria for Acquisition” provided in OAR 736-019-0060, and (b) Apply the provisions of sections (2) or (3) of this rule. (2) For exchanges that it initiates, the Department will: (a) Identify for the Commission the reasoning and justification for an exchange based on the Department’s mission, strategies, objectives, and work plan, and (b) Undertake exchanges only if there is a significant benefit to the Department. Examples of a significant benefit to the Department include, but are not limited to: (A) Adding properties that adjoin properties owned by the Department, (B) Improving the Department’s access to one or more properties owned or operated by the Department, (C) Resolving in-holdings, (D) Property line adjustments that facilitate operations or management, and (E) Acquiring identified property needs. (3) For exchanges that a party other than the Department initiates, the Department will: (a) Determine whether the exchange aligns with the Department’s mission, strategies, objectives, and work plan, (b) Inquire whether the local county and local communities support the exchange, (c) Determine whether the exchange will accommodate public use and access, and be in the best interest of the Department, (d) Submit an Agency Surplus Real Property Notification to the Department of Administrative Services and request the notification of adjacent cities, appropriate counties and all state agencies for the sale, transfer, or exchange of any real property right from Department ownership. (e) Require the proponent provide the Department a written environmental review for all lands the Department is to receive in the exchange. The Department may determine that an environmental report provides information that further requires that the proponent to provide additional environmental assessment, and (f) Require that all proposals made to the Department be in writing with adequate detail for the Department to evaluate the transaction for: (A) Natural resource impacts and protection, (B) Cultural resource impacts and protection, and (C) Overwhelming public benefit to the parks system. (4) To approve an exchange that a party other than the Department initiates, the Commission shall determine that the proposed exchange provides an overwhelming public benefit to the Oregon State Park system, its visitors, and the citizens of Oregon. The Commission has sole discretion to determine whether a proposal provides an overwhelming public benefit to the Oregon State Park system, its visitors, and citizens, which is resounding, clear and obvious. An overwhelming public benefit to the Oregon State Park system, may include, but is not limited to, an exchange in which the Department receives: (a) One or more properties in areas of interest listed pursuant to OAR 736-019-0060(1)(a), (b) An endowment for long-term stewardship that provides significant and meaningful stewardship resources to the Department, or (c) Other contributions to the Oregon State Park system, beyond the property to be received, which the Commission determines when combined with the property to be received by the Department, and when weighed against the property to be transferred out of the Oregon State Park system, along with all of the Departments transaction costs, will result in an overwhelming public benefit to the Oregon State Park system.