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BACKGROUND In 1999 the City of Pleasanton entered into a settlement agreement with the County of Alameda, the City of Livermore, the Sierra Club, Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA), Altamont Landowners Against Rural Mismanagement (ALARM), and Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC), Inc. The settlement resulted from litigation over the expansion of the Altamont Landfill. As part of the settlement, the parties agreed that the County would impose a fee totaling $1.25 per ton at the Altamont Landfill and Resource Recovery Facility. The jurisdictions currently paying this fee are Oakland, San Francisco, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley, Oro Loma, Albany, Hayward, and Dublin. The fee results in a continuous, yet variable revenue stream. The funds are collected in three accounts, as follows: $0.25 per ton to the Education Account $0.25 per ton to the City of Livermore for host community impacts $0.75 per ton to the Open Space Account The use of the Open Space fund is distributed on an 80/20 percent split with eighty percent (80 of the fees designated for purchases in the eastern area, and twenty percent (20 of the fees designated for purchases in the western area (see Attachment 4 for a map depicting these areas). The City of Pleasanton and Alameda County must authorize expenditures in the western area. The settlement also required the creation of an advisory committee. The Altamont Landfill and Resource Recovery Facility Open Space Advisory Committee "advisory committee was created to oversee the collection and distribution of the funds generated by the settlement agreement. The advisory committee established a grant application process that allows it to review proposals based on their merit and public benefit. In April 2009, the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) submitted an application to the County for a $1,000,000 grant for part of the total $5,197,500 cost of acquiring the 1,156 acre Tyler Ranch Property. On June 19, 2009, the committee considered this application. In accordance with the settlement agreement, the organizations affected by the proposed project (the City of Pleasanton and Alameda County) must determine that the recommendation for expenditure is consistent with the settlement agreement in order to release the appropriate funds to the grantee. Subsection 7.4.2. of the settlement agreement states that first priority for acquisition of property should be land having significant value for preservation of native biological diversity and /or wildlife habitat, and second priority should be for acquisition of property having significant value for visual character and /or non motorized recreation. DISCUSSION The EBRPD proposes to acquire the 1,156 -acre Tyler Ranch property located adjacent to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park (see the complete application in Attachment 2). The property straddles Sunol Ridge and Sinbad Canyon and contains rolling grasslands, Page 2 of 4