Clay County staff and committee members reviewed an inventory of county-owned land on Wednesday and described plans to issue a request for proposals to establish long-term management for several larger properties.

The review, presented by Caleb Reisinger, the county’s real estate manager, showed “in total, the county is over 400 parcels,” with most small rights-of-way but several larger parcels suited to conservation or recreation, Reisinger said. He identified major holdings including a roughly 640-acre Veterans Park, a 259-acre Moccasin Slough parcel, a 251-acre regional sports complex, a 158-acre Outdoor Adventure Park and a roughly 487-acre Black Creek Park and Trail system.

The inventory matters because the county’s recently approved bond program directs officials to acquire and manage lands that protect water quality, conserve wildlife habitat and provide outdoor recreation. Committee members and staff said the map establishes what the county already owns and where management attention or new partnerships might be focused.

Reisinger said the county will seek outside partners for management work. “We’re working on getting a land conservation RFP out there where we would have a management program in place,” he said. He noted the RFP could include specialized elements such as a gopher tortoise management area or wetland mitigation areas.

County staff described how the holdings came into public ownership in different ways: some were purchased with county funds, some were acquired with state grant support and others were donated or conveyed with use stipulations. A staff member who oversees local parks said two properties — Camp Chowanwa Park and Moccasin Slough — were purchased with Florida Forever funds and have management plans. “Those were both purchased with the Florida Forever funds,” the staff member said, and added the county has joined the North Florida Land Trust and the St. Johns River Water Management District on at least one purchase.

Staff also noted a mix of ownership arrangements across parcels: some lands are owned outright by the county, others are subject to memoranda of understanding with land trusts or state districts, and some parcels include development or use restrictions tied to the original conveyance. At least one parcel, Veterans Park, carries Department of Defense restrictions that limit active development because of access constraints, staff said.

Committee members asked whether properties should be ruled out of consideration because the county lacks capacity to develop them into highly manicured parks. Reisinger answered that nothing was being removed from consideration and that budget constraints would determine what could be funded in any given year: “I wouldn’t say take anything off the table,” he said.

Clarifying details provided during the presentation list acreage and general use for the largest parcels: Veterans Park (about 640 acres), Moccasin Slough (about 259 acres), Outdoor Adventure Park (about 158 acres), regional sports complex (about 251 acres), Black Creek Park and Trail (about 487 acres), Sleepy Hollow parcels (about 83 acres combined), Ronnie Van Sant Park (about 90 acres), Rosemary Hill Landfill (about 226 acres), Twin Lakes Park and an adjacent borrow pit (about 113 acres combined) and Boyd Park (about 25 acres).

Staff said an interactive map and a set of GIS layers — including soils, flood zones, historical resources and habitat indicators — will be made available to committee members and the public. They also said that management plans will be developed or reviewed as part of the forthcoming procurement process, and that the RFP and consultant work will be the mechanism to ramp up active management where needed.

Committee members and staff identified next steps: staff will finalize the RFP and expand outreach, create the interactive map with data layers, and bring sample parcels to the committee for a mock acquisition and prioritization exercise at an upcoming meeting. That exercise will include staff reports and site visits for properties that remain in the nomination pool.