Open Spaces staff recommended that the Board set the total available funding for the 2026 open-space grant cycle at $5.5 million, keeping the same caps used since 2023. "Our recommendation for 2026 ... is to keep the overall funding in the caps so that we've been doing those amounts since 2023," the presenter said.

Why it matters: Staff said the recommendation balances a projected fund balance, grantee demand and observed trends in application sizes. The proposed allocation is $4,000,000 for standard grants (maximum award up to $600,000 each) plus two smaller pools of $750,000 each for implementation and small grants (maximum award up to $150,000 each). Staff and ASTAB presented data showing strong leverage of county funds; the presenter highlighted that the match committed column for 2025 totaled about $12.7 million in partner match commitments.

Commissioners asked about application volume trends and whether fewer standard-sized proposals reflected lower demand or timing differences among jurisdictions. Staff said variation in requests can reflect jurisdictional cycles, inflationary impacts since COVID, and grantees timing their projects. Commissioners gave informal approval during the session.