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. . . . . - Mr. Fitzgerald said, "Your hearing tonight is very limited. Under the eminent domain law you are restricted to the consideration of only four issues: firstly, whether public use and necessity requires the project; secondly, whether the project is planned and located in - the manner for the greatest public good and the least private injury; thirdly, whether public necessity requires this property; and fourthly, whether the offer made under Government Code Section 7267.2 has been made. As your eminent domain counsel, I can recommend to you that in my opinion, legally you can make an affirmative finding on all four of those issues. The hearing is very restrictive. The law does not allow testimony or statements made as to the valuation of the property that is being acquired. It is restricted to the four items I just pointed out to you." He said it would be appropriate at this time to have the "attorney for Peninsula Open Space Trust, the owners who own the underlying fee to the property under which the easement is sought to be acquired, and under which there is the existing City street, to speak." Norman Matteoni, POST attorney and member of the Board of Directors, 1740 Technology Drive, San Jose, referred to the letter he submitted before the meeting to the City Clerk, the Council, and Mr. Fitzgerald, which stated POST's position (on file in the City Clerk Department.) Mr. Matteoni referred to a poster exhibit and pointed out the proposed easement and surrounding properties. He said at the end of the proposed Bair Island Road extension is "a key point of access to Bair Island, as POST looks at it and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for whom POST is intending to transfer this land and its use by the public, and as a refuge for wildlife to be preserved in this area. That is the concern in terms of the design of the roadway as presented to you in its compatibility with POST's protection of the adjacent lands and providing public access." Mr. Matteoni referred to the - proposed improvements and said, "That is why we perceive a conflict, and I will suggest to you later a means of resolving that conflict if you can provide us time." Audrey Rust, Executive Director of POST, said, "POST is a nonprofit organization that deals in land conservation. We are not an advocacy organization. We do not work on regulatory or zoning issues, I don't typically ever come before City Councils or any government bodies, because typically we work in partnerships, and work behind the scenes to make things happen in a cohesive and collaborative fashion." Mrs. Rust described the two projects involving Redwood City: the acquisition of the Fleger Estate to the west, which is now part of the National Park Service, and now Bair Island to the east. She said the acquisition of Bair Island brings national prominence to the City due to the quality of the resources all citizens can enjoy. Mrs. Rust said, "We raise private money, we bring that to bear on acquiring private land, and we work with government agencies to bring them into the public fold. Both of these projects have some public access associated with them and both of them are of national significance." Mrs. Rust said POST announced acquisition of Bair Island a year ago, and it was purchased with the sole intention of turning it into a Natural Wildlife Refuge with public access. She said current access is at the end of Whipple Road. Mrs. Rust showed an overhead that illustrated the entire area and she emphasized POST's intention to find a way to help public access onto Inner Hair Island. ... The issues that we deal with have to do with the endangered species that are - intended to recover on this property, and the safety issues of getting there, parking and REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 APRIL 6,1998 MINUTES Page No. 375 PAGE 15