RRC Archives

I would imagine that non-profit status would be essential for attracting serious donations. What is the time frame on obtaining that Gretchen? Also, if the boundary and therefore the acutal area is unknown, can the purchase price be negotiated fairly? or do you leave the final area to be determined and paid for at some later date? Has anyone thought of obtaining a boundary survey as a donation? Any registered Ky surveyors out there that also climb? A strategy some non-profits use is to create a restrictive covenant on the property ie. to allow access for climbing, and then grant the property owner some nice tax deduction. This would work if some wealthy person owned the property, needed a tax break and was interested also in securing access. May not be in the mix.

Doesn't apply to this purchase. So far we have not been able to find a survey crew willing to donate their time which would normally run $15,000. If anyone knows someone that will do an excellent job, PALEEASE helps us our with that! Also the Murray's are very pro-climber and they want to work with us in every way possible. Negotiations have gone extremely well and they are willing to work with us.

So the point being whether we need to raise $200,000 or $500,000, we still need to raise the capital and climbers have to take responsibility and dig deep into their pockets! This is not a onetime donation, this will be ongoing. We are looking into the most aggresive way to handle the purchase, to raise the most money sooner not later. So the better the response, the smoother the deal!

has the option of breaking the land up into parcels so that individuals can buy chunks of land been discussed? I know at least 2 climbers who would be interested in this. If there is a way to set up a restrictive covenant to allow climbing and offer the land owners a tax break, even better!

also, when will non-profit status be in place for the RRGCC?

Yes, that is on the table for discussion and yes that it is in the works, not sure of exact time when done though.

As far as choosing a surveyor (&Johnny correct me if I'm wrong), it is best to go with someone local. First, a local surveyor will be more familiar with the area and will be more efficient in collecting the required info. Second, the farther away a surveyor is, the more you will have to pay in travel expenses.

Absolutely Cap'n! Local knowledge and relationships w/ landowners can be very helpful.

Gretchen wrote:Yes, that is on the table for discussion and yes that it is in the works, not sure of exact time when done though.

Thanks, teamie!

No problem sista!

Lynne wrote:has the option of breaking the land up into parcels so that individuals can buy chunks of land been discussed? I know at least 2 climbers who would be interested in this. If there is a way to set up a restrictive covenant to allow climbing and offer the land owners a tax break, even better!

There are a lot more than 2 people interested in this. It's a complicated process and has some 'political' implications (the non-profit RRGCC shouldn't appear to be just another real estate developer), but makes a good deal of sense as a way to pay for the preservation of the crags. I'm assuming in all of this that we're talking about 'camping' parcels, rather than land that could have full-time housing built on it. (That gets much, much more complicated and might not be appropriate for the purpose)

Out of the large number of Chicago clmbers who are very interested, you've got offers of assistance from an architect (me) and a civil engineer who works for a deveopment management company to assist with the design and engineering of parcels.

I understand that there are people who don't think that this is a good idea - I think that there are some 'non-fatal' issues, but I would really like to hear other people's issues and concerns.