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Mr. Goodfellow died and left his 300 acre farm to the city. Then the U.S. Army closed its base on the edge of town, giving 100 acres to the people. Finally there was 150 acres of mining land that was given back to the city which no resections on its use.
That was 550 acres of land that the city could use in any way it decided. The problem was that the city isn’t an “it”. A city contains many people who don’t always agree. The people in River City did not agree on how to use the 550 acres.

Essentially, there were two sides to the controversy, One side wanted as much of the land as possible for development; that is, for stores, businesses, and housing. The other side wanted to use as much of the land as possible for recreation. That is, they wanted park land, hiking trails, a wildlife preserve, and picnic areas.

The chamber of Commerce won an initial victory by getting the city counsel to agree that at least 300 acres would go for development. The chamber of Commerce also thought that the more attractive property of the army base and mining land should go to development, while any recreation land could come from Mr. Goodfellow’s property. But the Sierra Club felt that some of the more attractive land should go for recreation.

The two groups finally came up with a two-part compromise.

o At most 200 acres of the army base and mining land could go for recreation.

o The amount of army base land used for recreations plus the amount of land from Mr. Goodfellow used for development had to add up to exactly 100 acres.

The city manager made a chart below to show for each parcel, how much each type of land use would cost the city parcel, improvement costs per acre for recreation land, improvement costs per acre for development land:

Goodfellow’s $50 $500

Army Base $200 $2,000

Mining Land $100 $1,000

Everyone agreed that they wanted to keep the cost to River City at a minimum, while satisfying their needs. So the matter was turned over to the city manager. She was directed to decide how to slip the land use between development and recreation in a way that would minimize the cost to the city of the necessary improvements, at the same time making sure that at least 300 acres went for development and that the two-part compromise was followed. She turned the matter over to a consulting firm of city planners. Your group is to function as that consulting firm.

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