(a)
Individual applications for grants shall be submitted to the department for approval as to conformity with the requirements of this chapter. The application shall be accompanied by certification from the planning agency of the applicant that the project for which the grant is applied is consistent with the park and recreation element of the applicable city or county’s general plan or the district’s park and recreation plan and will satisfy a high priority need. In order to utilize available grant funds as effectively as possible, overlapping or adjoining jurisdictions are encouraged to combine projects and submit a joint application.
(b)
The minimum amount that the applicant may request for any individual project is twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).
(c)
Every application shall comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)).
(d)
Grants that are wholly or partially for the acquisition of real property shall be made on the basis of 75 percent state funds and 25 percent local matching funds or property donated to be part of the project. The grant recipient shall certify to the department that there is available, or will become available prior to the commencement of any work on the project, matching funds or property in the required amount from a nonstate source. Certification of the source and amount or value shall be set forth in the application.
(e)
The director shall annually forward a statement of the total amount to be appropriated in each fiscal year for projects approved for grants to the Director of Finance for inclusion in the Budget Bill. The amount of grant funds to be allocated to each eligible jurisdiction shall be published in the Governor’s Budget for the fiscal year in which the appropriation for those grants is to be made and, as soon as possible thereafter, a list of projects for which grants have been approved shall be made available by the department.
(f)
Grant funds shall be encumbered by the recipient within three years of the date the appropriation became effective, regardless of the date when the project was approved by the department pursuant to this section.