(a) The department shall allocate two-thirds of any funds appropriated for the purposes of this chapter to provide grants to urbanized or heavily urbanized local agencies or community-based organizations within these jurisdictions for the acquisition and development of properties for active recreational purposes, as defined. Eligible projects shall meet all of the following criteria:

1. (1) The amount of the grant applied for, together with any matching contribution, shall meet all of the cost of acquiring and developing the project, and when construction of the project is completed, the new urban park or facility shall have a management plan and demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department that the applicant agencies have sufficient means to ensure that the park or facility shall remain open and accessible to the public.
2. (2) The application includes a commitment for a matching contribution. The matching contributions may be in the form of money, including funds from other state or local assistance programs, gifts of real property, equipment, and consumable supplies, volunteer services, free or reduced-cost use of land, facilities, or equipment, and bequests and income from wills, estates, and trusts. The department may establish findings for hardships to waive the matching requirement when an applicant cannot meet the requirement.
3. (3) To the extent practicable, the project is a joint-use project between two or more agencies that share responsibility for ownership, development, or maintenance, or both, of the project.

(i) Every applicant for a grant pursuant to this section and the entity that will operate and maintain the property, if that entity is different than the applicant, shall agree to comply with all of the following requirements:

1. (1) To operate and maintain the property developed pursuant to this chapter so that it is usable by residents of the affected area. With the approval of the department, the grant recipient, or its successor in interest in the property, may transfer its property interest and the responsibility to operate and maintain the property, in accordance with the terms of the grant and any applicable law, to a public agency or nonprofit organization that is able to operate and maintain the property in perpetuity. Any attempt to make a transfer in violation of this subdivision is void.
2. (2) To use the property only for the purposes for which the grant was made and to make no other use or sale or other disposition of the property, except as authorized by statute. If the use of the property is changed to a use that is not permitted by the terms of the grant, or if the property is sold or otherwise disposed of, the grant recipient shall reimburse the department an amount equal to the amount of the grant, the fair market value of the land and any improvements constructed with the grant, or the proceeds from the sale or other disposition, whichever amount is greater. If the property that is sold or otherwise disposed of is less than the entire interest in the property funded with the grant, the grant recipient shall reimburse the department an amount equal to either the proceeds from the sale or other disposition of the interest or the fair market value of the interest sold or otherwise disposed of, whichever amount is greater.
3. (3) In lieu of seeking reimbursement pursuant to paragraph (2), the department may impose restrictions on the use of public park property identical to the requirements for the preservation of public parks set forth in the Public Park Preservation Act of 1971 (Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 5400)) with respect to any property used, sold, or otherwise disposed of in a manner not permitted by the terms of the grant.