Placer Land Plan Passes: Negotiations Will Develop Rules for 60,000-Acre Preserve
By Art Campos, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Jan. 24–Placer County supervisors are moving forward with a 50-year plan to conserve about 60,000 acres in the western portion of the county.
Following a five-hour meeting Tuesday that included 41 speakers and more than 100 spectators, the board voted 5-0 to have its planning staff combine elements of two maps that will define which areas to preserve and which to make available for possible development.
Supervisor Robert Weygandt called the Placer County Conservation Plan, or PCCP, “an incredibly rich opportunity” to balance open space with growth.
“If we let it slip away, it would be the epitome of irresponsibility,” he told fellow supervisors.
The preserved land, which would include such resources as wetlands, vernal pools, streams, grasslands, wildlife habitat and agriculture, will generally follow a contiguous pattern at the county’s western borders.
Potential development land west of Roseville, west of Auburn and around Lincoln’s city limits will amount to about 54,000 acres, Placer officials say.
A major aspect of the PCCP is that developers would be able to purchase land within the preservation area as mitigation for projects that encroach on environmentally sensitive areas, such as vernal pools, oak woodlands and wildlife habitat.
The county believes that mitigation purchases by developers will cost about $1.1 billion during the 50-year plan. After the land is purchased, a funding plan would be needed for the $7 million to $8 million annual maintenance costs.
Most of the people who spoke to the board favored a conservation plan, but about a dozen were against it. Most are farmers and landowners in the areas proposed for conservation.
“I feel my land rights are being taken away,” said Ron Comstock of Auburn. “If I’m in the (conservation area), my land value will go down, not up.”
Some landowners complained that they don’t have vernal pools or blue oaks on their properties — factors they felt would drive down the value of their land in any mitigation deals with developers.
Meadow Vista resident Gordon Ainsleigh disagreed.
“Open space has natural beauty and great value,” he said. “There’s big dollar value in Placer County.”
Supervisor Kirk Uhler made the motion to combine elements of Maps 4 and 14 so that future growth in the city of Lincoln and proposed communities near Roseville can be accommodated.
Uhler and Weygandt will be the county representatives — along with two Lincoln city councilmen — on an ad hoc committee that will negotiate with state and federal agencies and other jurisdictions on developing standards for the plan.
Negotiations with the regulatory agencies are expected to take six months to a year, according to county staff.
Officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which issue environmental permits to developers, encouraged the board to pursue the PCCP.
“We see advantages to the PCCP,” said Lt. Col. Jim Porter of the U.S. Army Corps. “It expedites the time for regulatory decisions and will streamline the permitting process.”
Ken Sanchez of the Fish and Wildlife Service said the county’s current “piecemeal” approach to approving development projects is no longer adequate.
He called the plan “precedent-setting” and said a map identifying conservation areas would be welcomed by his agency.
“We’d be able to focus quickly on vernal pools on your maps,” Sanchez said. “Having a map at our first negotiation would save us a lot of time.”
Members of other agencies and about 10 citizens urged adoption of a PCCP.
John Rabe of Newcastle said he feared that without a conservation plan Placer County could become a Los Angeles or San Jose.
“What happened to the farmers there?” he asked the board. “The PCCP would protect agriculture.”
He made the audience laugh with a rhetorical question.
“What is open space in Los Angeles?” he asked. “I think it’s an available parking spot at Wal-Mart.”
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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