Supes approve
policy on mitigation
of county-owned lands
By Joe
Naiman
The Alpine Sun
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 Jan. 13
to create a new Board of Supervisors policy regarding mitigation
of county-owned land managed by the county’s Department of Parks
and Recreation.
In addition to adopting the policy, which is expected
to streamline the planning and implementation of the mitigation
phase of projects as well as to provide the county with more
revenue for land acquisition, the supervisors also directed the
county’s Auditor and Controller to establish a separate
interest-bearing trust fund for land stewardship endowment
funds, authorized the county’s Chief Administrative Officer or
his designee to enter into a conservation agreement with the
California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to implement the new policy, and directed the
Chief Administrative Officer to return to the supervisors in one
year to provide a status report on the policy’s implementation.
“This is an outstanding piece of work,” said Supervisor
Dianne Jacob. “This is a new opportunity that will provide an
additional option for those seeking mitigation credits.”
The new policy resulted from a collaboration between
the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of
Planning and Land Use, the Department of Public Works, and the
Department of General Services. The proposed policy will create
procedures to be followed when a request is made to utilize
county-owned land managed by the Department of Parks and
Recreation as mitigation for impacts associated with private or
public development projects. Mitigation may include conservation
or restoration of land, and revenue obtained through the process
will be used to purchase additional preserve lands.
“It’s a win-win for the county and also for project
applicants,” said Trish Boaz, the chief of the Resource
Management Division of the county’s Department of Parks and
Recreation.
The program would be voluntary for developers. If the
developer chooses to participate in the program, the choice also
exists between an in-house determination of the value of the
land and habitat or an independent appraisal.
The Department of Parks and Recreation will maintain a
list and map of county land available to mitigate project
impacts. The list will only contain lands with biological
preservation or restoration value and which have not previously
been used for mitigation or counted towards Multiple Species
Conservation Program baseline levels. The list will also exclude
lands that are restricted in use by their funding source.
A county department or other public entity will be able
to contact the Department of Parks and Recreation directly to
determine if any county mitigation lands are available which
meet a project’s biological mitigation requirements. If a
private applicant makes a request to participate in the program,
the Department of Planning and Land Use will contact the
Department of Parks and Recreation to determine if suitable land
is available. DPLU will then determine whether that land is
adequate mitigation for the project’s biological impacts.
The in-house market analysis or the independent
appraiser will determine the value of the mitigation credits and
the amount to be paid to the Department of Parks and Recreation.
A deposit to reserve mitigation credits for a certain period of
time will be required. The Department of Parks and Recreation
will also calculate the amount of endowment funding needed to
cover ongoing stewardship costs of the mitigation land, and the
developer will deposit that endowment into a separate trust
account to pay for those costs. The Department of Parks and
Recreation will review the cost of mitigation credits on an
annual or biannual basis to determine if the costs should be
adjusted.
Revenue generated through the policy will be deposited
into the Multiple Species Conservation Program acquisition
account. Land to be acquired from such revenue will be
determined from the criteria of contribution to the county’s
regional conservation program (including future MSCP plans),
connectivity to permanently-protected land, state or Federal
designation as priority acquisitions for habitat conservation,
promotion of watershed protection and water quality, and the
ability to restore the land for habitat purposes.
The account will not be used to purchase land which
does not meet the regional conservation needs forecast by the
county, land designated for a public purpose or use which is not
consistent with habitat or resource protection, or land already
encumbered by a conservation easement.
The draft conservation agreement, which sets forth
requirements to administer the land and allocates the amount of
credits at each site that qualify for available mitigation land,
is currently being reviewed by the California Department of Fish
and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The policy does
not require county land to be used as mitigation and does not
identify any particular projects which might use the land for
mitigation. All projects that use county-owned land for
mitigation will still be subject to environmental review.
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