Carlsbad leads region in habitat planning

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Saturday, December 4, 2004 10:30 PM PST ∞

CARLSBAD ---- In habitat conservation planning, Carlsbad is breaking the trail for other North County cities. It's the first community to finish what's known as a "subarea plan" and its associated permitting documents. After more than a dozen years of work, Carlsbad officials celebrated last month when the last of their paperwork won approval from state and federal wildlife officials.

In hundreds of pages, Carlsbad has detailed everything from how many acres it will preserve to how it will handle damages caused by fires or floods. Under the plan's guidelines, 40 percent of Carlsbad ---- or nearly 10,000 acres ---- will never have houses or commercial development. Only about 1,200 acres of that will be city-owned. The remaining land is either in the hands of federal and state agencies, such as the lagoon areas, or is privately owned, such as the city's golf courses.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials have called the city's habitat planning documents a model for other communities, and Carlsbad leaders agree.

"This really helps the other cities, and the implementing agreement does, too," Carlsbad Planning Director Michael Holzmiller said last week as he went over the paperwork. "They can take (the agreement that activates the plan) and change the words."

Planners for several other North County cities said they expect to do just that, and that they want to have their paperwork done within the next year.

"We're hoping that they blazed the trail a bit and worked through the issues we're going to be facing," Escondido principal planner Barbara Redlitz said.

First in line

Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos are all working on habitat planning documents as part of a regional conservation effort backed by the San Diego Association of Governments. The individual plans will be incorporated into a project known as the Multiple Habitat Conservation Program.

The regional program aims to create a network of wildlife corridors from the inland mountains to the coast. Environmental organizations have praised the effort and Carlsbad's status as a front-runner.

"They get it," Allison Rolfe of North County Open Space Coalition said of Carlsbad's leaders. "They get not only how this can benefit the environment, but how it can benefit their customers ---- (the developers)."

Carlsbad's developers gain something because the habitat plan will help streamline the permitting process, she said, calling that a "carrot."

Holzmiller agreed, saying, "We've taken care of one hurdle you have to go through."

Projects that come along now will have an easier time because Carlsbad has gained permits to "take" or disrupt some habitat areas in exchange for preserving so much other land, he said.

Holzmiller said that incentive isn't as good as it would have been 10 years ago. It's taken so long to get the documents approved that most of the larger housing developments are already under construction, he said.

Carlsbad officials estimate the city has spent $1 million for consultant work and other expenses, including printing costs, to produce the planning documents.

"We've been keeping a running tally," said Don Rideout, principal planner. "The million dollars is hard costs. It doesn't include staff time."

Purchasing property

Out of the nearly 10,000 acres to be preserved within Carlsbad, 74 percent ---- or 6,500 acres ---- will be left in a natural state. The large parcels to be preserved in perpetuity include the area around Lake Calavera in northeastern Carlsbad, the land near the Villages of La Costa housing project along the city's eastern edge, and the property around the city's three lagoons.

The remaining 3,500 acres contains golf courses and city parks.

Smaller slices of land also will be left undeveloped if several other housing projects --- including Robertson Ranch along Cannon Road ---- move forward, Holzmiller said.

Open-space preservation has been frequently requested by Carlsbad residents in city surveys, and Carlsbad has roughly $5 million set aside for habitat purchases. Those acquisitions would be extra ---- the city doesn't need to buy any land within the city limits to meet the plan's requirements, Holzmiller said.

The city already owns part of the land scheduled to be preserved, and the remainder will be set aside by housing developers, he said. Carlsbad does need to purchase land outside the city limits ---- 300 acres ---- as part of its commitment to the regional habitat program, he added.

Escondido is in a similar position. It doesn't have to purchase land within its borders to make its plan work because it already owns a massive chunk of property ---- the more than 3,000-acre Daley Ranch open-space preserve near Dixon Lake.

Finding the funds

Escondido's habitat conservation documents are in draft form. The city planner handling the project said she hopes to have them ready for review by state and federal wildlife officials next spring. If things go well, the plan and associated permitting documents could be approved by the end of 2005, Redlitz said.

Encinitas is in a similar position with regard to its documents. The draft versions are being revised now, said Dave de Cordova, principal planner.

"Our goal is to have the revised draft done by early next year," he said.

Unlike Escondido and Carlsbad, Encinitas will have to purchase some land ---- about 50 acres ---- to make its plan work, he said.

Oceanside will probably be through the review process before either of those two communities, wildlife officials have said. The city's documents went to the wildlife agencies in April, Oceanside senior planner Jerry Hittleman said.

Unlike the inland city of Escondido, Oceanside's paperwork will need to go through a second set of reviews ---- the California Coastal Commission process ---- because part of the city's property falls within the state's coastal jurisdiction.

Hittleman said he hopes to have everything done by the end of 2005.

"Unfortunately, some things are not under our control," he said as he discussed the hoped-for timeline.

He added that Oceanside has learned from Carlsbad's experiences that these things take time.

Planners in Carlsbad, Encinitas, Escondido and Oceanside all said the biggest obstacle they face isn't completing the documents; it's managing the preserves. The planning documents require that cities not only keep the places looking nice, but also monitor how wildlife is faring. That's something that's not being done now and it's going to be expensive, Holzmiller said.

Carlsbad officials estimate it will cost $300,000 year to manage and monitor conditions at its preserves. The challenge in the coming year will be finding that money, he said.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.