Looks like all that’s left is to work out the details, and the contiguousness of the plan is its strong selling point, especially when working out trails and paths for public access and recreational use in the future.
Placer land plan passes
Negotiations will develop rules for 60,000-acre preserve
By Art Campos - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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.
