Posted on 03/10/2004 4:17:48 PM PST by chance33_98
I'm not defending the government. Far from it. But not every dispute is the equivalent of Waco.
By Pat Sherman STAFF WRITER
March 3, 2004
RAMONA – Katherine Clayton sighed with exasperation as raindrops fell into a culvert running through an undeveloped parcel she owns at the corner of Main and Julian streets.
"Uh-oh, look at that plant growing up out of the water," she said, pointing. "That looks precious."
Clayton would like to build an office for a water-truck business she operates out of her garage. She had an offer last month from Penske Truck Leasing and wants to partner with Penske and supplement her income.
Between the property taxes and the $1,500 in monthly rent she pays, Clayton said, the extra income would be a big help. "It's a perfect opportunity for me that I think I might miss out on," she said. "I really can't go on much longer with the payments and the property taxes and miss business opportunities."
The county, however, has told her that the depression on her land has been deemed a vernal pool under county, state and federal jurisdiction. Developing her property and disturbing or displacing the water could result in hefty fines and years in jail, according to a letter she received from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Ramona is home to some of the county's few remaining vernal pools, which activists say have existed for thousands of years. These seasonal still waters are the only habitat for some endangered plants and animals, such as the federally protected fairy shrimp. As a result, Clayton finds herself among the handful of Ramona property owners caught in a clash with environmentalists and government bureaucrats.
Two blocks north of Clayton's land, Mary Anne Pentis of the Ramona-based Vernal Pool Society inspected an undeveloped 9-acre field near the intersection of Ramona and Main streets. She and husband Al Pentis, along with the county, are eyeing the parcel, adjacent to a busy strip mall, for a vernal pool preserve and nature center. The county owns two of the acres.
The site could also serve as replacement land for vernal pools displaced by development on private property, such as Clayton's. In order to pay for the land, the county could ask property owners such as Clayton to kick in cash – something Clayton frowns on.
After a recent illegal grading of the 9-acre site, though, Al Pentis said the land is less desirable as a preserve. "We're just trying to save a little bit of some fantastic ecosystems," he said. "The problem is that the general public is not being educated enough."
Illegal clearing?
In November, after Clayton cleared her property under direction of the fire department, the county threatened to fine her $2,500 for illegal brush removal. It rescinded that decision after discovering she had followed a fire department mandate. Nevertheless, representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency – acting on a tip from the Pentises – descended on Clayton's property to determine if a contractor she hired had illegally filled in the pool with dirt during the clearing. After photographing alleged violations on her land – one of five parcels sandwiched between a Denny's and a charter school – the Pentises contacted the agency.
Al Pentis, a retired wetlands biologist who has worked to preserve vernal pools for 35 years, maintains that Clayton had scraped soil from her property and deposited it into the culvert.
"We've been furnishing the county with information about the vernal pools here for the past couple years," he said. "I saw her do this a couple years ago and took photographs. We saw dirt being placed right next to an area where water normally drains, and that's against the Clean Water Act."
Clayton said the effort to protect species has gone too far. She noted the Vernal Pool Society's annual crowning of a school-age "Fairy Shrimp Princess" as an attempt to gain public support.
"It's like they're mocking us," she said.
County studies pools
Visiting Clayton's property last fall, government agencies were unable to assess whether vernal pools existed, they said, largely because property-rights activists, encouraged by a radio talk show host, had gathered to protest.
In March, Clayton and other landowners received a letter requesting their participation in a county study of Ramona's vernal pools. At a Jan. 28 meeting, the results of that study, funded by a $75,000 grant from the EPA, were revealed to about 75 Ramona landowners. A large map showed scattered parcels that contained vernal pools. The county could not determine if about two dozen parcels contained the pools because the owners refused to allow inspections.
In December, the Army Corps of Engineers sent Clayton a letter stating that under provisions of the Clear Water Act and Corps regulations, tampering with the "jurisdictional wetlands" on her property without a proper Corps permit could result in "a maximum criminal fine of $50,000 per day and imprisonment of up to three years." Jeremy Buegge, a planner with the County Department of Planning and Land Use, agreed with Clayton's assessment that the pool on her property, once a tributary of Etcheverry Creek, was transformed from flowing to still water by surrounding development, and thus is a man-made vernal pool.
The pool, which is widest on Clayton's land, runs through all five adjacent parcels. It flows underneath Julian Street and the parking lot of the adjacent charter school. Ideally, Clayton would like to follow the school's lead and build above the pool, if possible without disturbing its ecosystem.
Tom Oberbauer, chief of the Multiple Species Conservation Program with the County Department of Planning and Land Use, was part of the January meeting, at which Clayton said there were a lot of unanswered questions.
Oberbauer said the county will now proceed with a study to determine which of the designated vernal pools on private property are worth saving.
"Our concept is to come up with a plan where you can deal with the situation in a collective manner," Oberbauer said. "Lose the ones that aren't important and save the ones most likely to be able to be maintained over a long period of time . . . so the appropriate development can proceed."
But those who attended the meeting were concerned that so much emphasis was being placed on vernal pools when traffic and other issues were looming, he said. "People who find that they have a vernal pool on their property, they're not that excited about it," Oberbauer said. "I think there's a lot of frustration that they have to deal with it at all."
Oberbauer confirmed that the county was looking at the site at Ramona and Main streets as a potential preserve, but said he isn't sure who will pay for it.
Clayton has not given her consent for county officials to walk onto her property and test for fairy shrimp – she kicked off one county biologist – but the owners of a parcel adjacent to hers gave the county permission.
Jeff Gann, the real estate agent listing her neighbor's property for sale, said offers have surfaced to develop all five parcels, both as a vernal pool preserve or for commercial uses, though most buyers are deterred by the potential costs of dealing with the pools.
Surely there has been some cost/benefit analysis that shows these are treasures that you're required to protect for the good of the country, free of charge to the country, of course.
C_O, this sounds right up your alley.
YES IT IS!!!!!!
Dang DG! Looks like you're startin' ta git it!! Now, how hard is it to make a functional vernal pool? What does it cost? How many fail?... That helps determine what a vernal pool is worth, doesn't it?
Back charge!!!
Note to self: Gots to pull the trademarks for Vernal Pooling, Inc. ;-)
Bet you haven't seen me stretch a story for a pun that far in a long time. Must be gettin' disparate.
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