The State’s Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) Act of 1991 provides for the preparation and implementation of large-scale natural conservation plans. The purpose of these plans is to identify and provide for the area-wide protection of natural wildlife diversity, while allowing for compatible and appropriate development and growth. Because of the relatively high concentration of federally protected coastal sage scrub habitat in the City, and the growing intensity of development pressures on these areas, in 1996, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes (RPV) entered into a Planning Agreement with the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop an NCCP subarea plan that will encompass the entire City of RPV.
Since RPV was the only Peninsula City to enter into such an agreement, the Palos Verdes Peninsula (PVP) Subarea NCCP only involves land located within the City of RPV. The PVP subarea, although relatively small in area as compared to other NCCP subareas in Southern California, is unique in that it contains healthy concentrations of coastal sage scrub habitat (approximately 1,000 acres) and a number of coastal sage scrub species which are not found in other Southern California coastal sage scrub communities.
From 1996 through 1999, the City hosted monthly meetings of an NCCP planning group, made up of major landowner, local government, state and federal agency, and environmental organization representatives, to help guide the subarea NCCP. With guidance and input from the Working Group, the City completed Phase I of the Palos Verdes Peninsula NCCP in 1999. The primary focus of the Phase I effort was to map existing vegetation communities, along with sensitive species distributions and their potential habitat. The City then began Phase II of the NCCP, which involved using the Phase I information to develop preliminary alternative preserve designs.
Three preserve design alternatives were presented to the City Council on December 5, 2000 and March 6, 2001. At that time, the Council authorized Staff to proceed with a biological and economic analysis of the three draft alternatives in order to identify the City’s preferred alternative preserve design. However, as a result of the City’s efforts to purchase almost 800 acres of privately held open space in the Portuguese Bend portion of the City, the City’s preferred preserve alternative (Alternative C) was amended to reflect the proposed land open space acquisition deal, as well as the City Council decision to not include the City’s Upper Pt. Vicente property as part of the Long Point Resort project. The revised Alternative C map was presented to the City Council on June 12, 2002, at which time the City Council directed Staff to proceed with completion of the draft NCCP Plan with the new Alternative C as the basis for the plan.
The Draft NCCP Subarea Plan was completed and made available to the public in June 2003. After completion of the Draft Subarea Plan, a Draft EIR was prepared to assess the environmental impacts of implementing the Subarea Plan. The DEIR was publicly circulated for 60 days between February 20, 2004 and April 20, 2004. In addition, the Draft EIR was presented to the City Council on March 16, 2004. Based on the comments received during the DEIR public comment period, the Final EIR was completed. The Final EIR contains responses to the 576 comments received from the public on the Draft EIR as well the modifications made to the actual EIR text as a result of the comments. In addition, the NCCP Subarea Plan was completed. The Subarea Plan explains the proposed NCCP Reserve, how the Reserve will be assembled, how the Reserve will be managed and how much implementation of the Plan is going to cost, was finalized. Furthermore, a draft Implementing Agreement was completed. The Implementing Agreement (IA) is the legal document that sets forth the responsibilities of all the parties involved with the City’s NCCP: the City, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy (PVPLC), the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Also, included as an appendix to the IA, is a draft agreement between the City and PVPLC, which clearly spells out the responsibilities of both parties in managing the proposed NCCP Reserve.
All three documents were presented to the City Council for review and approval on August 31, 2004. At that time, after hearing public testimony, the City Council 1) certified the Final EIR; 2) Approved the Subarea Plan and 3) Conceptually approved the Implementing Agreement, minus the management agreement between the City and the PVPLC. The documents have been formally transmitted to the State and federal Resource Agencies for their review and approval. At this time, the City anticipates that the Resource Agencies will complete their review and approve the documents by the end of 2006. Once the documents are approved and the Implementing Agreement signed by the City and Resource Agencies, the City’s NCCP will go into effect, the City will be legally responsible for managing the preserve (with the PVPLC) and the City will have the authority to issue “take” permits for projects that are consistent with the NCCP. Notwithstanding, on December 20, 2005, the City Council authorized the PVPLC to begin managing the Preserve in accordance with the NCCP. In addition, the City has begun preparation of the Public Use Master Plan (PUMP) for the preserve. Although the preserve is accessible to the public now, the PUMP will function as the management plan for balancing the habitat value of the preserve with the public accessibility and passive recreational needs of the City’s residents.
The creation of the City’s NCCP preserve relies on the dedication of existing public lands and the acquisition of private lands. To that end, the City and PVPLC have been successful in acquiring considerable acreages of privately held open space to create the preserve. On December 22, 2005, the City obtained title to 458 acres of additional lands for dedication into the preserve (the “Portuguese Bend” and “Agua Amarga Canyon” properties). With this acquisition, 1,138.33 acres of the 1,428.27 acres (80%) that are intended to become the NCCP preserve are now owned by the City (1,118 acres) or PVPLC (20 acres). At this time, the City and PVPLC are working toward acquiring the 218-acre Upper Filiorum property.
The City’s project planner overseeing the City’s NCCP Program is Planning Director Joel Rojas. He may be contacted at (310) 544-5228. If you would like to be placed on an "interested parties" list to receive any public notices related to the City’s proposed NCCP program via e-mail, you may subscribe by joining the list server group here.
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