By Elena Gaona
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 7, 2004
CARLSBAD – The small, insect-eating songbird goes about its mating days as normally as a creature can when its turf is being invaded by humans and their Spanish-style homes, luxurious resorts and golf courses.
But endangered species like the California gnatcatcher, a delicate bird with distinctive rising and falling kitten-like "mew" notes, have help on the way.
A habitat preservation plan meant to ensure the survival of endangered, threatened and rare animals and plants in Carlsbad for at least the next 50 years is in the final stages of state and federal wildlife agency approval and could start being implemented as soon as next month.
The Habitat Management Plan means to preserve land not in stranded patches but in large swaths connected wherever possible, ensuring larger environments that are healthier for plants and animals.
The plan is also good news for coastal developers, who will be able to make one stop in Carlsbad for environmental permits, helping them keep their projects on track, said Carlsbad principal planner Don Rideout.
"It means clear rules for everybody," Rideout said. "It's all written in one place from now on."
The Habitat Management Plan was approved by the state Coastal Commission last year, lauded by one commissioner as a plan that could set a national standard. It is now in the hands of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game, which are expected to approve it by fall.
The plan requires builders within the most valuable habitat areas to preserve at least 75 percent of their land and to cluster their developments.
Some 6,500 acres of Carlsbad's hills and canyons covered with brush called coastal sage scrub will be preserved as natural habitat for some 40 sensitive species.
While major projects like the city's golf course and the Robertson Ranch housing development will get to move forward, the coast live oak and the orange-throated whiptail lizard will get to stick around.
"We support it because it essentially benefits everybody," said Allison Rolfe, coordinator of the North County Open Space Coalition, a group of more than 12 environmental groups pushing habitat management in North County.
"It gives permits up front to destroy the habitat of endangered species, which doesn't sound like an environmental program, but it is because we're setting aside the land right now," Rolfe said.
The land being protected is some of the most environmentally valuable, mapped by biologists using satellites.
Rolfe said open-space advocates also support the plan because if Carlsbad puts it into action "maybe other cities can feel confident that they can move forward, too."
The city's effort is part of a North County-wide project to conserve nearly 20,000 acres for about 80 rare, threatened or endangered species.
Carlsbad is the first city in North County to move forward with its plan, though the Oceanside and Escondido city councils are scheduled to consider similar plans in coming months, and Encinitas, Vista and San Marcos are also drafting them. Solana Beach is not participating, because most of the land there is already developed.
The North County plan is part of a larger regional plan to preserve more than 170,000 acres of habitat. The county and the cities of San Diego and Poway have completed similar plans.
In Carlsbad, while large property developers are encouraged to set aside land on their own property, small property developers may be allowed to develop all of their land and purchase mitigation land elsewhere.
The land set aside for mitigation includes property that would be hard to develop because of steep or rough terrain, so the small developers should find willing sellers.
Rideout said the way Carlsbad manages its habitat could become a local model for other cities.
"This trade-off between development and protecting the environment is one of the toughest issues we face in our region, right up there with housing and traffic," he said.
"Environmentalists always say once land is developed it's lost forever. But if you place severe restrictions on construction of new housing, that causes a ripple effect.
"This is a way of trying to avoid a train wreck where development and open space can't let each other through."