Politics & Government

Major Transportation Corridor Expected Across Portion Of 1,000-Acre Expanse

"In partnership with state and federal regulators, the plan gives local cities and the county greater control over land-use decisions while still complying with environmental laws."

An agreement to acquire nearly 1,000 acres in Southwest Riverside County was unveiled today, part of a transaction that preserves habitat for endangered species and helps clear the way for Riverside County to begin work on a major, regional transportation corridor, county officials announced today.

The agreement (see attached PDF) involves three separate local agencies and was approved by officials who govern each. Under the pact, the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority (RCA) will pay $42 million to purchase 964 acres the Anheuser-Busch owns near Murrieta. Riverside County will help the authority acquire the land by providing a loan that must be repaid, and by leveraging money that county officials already know they will have to pay for future road and infrastructure projects, according to a news release from the county.

Riverside County will buy the last pieces of Anheuser-Busch land required to connect and widen segments of Clinton Keith Road between State Route 79 and Interstate 215 for $1.1 million. The county will receive dollar-for-dollar credit against mitigation fees on future county infrastructure projects in return for advancing $2.9 million to RCA. Riverside County also will lend RCA $5 million that must be repaid with interest over 10 years, according to the news release.

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The  RCA – a partnership of federal, state, city and county agencies – administers the Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). The plan was adopted in 2003 to protect 146 native plant and animal species by assembling a system of reserves totaling 500,000 acres. Compiling the reserves addresses state and federal environmental laws on a regional basis rather than project-by-project, according to the news release.

"This acquisition provides the right-of-way needed to allow the county to move forward on the Clinton Keith Road extension, which will bring welcome traffic relief to French Valley commuters trying to reach 1-215," said Third District Supervisor Jeff Stone, RCA's outgoing chairperson. "This purchase also provides needed habitat at the heart of the MSHCP."

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"In partnership with state and federal regulators, the plan gives local cities and the county greater control over land-use decisions while still complying with environmental laws. The system also expedites needed transportation and utilities projects, and infrastructure development, through the use of fees that help acquire land for reserves," the news release stated.

"An assessment conducted in 2006 by the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of California, Riverside, found that the land being acquired is part of an area with habitat elements that do not exist anywhere else within the conservation plan’s 1.26 million acres. Significantly, the land is prime habitat for the Quino checkerspot butterfly, listed by the federal government as an endangered species. The land also includes corridors that allow species to travel between habitat areas, and offers a home for more than two dozen of the plan’s covered species," the news release continued.

Concern about meeting the plan’s acquisition goals has increased recently as the recession devastated local development projects and the related fees that developers pay to local governments to acquire habitat, according to the news release.

"Some local officials have expressed fears that they could lose state and federal permits that authorize the plan’s operations if RCA does not meet habitat acquisition goals," according to the news release.

Riverside County’s $1.1 million payment to acquire 24 acres for the Clinton Keith Road project also settles a multi-million lawsuit that Anheuser-Busch filed in September 2009 after the county moved to acquire the land through eminent domain, the news release stated.

"The Clinton Keith Road project has been a priority for years because it adds a major east-west arterial connecting I-215 and State Route 79 in California’s fastest growing region," according to the news release.

County transportation officials plan to begin the project’s first phase within a year but do not have a completion date.

As part of the eminent domain process, Riverside County placed $1.02 million – the land’s anticipated value – on deposit with the state. The county and the company concur that the deposit will revert to the county and that the agreement, which avoids further costly litigation, does not validate the legal claims on either side, according to the news release.

County officials said the $5 million loan to RCA, a one-time outlay that RCA must repay, does not increase the county’s $80 million annual deficit because it is not a recurring cost, such as employee salaries or pension benefits.

Portions of the agreement unveiled today were endorsed recently by the Board of Supervisors and the Transportation Commission. On Dec. 13, the Board conceptually approved the land purchase for Clinton Keith Road and the mitigation-fee prepayment.

The Transportation Commission agreed Dec. 14 to commit $3 million a year for eight years to provide funding for the land acquisition. The money comes from a half-cent sales tax local voters approved for transportation projects. The $24 million satisfies the commission’s $153 million commitment to help purchase habitat for the multispecies plan, the news release stated. --Riverside County Executive Office


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