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| View of the Newport Beach coastline from a high point in the Banning Ranch open space site. |
But a developer is proposing to build more than 1,300 homes on the site.
In addition an oil operator has been degrading the property considered "high quality habitat" for a number of critical and endangered species.
What's at stake
At 401 acres, Banning Ranch is the last large unprotected coastal open space remaining in Orange County. It contains at least 19 special status species, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-declared critical habitat for the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp (Branchinecta sandiegonensis), and the threatened California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica). One of the only two remaining coastal vernal pool complexes in Orange County exists on Banning Ranch, as well as irreplaceable cultural artifacts of pre-historic Native American peoples.
The swath of land in Newport Beach just west of the Santa Ana River was slated to be open space after voters approved the Newport Beach General Plan Land Use Element in 2006. More important, its value has been identified as “high quality habitat, heterogeneous habitat, it being a larger sized property, its alignment with impacted habitats, and that it contains covered species" by the Environmental Oversight Committee (EOC) of the Orange County Transportation Authority Measure M environmental mitigation program.
For these reasons, the Sierra Club and the Banning Ranch Conservancy find it unacceptable that excessive major vegetation has been removed without permits (as prohibited by the California Coastal Act) in areas where 1,375 homes are planned. The oil operator performed the unpermitted removal under the guise of "routine oil field maintenance and fire safety."
What's even more unsettling is that the major vegetation removal has occurred during the planning and processing period of the proposal submitted by the developer, Newport Banning Ranch LLC, and before a Coastal Development Permit could be issued.
Degradation of the land by drilling
Over time, large areas of the property have been degraded by drilling more than 150 unpermitted wells there since 1973.
The resolution of all of these issues is essential to establish the baseline condition for the proposed project.
Given the biological, cultural and historical value of Banning Ranch, the Sierra Club and Banning Ranch Conservancy believes great care and consideration should be taken in the determination of its use for the public good and that every effort should be made to protect and preserve the site’s staircase ecology as it now exists.
Some of the issues may be addressed at a California Coastal Commission hearing in January slated to be held in Southern California (no date has yet been determined). The commission is planning to consider an enforcement action against the owners of Banning Ranch for unpermitted development related to drilling and vegetation removal.
What you can do to help
Activists are urging members of the public to attend the meeting and urge the commission to:
• Ensure that the unpermitted major vegetation removal is permanently halted.
• Ensure that the affected areas are restored and permanently protected.
• In an effort to discourage similar activity in the future, impose appropriate fines and seek additional on-site mitigation at a ratio of at least 3 to 1.
• Address the unpermitted well drilling activity and require restoration of the habitat where appropriate.
If you can’t attend the hearing, please write a letter to the commission. Address them to "Coastal Commissioners and Staff "and refer to V-5-11-005.
California Coastal Commission
Attention: Andrew Willis
200 Oceangate, 10th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802
CORRECTION:
An earlier version of this article included statements that incorrectly stated that the developer, Newport Banning Ranch LLC, was responsible for vegetation removal on the property. The vegetation removal was the result of work done by a separate company, the oil operator with mineral rights on the property.
Terry Welsh, chairman of the Sierra Club Banning Ranch Park and Preserve Task Force. For more information, go to www.banningranchconservancy.org. You may contact Terry at info@banningranchconservancy.org or call (714) 719-2148.