OP-ED: Habitat Saviors, Bullies or Hypocrites?

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted for publication by Lake Elsinore Councilman Robert Magee:

The goal of Western Riverside County’s Multi Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP), as it was rolled out in 2003 was to streamline the approval process for public infrastructure projects particularly transportation. It was also intended to provide quicker processing and certainty for the development community, while also protecting private property owner rights and creating a hearty, healthy and sustainable natural open space inventory that would be preserved for the next 75 years and beyond.

The Resource Agencies pledged their cooperation as well as a financial commitment (i.e. skin in the game) so that all affected parties were working together for the good of the public we all serve.

But we were also threatened, threatened that our jurisdictions would lose Measure “A” & TUMF Transportation Funding and that by going rogue our projects (public and private) would go to the back of the line and be processed slower and with more scrutiny.

So, with the promises and the threats, our City on a split vote reluctantly joined the MSHCP on January 13, 2004 in front of a packed Council Chambers and after hours of testimony and stacks of documentation.

Today, our City has “donated” nearly 4,000 acres toward permanent habitat conservation removing these properties from the tax rolls and prohibiting development forever. We have also done the same with our 3,000-acre lake that includes 14 miles of shoreline as well as another 6 miles along the San Jacinto Riverbed and Temescal Wash. No other City in the County has permanently set aside more protected open space.

While we dutifully complied with the terms of the MSHCP, our “Partners” at the Resource Agencies have continued to over-regulate when it comes to mitigation demands for project approvals, while ignoring blatant violations of State and Federal law by certain property owners that seem to be immune to their regulatory oversight. Moreover, their promised financial contributions to implement this plan have been almost non-existent when compared to the $152 million dollars paid by the Riverside County Transportation Commission just to implement Freeway projects. That’s taxpayer dollars! The lack of support from the State & Federal Agencies has resulted in leaving nearly the entire MSHCP burden to local government and private property owners.

Last year, I learned from our local Game Wardens that Fish & Wildlife does not keep records of their patrol routes or the citations/warnings they issue. There is no public record available for the enforcement work they do. No way to quantify their impact or effectiveness and no accountability to the taxpayer. While the Department’s analysts routinely review, restrict and regulate development and land use applications, rogue operations often go unchecked and unpunished.

In the last year Resource Agencies have denied, restricted or conditioned out of existence a number of worthwhile projects such as, a motocross camp for kids, A Hilton-style hotel & shoreline restaurant and they denied our request to stock our lake with trout!

But, unpermitted habitat destruction by both landowners and the homeless go on unpunished and unpursued daily. This has led to a standard practice by some where one asks for forgiveness rather than permission. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) further enables this by requiring unpermitted activity -- when coming into compliance -- to only address existing conditions, not the habitat destruction/damage that was done without the benefit of a permit.

So, if you’re bold enough to just do it, the chances of being caught, punished or returning the habitat to its former state are almost non-existent. But if you ask for permission, the time involved to prepare and process studies about Fairy Shrimp, Burrowing Owls or the Arroyo Toad can become all-consuming. And then the mitigation demands often require a land owner to purchase property off-site in order to be allowed to build on his/her own land. These demands from the Resource Agencies can simply become cost-prohibitive. But remember, the homeless can live on and defile that same piece of ground and they are not pursued by our Game Wardens.

While we have a documented housing shortage the Environmental Zealots at the Resource Agencies are driving the price of housing up. The Resource Agency bureaucrats even demand habitat studies for weed and trash abatement of properties polluted by the homeless…they clearly can no longer see the forest for the trees.

So who are these so-called protectors of the environment? Are they saviors standing up to the developers or those who would choose to build more freeway capacity? Are they bullies who over-regulate projects by requiring acre after acre to be preserved in order to build anything? Or are they hypocrites who are nothing more than Paper Tigers who can be easily bluffed and/or walked over by the powerful few with the attorneys to fight them?

I thought we all had the same goals? I thought we were all on the same page on January 13, 2004: Work together to protect and preserve our valuable open spaces for generations to come while allowing for the enjoyment of both public and private lands with improvements.

While the Zealots wrap themselves in the flag of conservationism and environmental protection there is a sad irony in a state where the animal on our official flag is already extinct. Perhaps it’s time to push the reset button.

Robert “Bob” Magee
Lake Elsinore
City Councilman