The County's land use planning efforts have consistently anticipated that local landowners—often in conjunction with assistance from non-profits and state agencies—will voluntarily undertake a modest amount of habitat creation, restoration, enhancement, and preservation actions. Similarly, the County has long coordinated urban development and related land use planning matters with the incorporated cities of Woodland, Davis, Winters, and West Sacramento. Projects within these jurisdictions have occasionally impacted biological resources, and the County intends to continue to accommodate the preservation of land in the unincorporated area as compensatory mitigation for such local habitat impacts.
In the foreseeable future, however, the County expects that the unincorporated area will increasingly be the subject of mitigation projects and similar efforts that arise in connection with impacts to biological resources occurring largely or entirely outside the geographic boundaries of the County. Such projects include mitigation banks with service areas extending far beyond the County—of which there are already a number—as well as various other endeavors to create, restore, enhance, and preserve habitat as a consequence of projects and activities occurring in locations outside of the County. These projects are the focus of this Chapter, while other purely local preservation and mitigation efforts are generally outside of its scope.
This Chapter provides for limited County regulation of certain habitat projects taking place within the County in connection with projects and activities occurring largely or entirely outside of the County. Such projects are unique in many respects. For example, wetland habitat projects can provide important habitat areas for fish, wildlife, and plants. They can also help maintain and enhance water quality, facilitate groundwater recharge, mitigate flooding, and control erosion. Some wetland habitat projects can also provide educational, scientific study, and recreational opportunities. The same is true of other types of habitat projects undertaken as compensatory mitigation. For these and other reasons, such projects can thus be a significant asset to the environment and the general public so long as they adequately replace the habitat area, values, and functions lost due to urban development or other projects or activities.
Nonetheless, to assure these projects benefit the County and do not unduly interfere with its land use planning efforts or the eventual implementation of the Yolo Natural Heritage Program, careful planning is necessary. Attention to matters of location, design, construction, and long-term monitoring and management is essential. Particularly for larger projects, early consideration of ways to integrate appropriate educational, recreational, scientific, and other opportunities is also desirable. Finally, the potential local and regional environmental and economic impacts of habitat projects—such as the conversion of farmland and existing species habitat, as well as conflicts with surrounding land uses and activities—deserves close attention and consideration. It is for these reasons that the Delta Reform Act of 2009 states that the goals of "providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem" are to be achieved in a manner "that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place."
Accordingly, this Chapter is intended to promote the foregoing objectives and to achieve the following purposes:
(a) To help ensure that out of county mitigation projects are located, constructed, and managed in a manner that is consistent with the General Plan and the developing Yolo Natural Heritage Program, compatible with surrounding land uses to the extent feasible, and sensitive to the need for a strong local economy, the protection of existing biological resources, flood protection, vector control, and other appropriate local and regional concerns.
(b) To encourage the proponents of such habitat projects—particularly large out of county mitigation projects—to design and implement projects that achieve multiple environmental and community objectives, and that include management plans or similar means of ensuring the responsible stewardship of such projects over time.
(c) To ensure that habitat projects undertaken in furtherance of the "coequal goals" and the habitat restoration objectives of the Delta Reform Act proceed in a manner that is faithful to the Act in its entirety, including its basic policy direction that the coequal goals of "providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem" are to be achieved in a manner "that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place."
(d) To expand opportunities for the County and interested citizens to participate in the process of reviewing such habitat projects by establishing a permitting process that includes public hearing requirements and other opportunities for public input.
(e) To continue to encourage wildlife-friendly agricultural practices and voluntary habitat restoration and preservation efforts, and to continue to accommodate other habitat projects undertaken in connection with impacts to biological resources arising from local projects and actions.
Nothing in this Chapter is intended to restrict or in any way affect or impair the agricultural use of land within the County. In some cases, state and federal laws may regulate certain types or characteristics of projects covered by this Chapter. This Chapter shall be construed to provide the County with the maximum control consistent with such other laws. (§ 5, Ord. 1426, eff. February 28, 2013)