DPC Letter: Zacharias Ranch Mitigation Bank

The Delta Protection Commission reviews hundreds of local and regional land use projects in the Primary and Secondary zones of the Delta for consistency with the Land Use and Resource Management Plan (PDF) and submits comment letters to ensure projects stay on track with the Plan. Under state law (Public Resources Code Sections 29770-29772), any action taken by a local government or agency in the Primary Zone that is inconsistent with the Plan can be appealed to the Commission. Appeals may be brought by any interested person, or by the Commission itself. Learn more here.

Email

From: Mike Aviña
Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2024 1:56 PM
To: Mitsuko Grube, Desiree Dela Vega, Michael Stuhldreher, Erin Chappell
Cc: Bruce Blodgett
Subject: Zacharias Ranch Mitigation Bank SERP Status

To Whom It May Concern:

The Delta Protection Commission (Commission) is writing CDFW to express concern regarding the potential use of the Statutory Exemption for Restoration Projects (SERP) for the proposed mitigation bank at the Zacharias Ranch in Sacramento County (see attachment).

The proposed project would convert an approximately 600-acre site into a mitigation bank with floodplain and tidal marsh in the Delta Primary Zone. We support the enhancement of natural resource values but this project conflicts with the goal of agricultural land preservation and economic sustainability for the Delta, as expressed in the Delta Protection Act.

Public Resources Code Section 29703(c) states “Agricultural lands located within the primary zone should be protected from the intrusion of nonagricultural uses.” This goal is also described in our Land Use and Resource Management Plan (LURMP) which has been adopted into the California Code of Regulations and states that one of the goals for the Delta Primary Zone is to “. . .support long-term viability of agriculture and to discourage inappropriate development of agricultural lands” (14 Cal. Code of Regulations Section 20070(b)).

We feel that the project should be screened through standard CEQA review. The standard CEQA review process would ensure that any agricultural land conversion is mitigated as required for all potentially significant impacts under CEQA. We defer to CDFW, but we are concerned that the use of an exemption may be contrary to the requirements of Public Resources Code Section 21080.56 which requires that the project:

• Includes procedures and ongoing management for the protection of the environment (Section 21080.56(c)(2))

The use of an exemption may not adequately include procedures for mitigation of agricultural land loss required by (Section 21080.56(c)(2)). We encourage CDFW to either condition the exemption on an appropriate and high ratio of mitigation for agricultural land loss or consider denying the exemption so that the standard CEQA screening process for impacts related to agricultural land loss (among other thresholds) applies.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Mike Aviña
Senior Environmental Planner