MORE LAND PROTECTION PROPOSED NEW RULES MAY COVER 200,000-PLUS ACRES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - More than 200,000 acres in the Antelope Valley would be designated as ``significant ecological areas'' under a proposal being considered for part of the update of Los Angeles County's general plan.

While Los Angeles County planners trimmed about 22,000 acres off an earlier proposal, they are still proposing to more than double the area covered by the designation, now 81,000 acres.

Aimed at linking land for plant and animal habitats, rather than having pockets or islands of areas designated for extra protection, the designation does not stop home building but requires additional consideration of plants and animals before development can proceed, officials said.

``We expect that development will occur,'' said Julie Lowry, a senior planner with the county. ``The goal is that, with the large subdivisions, ... we have a balance with resources and development.''

County officials have scheduled a series of community meetings on the update of the general plan. One is scheduled for March 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lancaster Library, 601 W. Lancaster Blvd.

After revisions from comments made at the meetings, the plan is expected to be subject to public hearings early in 2005 before the county's Regional Planning Commission. Approval is up to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which is expected to hold its own hearings in 2005.

While it has not taken a formal position opposing the proposal, the Antelope Valley chapter of the Building Industry Association is concerned about the sheer size of the area being considered for the designation, said Gretchen Gutierrez, the chapter's executive director.

``They still have a very large amount of acreage,'' Gutierrez said. ``The fear is this is going to add another level of government process to go through before you can go forward with a development.''

Although the county proposal does not affect land inside city limits, Lancaster officials are also voicing concerns about the proposal's size, the impact it could have on developing transportation routes and its potential influence on government agencies, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that have a role in environmental approvals for development.

Many of the proposed Antelope Valley significant ecological areas are immediately east of Lancaster.

While county planners might not intend additional bureaucracy, the designation might influence other resource agencies that could create delays, city officials say.

``It's a red flag to a resource agency,'' said Brian Ludicke, director of Lancaster's Community Development department.

There is also concern about the scientific basis for the zone's boundaries. Ludicke noted that authors of the recently completed draft of the West Mojave Plan, a multiagency planning guide for much of Southern California's desert, did not view the areas being proposed for inclusion in the county's plan as being significant ecologically.

``We are going to review it more clearly to see if it relieves our concerns,'' Ludicke said. ``Based on my first cursory look, I'm still a bit leery of what they want to do.''

County officials define a significant ecological area as important habitat for native plants and animals or as a fragile land or water area.

The added environmental review required on areas with such a designation will not be onerous, county officials said. A professional will have to examine a proposed development site to determine what areas are more significant than others.

``A lot of people think significant ecological areas bring development to a halt,'' Lowry said. ``Significant ecological areas won't add another layer of approvals.''

In addition, the latest plan drops a proposal to limit home building to one house for every 10 acres in the significant ecological areas. That suggestion, originally made three years ago, was dropped after criticism from land owners and builders.

The proposed expansion of areas labeled ecologically significant is the result of biologists' revised thinking about how to preserve native plants and animals in diverse ecological communities, Los Angeles County officials said.

In the 1970s, when the areas were first being designated, they were viewed as self-contained, not needing buffering from development. Since then, however, biologists have seen a link between the size of these biotic islands and their ability to sustain species.

The islands also prevent opportunities to regain species through recolonization.

In expanding the significant ecological areas, county officials identified areas that were already designated as open space or were subject to other factors that already limit development - such as being located in a flood plain or on Air Force property.

The areas county planners trimmed from the initial proposal were primarily areas designated for agriculture.

``Those are open spaces to begin with,'' said Lee Stark, section head of the general plan update. ``We want to encourage the maintenance of agricultural use.''

County officials also recognize that some types of development have less impact on the environment than others, and they are proposing a tier approval system for projects, Stark said, rather than requiring all development requests in significant ecological areas to go through a conditional-use permit process.

The current process includes a review by the county's significant ecological areas or SEA technical advisory committee.

Several types of development would be exempt from SEA requirements, including an individual single-family home, additions to homes already built, accessory buildings and brush clearance required by the Fire Department.

Some development would go through an administrative hearing process. Among them are commercial projects on land already zoned for commercial use; minor alterations to commercial, industrial or public buildings; and replacement of buildings such as homes lost to fires.

A third set of development types would go through what the county officials call a minor conditional-use permit process, including notifying surrounding property owners, but would not require a review by the county's SEA technical advisory committee.

Developments in that category would include land divisions of up to four lots; clearing more than 2.5 acres; and small cellular communication systems.

A full conditional-use permit process would be required for projects in the most sensitive portions of a significant ecological area or when the project is of such a size or intensity - for example, subdivisions of five or more lots - that more review is needed, county officials said.

Besides the significant ecological areas proposed in the eastern valley, others are proposed in the San Andreas Rift Zone and the scattered Joshua woodlands in the west valley.

The San Andreas Rift Zone proposal would cover nearly 90,000 acres of the oak- and chaparral-covered hills and mountains around Lake Hughes, Lake Elizabeth and Leona Valley, where the Mojave Desert meets the San Gabriel and Tehachapi mountains.

The proposed Joshua woodlands area would take in 4,700 acres north and west of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com