Oceanside Subarea Habitat Conservation Plan/ Natural Communities Conservation Plan Prepared for City of Oceanside Planning Department 300 N. Coast Highway Oceanside, CA 92054 Prepared by Ogden Environmental and Energy Services Co., Inc. 5510 Morehouse Drive San Diego, California 92121 (858) 458-9044 and Conservation Biology Institute 815 Madison Avenue San Diego, California 92116 November 2000 Project No. 314553000
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 1-1 1.1 Purpose and Need 1-1 1.2 Overview of the Planning Process 1-4 1.3 Federal and State Requirements and Legal Authority 1-6 1.3.1 Federal Requirements and Legal Authority 1-6 1.3.2 California Requirements and Legal Authority 1-7 1.3.3 Plan Compliance and Mandatory Requirements 1-7 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE OCEANSIDE SUBAREA 2-1 2.1 Regional Location 2-1 2.2 Land Ownership and Land Uses 2-1 2.2.1 Land Ownerships 2-5 2.2.2 Major Land Uses 2-5 2.2.3 Transportation and Utility Corridors 2-6 2.3 General Plan, Zoning, and Local Land Use Regulation 2-6 2.3.1 City of Oceanside General Plan 2-10 2.3.2 City of Oceanside Zoning Ordinance 2-18 2.3.3 Local Coastal Program 2-19 2.3.4 City Ordinances 2-20 2.4 Known and Anticipated Projects 2-22 3 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES 3-1 3.1 Methods 3-1 3.1.1 Existing Information 3-1 3.1.2 Biological Surveys 3-1 3.1.2.1 Vegetation Mapping 3-2 3.1.2.2 Sensitive Species 3-3 3.1.2.3 Habitat Linkages and Dispersal Corridors 3-4 3.1.2.4 Evaluation of Habitat Restoration/Enhancement Potential 3-4 3.2 Results 3-5 3.2.1 Vegetation Mapping 3-5 3.2.2 Sensitive Species 3-9 314553000 i Oceanside Subarea Plan
3.2.3 Habitat Linkages and Dispersal Corridors 3-18 3.2.3.1 Distribution of Natural Open Space in Oceanside 3-18 3.2.3.2 California Gnatcatcher Dispersal Corridors 3-27 3.2.3.3 Constrained Segments of the Regional Corridor 3-34 3.2.3.4 Conservation Priorities within the Regional Corridor 3-37 3.2.4 Habitat Restoration/Enhancement Priorities within the Regional Corridor 3-39 4 PRESERVE DESIGN 4-1 4.1 Biological Preserve Design Objectives and Limitations 4-1 4.1.1 Objective 1 - Conserve the full range of extant vegetation communities, with a focus on habitats considered sensitive, rare, or declining 4-2 4.1.2 Objective 2 - Maintain functional wildlife corridors and habitat linkages between critical biological resource areas 4-2 4.1.3 Objective 3 - Maintain viable populations of sensitive plant species 4-3 4.1.4 Objective 4 - Maintain viable populations of sensitive animal species and species that are indicators of important habitat 4-4 4.2 Land Use and Ownership Considerations 4-4 4.3 Preserve Design Strategy 4-7 4.3.1 Designation of Preserve Planning Zones 4-8 4.4 Biological Preserve Criteria 4-12 4.5 Habitats Conserved 4-14 4.6 Species Conserved 4-15 5 PRESERVE ASSEMBLY AND CONSERVATION ACTIONS 5-1 5.1 Preserve Assembly Components 5-1 5.1.1 Existing and Proposed Conservation Banks and Mitigation Areas 5-2 5.1.2 Existing Public Open Space 5-4 5.1.3 Private Open Space 5-4 5.1.4 SDG&E Ownerships and Easements 5-4 5.1.5 Habitat Conserved in Conjunction with Private Development 5-5 Oceanside Subarea Plan ii 314553000
5.1.6 Habitat Acquisition 5-5 5.2 Citywide Conservation Actions 5-6 5.2.1 Mitigation Standards for Vegetation Communities 5-7 5.2.2 Habitat and Development Fee 5-9 5.2.3 Narrow Endemic Species Standards 5-9 5.2.4 Wetlands Mitigation Standards 5-11 5.2.5 Fire and Fuel Management Standards 5-13 5.2.6 Clustering Standards for New Development 5-14 5.3 Planning Zone-specific Standards 5-14 5.3.1 Wildlife Corridor Planning Zone 5-14 5.3.2 Pre-approved Mitigation Areas 5-20 5.3.3 Agricultural Exclusion Zone 5-21 5.3.4 Offsite Mitigation Zone I 5-21 5.3.5 Offsite Mitigation Zone II 5-21 5.4 Corrective Actions 5-22 5.5 Implementation Cost and Financing 5-22 5.5.1 Estimated Program Cost 5-22 5.5.2 Financing of Implementation Costs 5-25 6 SUBAREA PLAN IMPLEMENTATION 6-1 6.1 Implementation Policies and Actions 6-1 6.1.1 Cooperative Implementation Structure 6-1 6.1.2 Take Authorizations 6-2 6.1.3 Development Process Assurances 6-3 6.2 Implementing Agreement 6-4 6.2.1 Assurances in the Implementing Agreement 6-4 6.2.2 Changed Circumstances and Unforeseen Circumstances 6-6 6.3 City Implementation Actions and Process 6-8 6.3.1 Regulatory Actions 6-9 6.3.2 Interim Resource Protection 6-11 6.3.3 Development Review and Approval Process 6-11 314553000 iii Oceanside Subarea Plan
6.3.4 Oceanside Conservation Strategy and Preserve Design 6-12 6.3.5 San Luis Rey River Channel 6-14 6.3.6 Buena Vista Lagoon Management Plan 6-14 6.3.7 Annual Implementation Coordination Meetings 6-14 6.4 Subarea Plan Amendments 6-15 6.5 Boundary Adjustments and Equivalency 6-16 6.6 Annexations 6-17 6.7 Process for Adding Species to Covered Species List 6-18 6.8 Permanent Resource Protection 6-19 6.8.1 Local Regulations 6-19 6.8.2 Assurance of Long-term Biological Integrity 6-20 6.9 Relationship of Subarea Plan Approval to MHCP Core Conservation 6-20 6.10 Coordination with Other NCCP Subarea Plans and the MHCP 6-21 6.11 Cooperative MHCP Implementation Structure 6-21 6.11.1 Introduction and Overview 6-21 6.11.2 MHCP Committee Structure 6-22 6.11.3 MHCP Land Conservancy 6-22 6.11.4 MHCP Preserve Manager 6-24 7 PRESERVE MANAGEMENT 7-1 7.1 Management Responsibilities 7-1 7.1.1 Responsibilities on Public Lands 7-1 7.1.2 Responsibilities on Private Lands 7-2 7.2 Framework Preserve Management Guidelines 7-3 7.2.1 Allowable Land Uses Within Preserve Areas 7-3 7.2.2 Fire Management 7-5 7.2.3 Habitat Restoration 7-6 7.2.4 Recreation and Public Access 7-8 7.2.5 Predator and Exotic Species Control 7-10 7.2.6 Hydrology and Flood Control 7-12 7.2.7 Species Reintroduction and Translocation 7-12 7.2.8 Public Education and Enforcement 7-13 Oceanside Subarea Plan iv 314553000
7.2.9 Adaptive Management 7-15 7.3 Area-specific Management Guidelines 7-17 7.3.1 Wildlife Corridor Planning Zone 7-17 7.3.2 San Luis Rey River 7-21 7.3.3 Oceanside Harbor 7-21 7.3.4 Buena Vista Lagoon 7-22 7.3.5 Existing Conservation Banks 7-22 7.4 Habitat Tracking, Reporting, and Monitoring 7-22 8 REFERENCES 8-1 LIST OF FIGURES NUMBER TITLE PAGE 2-1 Oceanside Regional Location Map 2-3 2-2 1995 Generalized Land Ownership 2-7 2-3 1995 Generalized Land Use 2-11 2-4 1995 Generalized Planned Land Use 2-13 2-5 Major Transportation and Utility Corridors 2-15 2-6 Development Constraints 2-23 2-7 Anticipated City Infrastructure Projects 2-25 3-1 Vegetation Communities 3-7 3-2 Locations of Priority Plants within the Oceanside Subarea 3-15 3-3 Locations of California Gnatcatcher, Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, and Least Bell s Vireo within the Oceanside Subarea 3-19 3-4 Locations of Other High Priority Animals within the Oceanside Subarea 3-21 3-5 Locations of Low Priority Animals within the Oceanside Subarea 3-23 3-6 Locations of Low Priority Animals within the Oceanside Subarea 3-25 3-7 Regional Overview of the Gnatcatcher Corridor through Oceanside 3-29 3-8 Constrained Areas along California Gnatcatcher Corridors through Oceanside 3-31 314553000 v Oceanside Subarea Plan
3-9 Priority Areas for Restoration in the Regional Stepping-stone Corridor 3-41 4-1 Preserve Planning Map and Habitat Conservation Overlay Zones 4-9 LIST OF FIGURES (Continued) NUMBER TITLE PAGE 6-1 Project Review and Approval Process 6-13 6-2 MHCP Implementation Structure Primary Responsibilities 6-23 LIST OF TABLES NUMBER TITLE PAGE 1-1 Proposed Covered Species for Oceanside Subarea Plan 1-2 2-1 Generalized Land Ownership in Oceanside, California 2-2 2-2 Oceanside Existing Land Uses 2-9 2-3 Oceanside Planned Land Uses 2-17 3-1 Oceanside Vegetation Communities 3-6 3-2 Sensitive Species Occurring or Potentially Occurring in Oceanside 3-10 3-3 Priority Areas for Habitat Restoration or Enhancement in Oceanside 3-40 4-1 Minimum Conservation Acreage Goals by Vegetation Community 4-13 5-1 Target Conservation of Natural Habitat 5-2 5-2 Mitigation Standards for Impacts to Natural Vegetation and Habitat 5-8 5-3 MHCP Narrow Endemic Species List 5-10 5-4 Native Landscaping Shrubs Suitable for Use Adjacent to Preserve Areas 5-18 5-5 Common Invasive Exotic Plant Species 5-19 5-6 Estimated Cost of Oceanside Subarea Plan Implementation 5-23 5-7 Estimates of Habitat Impact, Mitigation, and Areas Subject to Fees 5-26 7-1 Plant Palette for Coastal Sage Scrub Restoration 7-9 Oceanside Subarea Plan vi 314553000
LIST OF APPENDICES LETTER TITLE PAGE A Implementing Agreement A-1 314553000 vii Oceanside Subarea Plan
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