[env-trinity] Cal Fire places moratorium on Trinity small-parcel conversions

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_37ba628c-2792-11e6-9cda-578ec6caced2.html

Cal Fire places moratorium on Trinity small-parcel conversions
   
   - By Sally Morris The Trinity Journal
 - Jun 1, 2016
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There’s a temporary hold in effect on approval of small-parcel conversions from forest to agricultural purposes in Trinity County pending further direction by the county Board of Supervisors tentatively set to consider the issue at its June 7 meeting in Weaverville.Known as a less than 3-acre conversion, the permits are issued through Cal Fire that regulates all timber harvest on private lands in the state. Anything over 3 acres requires a much more intensive review and approval of a timber harvesting plan describing measures to protect streams and wildlife habitat and restock the forest. Small parcels under 3 acres are eligible for exemption to those rules through a conversion permit typically used by property owners wanting to clear land for a homesite.In response to recent complaints about an explosion of conversion permits being issued for small properties in close proximity to each other chiefly for marijuana cultivation, Cal Fire representatives attended the May 12 Trinity County Planning Commission meeting to clarify how the permits are issued through the Redding office.Trinity County’s Senior Planner Carson Anderson said part of the challenge the state regulators face is that Trinity County has no grading ordinance, “so when foresters inspect locations for permits, they observe things the county could follow up with to achieve goals at the county level if we had a grading ordinance.”Responsible for overseeing the conversion process for Cal Fire’s northern region, John Remaley said the Redding office approves approximately 1,200 conversion permits a year.“It is a ministerial permit, based on a two-page form with a map. Our review and acceptance of the document doesn’t give us discretion to have discretion,” he said, adding permits are approved as long as they are prepared by a professional forester, contain a legal description and will be performed by a licensed timber operator.There is opportunity for the county to review and sign off on the permits if it designates a person to do that, but until now, it hasn’t done so. Otherwise, the county receives a copy of the permit, but there are no noticing requirements or required certification.Remaley said that in 2010, there were no 3-acre conversion permits issued in Trinity County. Last year, there were 155, and to date this year, 123.Local Cal Fire inspector Dan Dresselhaus said his job is to make sure water courses are protected and that slash piles from the logging activities are treated within a year, “but I don’t have any say on what the land use is going to be.” He said most of the development activity “is within the Trinity Pines subdivision, but it is starting to spread.”The only mandated inspection is a completion inspection after tree removal, and a six-month time frame is allowed for that to occur.Dresselhaus said Cal Fire can also do inspections of road impacts for up to three years, “but landings become whatever they’re going to be. I’m the only inspector in the area, and I am completely outpaced with the completion inspections.”He added there’s been a steady increase in conversion permits since 2010 when Cal Fire began taking enforcement actions against illegal land clearing “so the knowledge base is out there now that they need to get a permit and it is expanding.” The numbers have also been growing in the McCloud area as well as Humboldt and Mendocino counties, he said.Audience members weighed in, including Clarence Rose of Weaverville who once served on the California Board of Forestry and said “if our board were made aware of this catastrophe, we would have gone to the Legislature to get it fixed. Saying there’s nothing we can do is repulsive to me.”He added the county’s existing medical marijuana ordinance limits growers to a maximum of eight plants (on 10 acres or more) or 400 square feet “so why are we giving permits to clear 130,000 square feet?”Debbie Lono from outside of Hayfork spoke of personal experience watching several conversions occurring in her own neighborhood for large-scale marijuana farms without regard for the environment, destroying streams others have relied on and blocking roads. She has repeatedly requested an emergency moratorium on the permits “until the Board of Supervisors has a chance to study impacts on our neighborhoods.”Terry Mines of Junction City said he agrees a moratorium would probably be most effective while the county is in the middle of adopting a commercial cannabis ordinance, arguing that small, mom and pop growers “who are trying to be compliant need protection while the county figures out how to address this situation correctly.”Others favored a moratorium until the cumulative impacts can be addressed and there are adequate resources available to conduct inspections. Some noted there are valid, legitimate reasons why landowners need the small acre conversions to be available for development purposes and said “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”Planning Commissioners generally favored the suggestion of a temporary moratorium and the designation of a county official, Trinity County Transportation and Planning Director Rick Tippett, to review and certify the permits. Some agreed the Board of Supervisors needs to be considering adoption of a county grading ordinance.Following the commission meeting, Tippett reported to the Board of Supervisors that no additional conversion permits have been processed by Cal Fire since mid-April, and that if he is the county’s designee, “I have no direction on which ones to sign and which not to sign. The direction seems to be if there’s a house, a septic system, or encroachment permit, those are the only ones I’ll sign so they can go forward with building a home, but for all the others, I prefer to have board direction on those.”
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