State Faults Developer’s Plan to Protect Site of Rare Wetland : Moorpark: Wildlife officials contend that the safeguards in the 550-home project’s impact report are inadequate.

A developer’s plan to build 550 homes in southeast Moorpark fails to adequately protect a rare wetland, state wildlife officials said Wednesday, adding that they may challenge the project when it goes before city officials.

Mary Meyer, a plant ecologist with the state Department of Fish and Game, said Carlsberg Financial Corp.’s housing development threatens two plants on the state’s endangered species list.

The developer’s plan to protect the species has been approved by city planners and is scheduled to go before the City Council on May 6, but Meyer said the plan as it now reads will not protect the rare species.

“We don’t feel the area would be adequately protected with this plan,” Meyer said. “It’s an odd situation. The city has taken the view that they know what is best for endangered species even though they have no training in that area.”

Fish and Game has asked Carlsberg to set aside about 50 of the 500 acres in the development. The agency’s intent is to provide a buffer zone around the seasonal wetland--called a vernal pool--and keep the hillsides that provide it with water runoff free of houses.

Carlsberg President Ron Tankersley said the developer’s plan to set aside 15 acres and provide a new water source for the wetland is adequate.

“We have already provided” for the wetland, Tankersley said. “I don’t see why they’re so focused on setting aside more acres. . . . The development would not be economically feasible if we followed their plan.”

Tankersley said the project would divert runoff from houses in the area away from the wetland and keep its seasonal aspect intact.

The wetland will be preserved through a new drainage system that will carry runoff from undeveloped hillsides to the pool in the same amounts it has historically received, Tankersley said.

Vernal pools fill with water in the spring and are dry most other times in the year. The seasonal character of the wetland nurtures a unique set of plant and animal species that have evolved to survive the long dry spells, wildlife officials said.

The Moorpark vernal pool is home to two endangered plants--the California Orcutt’s grass and the Lyon’s pentachaeta , a yellow-flowered aster. Fish and Game botanists called the area “one of the major botanical finds” in Southern California after the plants were discovered in a survey last year.

Attempting to save the wetland and avert a legal confrontation between the two sides, a local environmental organization is searching for public or private money to purchase the vernal pool and the 50 acres around it.

In letters sent this week to conservation groups and government agencies, the Moorpark branch of the Ventura County Environmental Coalition asked for donations to buy the site.

“We thought this would be the best way to protect the area,” said Janet Murphy, vice president of the organization. “It really needs protection, and we don’t know if the developer’s plan to protect the area--which is experimental, really--will do the job.”

The site, which has a pronounced dark reddish color most of the year and is visible from the Moorpark Freeway near Tierra Rejada Road, is the only wetland within a 120-mile radius to provide habitat for the endangered plants found there, environmentalists say.

“I have sympathy for the developers,” said Margaret Koenig, who is active in the Environmental Coalition. “But this is a unique place we must protect.”

City officials say that setting aside 50 acres is unnecessary and that Carlsberg’s plan is adequate. If the developers were forced to set aside all the acreage recommended by Fish and Game, officials say, it would kill the project, which is expected to earn the developer as much as $40 million.

“We believe the same amount of water will reach the site” under the developer’s plan, said Jim Aguilera, Moorpark’s director of community development. “It will be protected.”

The environmental impact report on the project has already received preliminary approval from city planners, Aguilera said. The next step puts it before the Moorpark City Council for a vote. If the council approves the plan, it would probably be another six to eight months before building permits could be issued.

As for the Environmental Coalition’s plan, Aguilera said the city would not object to the purchase. He said he was skeptical that the developers would consider an offer unless it fully compensated them not only for the land, but also for the 145 houses that would be built on that part of the development.

The Environmental Coalition proposal “is a shot in the dark,” Aguilera said. “It’s not a serious offer, so no one has taken the time to make the calculations about just how much it would cost.”

Murphy conceded that the group is not sure how much it would cost to purchase the area, but said the proposal is serious. She also hinted that the environmental group might try to block the project unless more of the wetland is preserved.

“This is a positive thing,” she said. “It could be a win-win situation, and it will ensure that the wetland is protected without us having to contest the permit. In the long run, it’s a lot smoother way for the developer to get what he wants.”

For their part, Fish and Game officials said purchasing the property would be a perfect way to protect the plants.

But whether money is found to buy the area or not, they said, it must be protected.

“We’re willing to pursue that avenue, but with limited funds and an unwilling seller, there’s no guarantee a purchase could be made,” Meyer said.

“The fact is that this is an extremely uncommon and unique resource that must be protected one way or the other.”

Vernal Pool Environmentalists want to buy more than 50 acre in the 500-acre Carlsberg development to protect a seasonal wetland known as a vernal pool.