Riverside County grand jury is wrong; taxpayers won’t pay $1 billion for habitat land, agency says

A Riverside County civil grand jury report critical of a habitat conservation agency is “factually inaccurate” and wrongly asserts that the county and local cities risk having to spend $1 billion or more to preserve land, according to a formal response to the jury’s findings.

The board of the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority earlier this month approved the response to the grand jury’s report, which was released June 26.

The authority, an alliance of 18 cities and county government, oversees the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, enacted in 2004 with the aim of preserving half a million acres of open space while providing a road map for future growth. The plan protects almost 150 native plant and animal species, including endangered species such as the Stephen’s kangaroo rat.

An annually rotating panel of 19 citizens sworn in by a judge, the grand jury investigates the inner workings of public agencies and suggests ways they can improve. Its report on the authority concluded that the alliance is far behind its goal of preserving half a million acres by 2029.

It could cost $1 billion or more to acquire the remaining acreage, far more than what was first estimated, the grand jury reported.

“This represents a significant financial risk to the County,” the report read.

That’s “grossly inaccurate,” the authority’s response read. “Nothing in the (conservation plan)” or the authority’s founding documents “could be construed as to require … any expenditure of any money from the County or the Cities.”

What’s more, the local cost of acquiring the remaining acreage for the plan is $770 million, not $1 billion, with another $64 million needed for an endowment, the response read.

According to the grand jury, the authority initially thought it would cost $4,000 an acre to buy land, only to see that price rise to $13,000 an acre as property values rose.

The authority challenges that finding.

“(The plan) estimated reserve land would be acquired for $13,100 per acre,” the response read, adding that average land purchase price has been $8,500 an acre and that the average per-acre cost is expected to rise to $13,500.

The grand jury also found that authority board members – the five county supervisors and city council members from the 18 cities in the authority – lack knowledge of how the conservation plan works, which the authority disputes in its response.

The jury reported the authority is responsible for managing and patrolling 400,000 acres of reserve land when the correct figure is 61,580 acres, the response read. The jury makes “broad assumptions” about land damage by off-roaders and the homeless “that are not substantiated,” the response added.

Grand jurors also criticized spending on “costly contracts” for services, including $200,000 a year for two federal lobbyists. Those lobbyists secured more than $25 million in funding for the authority – “a healthy return on investment for taxpayers,” read the response, which added that the authority saves money by contracting some “specialized tasks” to outside parties.

September 17, 2019

The Press Enterprise

By Jeff Horseman