A state appellate court has determined that El Dorado County must conduct a more thorough environmental study for a largely completed development in Cameron Park.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal, in an opinion issued last week, found that the county's environmental review for Cameron Park Venture's Ponte Palmero senior housing and assisted-living project was inadequate. The complex, managed by Eskaton, sits on 27 acres northeast of Gabbert Drive and east of Palmer Drive.
The property is south of the Pine Hill Ecological Preserve, home to several species of rare plants, including some that grow nowhere else in the world.
The Board of Supervisors approved the project in fall 2006, but the California Native Plant Society and Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation sued in El Dorado Superior Court, alleging the project lacked adequate provisions to permanently protect the rare plants found at the site.
Sue Britting, spokeswoman for the California Native Plant Society's El Dorado chapter, said the group was pleased with the opinion.
"We are very much interested in seeing a positive resolution and that we have adequate places for these plants. We think that is possible," she said.
Although the property is now largely developed, Britting said the developer could purchase or donate other land containing the gabbro soil that supports the rare plants.
County Counsel Louis Green said the county has not decided whether to appeal the ruling or proceed with the environmental impact report.
Deputy County Counsel Paula Frantz said the EIR might find the developer's plan to preserve some plants on-site and transplant others elsewhere is adequate.
Superior Court Judge Daniel Proud found in Cameron Park Venture's favor in 2007, ruling that the developer had complied with required measures to compensate for plant loss, including participation in a plant mitigation fee program.
The appellate court, however, said the county and Judge Proud erred in disregarding comments submitted by experts from the state Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and federal Bureau of Land Management.
The experts raised enough questions to warrant an environmental impact report to determine suitable mitigation measures, the appellate court said.
The court also found that the county's rare-plant mitigation fee program has never been evaluated under the California Environmental Quality Act. The fees are used to acquire and maintain rare-plant habitat in the Pine Hill Ecological Preserve.
The fees have not been reviewed since they were adopted in 1998, and may not be sufficient to pay for the ecological preserve system, the court said.
Because the fee program's effectiveness has been called into question, County Counsel Green said environmental impact reports, rather than less extensive studies, may be required for projects that could affect rare-plant habitat.
Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 608-7451.
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