There's plenty of open space left in Placer County, but that hasn't stopped the county government and city of Lincoln from throwing sharp elbows over who gets to build where.

For seven years, the two jurisdictions have struggled to put together a groundbreaking plan that designates where growth likely will occur but also preserves enough undeveloped habitat to satisfy the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Fish and Game.

The grasslands west of Roseville and Lincoln contain the bulk of the county's remaining vernal pools, seasonal wetlands that serve as habitat for the endangered fairy shrimp and a host of other plants and animals.

This area also sits squarely in the path of growth.

Developers Richland Planned Communities and Angelo K. Tsakopoulos control large tracts in the area. Richland's land sits along the Highway 65 bypass now under construction and is slated for a regional shopping center in Lincoln's new general plan. Tsakopoulos has proposed a university on part of his property, and Placer County is studying development on his other acreage as well.

Both developers' holdings include parcels identified on county maps as some of the richest vernal pool habitat remaining in western Placer.

"These jurisdictions are going around and around, doing this dance with each other and two major developers," said Terry Davis, coordinator of the local chapter of the Sierra Club.

Fourteen maps were considered and thrown out between 2001 and last year. As the two sides dithered, Lincoln adopted a general plan that would allow its population – now roughly 37,000 – to reach 132,000 by 2050. The city boundary would extend to include Richland's land west of Dowd Road.

Placer County, meanwhile, approved Placer Vineyards, a development of 14,132 homes just north of the Sacramento County line and west of Roseville, and is considering growth north of there as well, including Tsakopoulos' university proposal.

Now the city and county are close to settling on a map that defers the toughest questions about development and habitat preservation until later.

"We kind of punted," said Lincoln Mayor Primo Santini.

The map, expected to go before the county Board of Supervisors in September, would feature three colors: a purple "habitat acquisition area," a white "development opportunity area" and a blue "development transition area" – a fancy way of saying areas that could be developed or preserved.

This ambiguous blue zone contains 21,862 acres – all the land along the urban edge that the two jurisdictions were fighting over.

Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt said it's the best the two sides can do. He has been working on the habitat conservation plan for eight years and said the process has been frustrating.

"You could certainly make the case that there are two or three developers who could sit down and talk this over and make peace and create a purple and white map," he said.

Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, who handles his father's Placer County holdings, declined to comment for this story.

Steve Thurtle, senior vice president of Richland, said he's not happy with the three-color map, either. "That's just bad policy," he said.

He argues that the county should do more analysis of the land in the purple area, which he thinks contains more vernal pools and potential vernal pool restoration areas than the county is giving it credit for.

If choices need to be made about who gets to develop, he said, Lincoln is more deserving than the county. The connecting "villages" in its general plan would retain 40 percent of their open space, he noted.

"Roseville is approaching build-out, give or take. Rocklin is built out. Lincoln is really the only city left in Placer County that doesn't have a critical mass," Thurtle said.

Richland Communities and other landowners stand to gain if Lincoln and the county agree on a habitat conservation plan.

Having such a plan would make it easier for the county to build big projects such as the planned Placer Parkway and a new water diversion from the Sacramento River.

Developers, meanwhile, could save time and money by not having to obtain an individual permit for each project from the wildlife agencies.

At the same time, a methodical plan for preserving habitat could benefit endangered species by leaving in place larger pieces of land connected in habitat corridors.

It remains to be seen whether federal and state wildlife agencies will sign off on a three-color approach. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Al Donner said the agency is keeping an open mind.

Mike McKeever, executive director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, said it's no surprise the county has struggled to draw a map everyone can live with.

"Anytime you start to make a map . . . you're going to have a lot of white heat on that process," he said.

Call The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga, (916) 321-1094.