NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Aug. 11, 1999, (PRIMEZONE) - Presley Homes (NYSE:PDC) has been granted a hearing date on its petition filed today in Santa Clara Superior Court. Presley's petition asks the Court to order a grading permit issued for Presley's residential project in Santa Clara County. The Court will hear the matter on August 23, 1999.
Presley, the developer of The Ranch at Silver Creek, a residential community in the City of San Jose which would provide 538 homes in the heart of the Silicon Valley where there exists a severe housing shortage. Construction of the 538 homes will use only 15 percent of the 575 acres included in The Ranch at Silver Creek. That is less than one house per acre.
More than half of the property will be given to a non-profit environmental trust for use as conservation habitat. The developer would provide initial funding for the Trust of approximately $1.6 million and would arrange funding in perpetuity of $200,000 annually.
According to Presley, this solid environmental plan is being thwarted by none other than the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
On July 26, 1999 Presley was informed that the City of San Jose could not issue a grading permit because of improper threats and interference by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the City's permitting process. Presley pointed out that the Service, which has threatened legal action against the City, is claiming that the Ranch at Silver Creek potentially endangers protected species, and is therefore within the Service's jurisdiction. In fact, there is no factual support for their claim.
Since 1990, The Ranch at Silver Creek has undergone extensive environmental and planning review by local, State and Federal agencies - including the Army Corps, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the City, the Service, and the California Department of Fish and Game.
Presley said it has secured all of the necessary approvals and permits for each stage of the project to date. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has actively participated in the regulatory review process for The Ranch at Silver Creek from its inception. At each stage of the process, the Service has objected to the issuance of permits and approvals.
But, at each stage, the Service's objections have been rejected by the reviewing agency.
According to the company, the Service is now attempting to accomplish indirectly by threats, unsupported claims and innuendoes, what it could not accomplish directly or lawfully.
The Service falsely claims it is trying to protect the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly. Presley stated that, "In fact all scientific evidence shows that there is no Bay Checkerspot Butterfly on this property and hasn't been on the property since 1995. The Service has not produced one shred of evidence to the contrary." While a habitat conservation plan could not have been imposed upon Presley under Federal law, the company has nevertheless agreed to a comprehensive habitat conservation plan as part of the environmental review process.
The habit conservation plan includes a 71-acre Bay Checkerspot Butterfly restoration area to be governed, along with other open acreage, by the non-profit environmental trust. The net effect of Presley's habitat conservation plan is that 298 acres (or approximately 52 percent of the Site) is to be set aside as trust-funded restoration/preservation areas.
Presley said its environmental team has exercised avoidance of environmental impacts to these sensitive areas. When Presley bought the property, the site plan called for filling the degraded Hellyer Creek corridor. Presley redesigned the plan to preserve Hellyer Creek and more than 90 percent of the wetlands and riparian habitat will be preserved and enhanced.
The entire lush riparian corridor of Silver Creek will be preserved and enhanced with oak trees grown from local seed. The company has already built a wetland pond to provide a breeding habitat for the California tiger salamander, with translocation of adjust tiger salamanders from existing residential neighborhoods, and successful breeding of these adults in the pond has been documented. The plan also avoids endangered plants such as the Metcalf Canyon jewelflower and dudleya, and the plant restoration part of the conservation plan calls for transplanting, propagating, seeding and enhancing habitat for these species.
All of this is in jeopardy because of the actions of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Presley had already begun clearing the property when the Service interfered. At this point grading needs to be completed to insure proper erosion control before the rainfalls begin this winter. The area graded drains into Silver Creek and Coyote Creek, which in turn flow into the San Francisco Bay.
The Service's eleventh hour interference with the City's permitting process consists of erroneous claims about its jurisdiction over the permitting process and unwarranted threats of legal action against the City. The Service's interference is:
-- Improper because it exceeds its jurisdiction and/or is an abuse of its powers.
-- Unfair because it has had every opportunity to influence the environmental aspects of The Ranch at Silver Creek from its inception, but chose not to or was rejected; and
-- Environmentally counterproductive because Presley is unable to implement its voluntarily-adopted, comprehensive habitat conservation plan, which includes a 71-acre dedicated to the restoration of the same butterfly species which the Service improperly asserts needs protection.
-- Environmentally counterproductive because, unless Presley obtains the grading permit forthwith, it will be unable to complete the grading necessary to secure the site against the imminent onset of seasonal rainfalls, with the inevitable result of substantial and irreparable damage to the environment, as well as to the economic interests of Presley, the City, and surrounding property owners.
-- Economically harmful to the City and State because The Ranch at Silver Creek would provide much needed housing in the heart of the Silicon Valley which is an important part of California's economy.