An agreement reached yesterday between the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9 and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers clears the path for issuance of a critically important wetlands permit for the Newhall Ranch development.

“We have been working with the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers for a decade,” said Newhall spokeswoman Marlee Lauffer. “As part of the process of working with them and the National Environmental Protection Agency and the state (CEQA) on the river corridor, we have done studies, reviews and analyses. The State of California (Dept. of Fish and Game) issued their permits in December, but the Army Corps continued their analysis of the issues.

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“Yesterday, as part of that, the EPA Region 9 posted a letter that said they were satisfied with the review and revisions the Army Corps of Engineer had made,” she said. “This is a major step. There are still other processes and permits we need to get. We got our state permits at the end of last year and we expect to get the federal permit shortly. It is the largest focus of the entitlement effort.”

“We are extremely pleased that EPA Region 9 and the Army Corps have approved changes that will preserve critical habitat and natural resources on Newhall Ranch for many generations,” she continued. “We also appreciate that EPA region 9 was satisfied with the detailed analysis and significant revisions undertaken by the Army Corps to protect the River corridor and mitigate impacts of future development.”

The changes agreed to by the EPA and the Army Corps to enable issuance of a Section 404 permit for the Newhall Ranch Project include the following:

–Protect water resources by requiring impacts on streams to be cut in half.

–Adopt Low Impact Development measures modeled on Ventura County standards to protect water quality.

–Enhance existing measures to protect another mile of the Santa Clara River floodplain.

In addition, Newhall shares EPA’s goal of ensuring that wastewater from the Project will be treated to meet all Clean Water Act requirements and is committed to working with EPA, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board and the LA County Sanitation District to meet that objective.

Overall, Newhall Ranch will dedicate 8,700 acres of land as natural open space and protect nearly 800 acres of river, streams and wetlands from development in perpetuity, including 6.5 miles of the Santa Clara River. The Section 404 permit, which exceeds the standards in the Corps “no net loss” policy for wetlands, requires Newhall to increase wetlands by 30 acres.

The permit has been under review for a decade at a cost of more than $10 million.

Last year, the Department of Fish And Game called Newhall Ranch EIR/EIS  a “model for cooperative efforts among federal, state and local regulatory agencies, and other interested parties.”