Army Corps of Engineers approves UC Merced expansion plan

UC Merced has been given the green light to begin its expansion.

The go-ahead came after years of environmental wrangling and consultation over the campus' impact on endangered species in the area.

After almost eight years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved on Wednesday UC Merced's application to fill in wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act, a critical step required before any expansion of the campus could begin.

UC Merced's OK'd expansion plan will span more than 1,000 acres of open land, enabling the university's student body to grow from its current count of 2,718 to an eventual 25,000 by 2035, according to documents filed with the Corps of Engineers. The agency has regulatory oversight of the project because of federally protected wetlands on it.

The permit's acceptance came after long consultation among the university and state and federal bodies. The result led to shrinking the university project's footprint so that only 85 acres of protected wetlands will be built on instead of 121 acres, according to filings.

"It's a balance between providing them the best facility with the least environmental impact," said John Prettyman, a Corps of Engineers spokesman, about the project.

For university representatives the news was the fulfillment of years working toward the goal of growing in both size and status.

"Receipt of this important permit is a critical step forward in the process of establishing a major 21st century research university right here in the San Joaquin Valley where the needs and opportunities are enormous," said UC Merced Chancellor Steve Kang in a statement.

The university's initial application to the Corps, filed in 2002, had been revised to take into consideration environmental concerns by reducing the footprint of the campus away from threatened wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act.

But according to the Corps, nine threatened or endangered species will still be affected by the plan, including the vernal pool fairy shrimp, Colusa grass, the San Joaquin kit fox and the California Tiger salamander, among others. The project area also includes more than 15 acres of vernal pools, a rare habitat.

"This is one of the last contiguous large vernal pool habitats left in California," said Nancy Haley, who oversaw the UC's expansion project for the Corps.

The environmental effects from the plan meant that the university had to undertake mitigation measures to offset those effects.

The proposed development of 1,544 acres south of the current 195-acre campus was the "least environmentally damaging practicable alternative," noted Haley. In fact, by law that was the only alternative the Corps was permitted to accept, she said.

Haley, who is the chief of the Army Corps' Northern California regulatory division, has been working for the Corps of Engineers since 1990. She said she has never denied a permit. "Nationally, we deny less than one percent of all the permits that are applied for," she said.

To offset the destruction of the 85 acres of wetlands, the university will set aside 2,318 acres of wetlands in Merced for permanent preservation. In addition, the university has set aside 26,000 acres of grasslands in the county with help from the state, according to Janet Young, the university's associate chancellor.

While the permit will give the go-ahead for part of UC Merced's Long Term Development Plan, which includes the campus and campus community expansion, more than 1,000 acres of privately held property south of the current campus has yet to complete its environmental permitting, said Patti Waid Istas, a spokeswoman for the university.

The university's first step in expansion will be the construction of a solar panel array south of the current campus within a few months, said Young. It hopes to do further expansion work within the year.

Reporter Jonah Owen Lamb can be reached at (209) 385-2484 or jlamb@mercedsun-star.com.