In its 10th year of operation, the East Contra Costa County Habitation Conservancy acquired 599.2 acres and provided streamlined permitting for 17 economic development, infrastructure and habitat restoration projects in 2017. The conservancy leveraged $2 million in developer-paid mitigation and permitting fees with $5.7 million in grant, local and other funds to pay for the efforts. According to the ECCCHC’s newly released 2017 Year In Review, the conservancy is well ahead of schedule when it comes to meeting its conservation goals of mitigating impacts on endangered and threatened animals and plants within the 175,000 acre plan area. Since its formation in 2012, the conservancy has acquired 13,137 acres for the purposes of mitigating the impacts of development on the environment, collected $15.9 million in fees and $60.5 million in grants. The plan area covers unincorporated eastern Contra Costa County, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, Brentwood, Pittsburg, Clayton and Oakley. These communities receive streamlined state and federal endangered species permitting in exchange for their participation in the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservation Plan or HCP. Developers pay mitigation fees in return, they are not required to seek project-by-project federal and state permits in the areas under which the HCP has been granted authority. Click HERE to download and view the 2017 Year In Review. Click HERE to view the full 2017 Annual Report.
