City planners OK two buildings despite wetlands concerns

An artist's rendering of one of the buildings.

WATSONVILLE — The Watsonville Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to allow construction of two office buildings on the corner of Westgate and Technology drives, despite concerns from the Watsonville Wetlands Watch over environmental damage.

One of the buildings, which are both 20,000 square feet, will be a medical office building, while the other is described as a general office campus.

The 3.6-acre site, which is currently vacant, houses a quarter-acre wetland, which will be paved over to make way for the construction. The wetland was determined to be a marginal wetland due to its small size and isolation from other bodies of water. Biotic studies found that no sensitive species, such as the red-legged frog or tar plant, were living in the area. Further, the small wetland was created as part of a drainage project about 30 years ago when the airport business park was constructed.

However, the wetland and surrounding trees and grasslands are home to a variety of wildlife species, according to Jonathan Pilch, restoration director for Watsonville Wetlands Watch.

“To say it’s a degraded wetland, that’s inaccurate,” he said. “The grasslands support groundnesting birds and a variety of important bird species that we all come to find prominent here in the Pajaro Valley. It’s a great amenity that we’d like to see preserved."



For the complete article see the 08-16-2012 issue.

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