Zentner Planning and Ecology has processed and received permit approvals for simple to complex projects from a variety of agencies, including the Corps of Engineers, Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. A common denominator for all approved permits is our ability to work with clients and regulatory agency staff and craft solutions that meet the goals of each. That ability is derived from more than 30 years of permitting experience; when a problem comes up, we've often dealt with it before and can help our Clients meet their objectives without endangering either the budget or timeline.
Wetland Delineations
Our reputation as wetland delineation experts is based on our work involving difficult and complex projects as well as the expeditious and accurate mapping of less challenging sites.
O'neill mullin property: permitting on-site mitigation within the new corps regulations
The 20.2-acre O’Neill/Mullin site is a commercial development in the southern end of Napa County. Though the relatively new Corps regulations lean heavily towards mitigating project impacts at mitigation banks, on-site restoration can still work under certain circumstances. However, the Corps may look at these projects with increased scrutiny compared to the past. We developed a mitigation plan for the site and worked with the Corps staff to eliminate any potential concerns as a result of that increased scrutiny. The resulting plan was one that both the client and Corps staff approved and resulted in a smooth permitting process.
Lower Laguna Creek: completing delineations and multi-agency permits
The Lower Laguna Creek project was completed for Sacramento County and required permits or other approvals from the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, CA Regional Water Quality Control Board, and CA Department of Fish and Wildlife. The project was both large and complex, primarily involving designing and constructing a new flood control project for more than 300 acres of land in southern Sacramento that included creeks, vernal pools and seasonal marshes. The major steps in completing the permit approvals were accurately defining the boundaries of the many wetlands and our work with Gill Water Resources to design a flood bypass channel that also accommodated the project mitigation. This became one of the largest wetland fill permits issued by the Sacramento District of the Corps.
Torian: Wetland boundaries and permitting on the bay's edge
The Torian project site was a mix of post-industrial landfills and excavations and many of the latter hosted seasonal wetlands. Working with historic aerial photographs, soils analyses, and hydrology modeling, we demonstrated that the wetlands were limited to a relatively discrete part of the site, ending several years of disputes over the wetland boundaries. As with other projects on the Bay margins, permitting was complex, requiring approvals from the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US National Marine Fisheries Service, SF Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the CA Regional Water Quality Control Board. This was one of the largest wetland fill permits issued by the San Francisco District of the Corps in the past two decades.