Notice2024-13754
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan for the Sand Skink; Orange County, FL; Categorical Exclusion
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 24, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Columnar Partnership Holding I, LLC (Withers Elementary School) (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed sand skink incidental to the construction of an elementary school in Orange County, Florida. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 121 (Monday, June 24, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 121 (Monday, June 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52491-52492]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13754]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2024-0086; FXES11140400000-245-FF04EF4000]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Sand Skink; Orange County, FL;
Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt
of an application from Columnar Partnership Holding I, LLC (Withers
Elementary School) (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP)
under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to
take the federally listed sand skink incidental to the construction of
an elementary school in Orange County, Florida. We request public
comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed
habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary
determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the
Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI
Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we
prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect
screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We
invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before July 24,
2024.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available
for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2024-0086 at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
<bullet> Online: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2024-0086.
<bullet> U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R4-ES-2024-0086; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Gawera, by U.S. mail (see
ADDRESSES), by telephone at 904-404-2464, or via email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6207100b0c3d050315071003220415114c050d14"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5b3e293235043c3a2c3e293a1b3d2c28753c342d">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United States who are deaf,
deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make international calls to the point-
of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service),
announce receipt of an application from Columnar Partnership Holding I,
LLC (Withers Elementary School) (applicant) for an incidental take
permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA;
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The applicant requests the ITP to take the
sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) (skink), listed as threatened under the
ESA, incidental to the construction and operation of an elementary
school in Orange County, Florida. We request public comment on the
application, which includes the applicant's habitat conservation plan
(HCP), and on the Service's preliminary determination that this
proposed ITP qualifies as low effect, and may qualify for a categorical
exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (40 CFR 1501.4), the
Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations (43 CFR 46), and
the DOI's Departmental Manual (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make this
preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental action
statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also
available for public review.
Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 5-year ITP to take skinks via the
conversion of approximately 0.7 acres (ac) of occupied nesting,
foraging, and sheltering skink habitat incidental to the construction
and operation of an elementary school on 15.00 ac on Parcel #29-24-27-
7805-19-002 in Section 29, Township 24 South, Range 27 East, Orange
County, Florida. The applicant proposes to mitigate for take of the
skinks by purchasing credits equivalent to 1.40 ac of skink-occupied
habitat within the Lake Wales Ridge Conservation Bank or another
Service-approved conservation bank. The Service would require the
applicant to purchase the credits prior to engaging in any phase of the
project.
Our Preliminary Determination
The Service has made a preliminary determination that the
applicant's proposed project--including the construction of the
buildings and associated infrastructure (e.g., electric, water, and
sewer lines)--would individually and cumulatively have a minor effect
on the skinks and the human environment. Therefore, we have
preliminarily determined that the proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B)
permit would be a low-effect ITP that individually or cumulatively
would have a minor effect on the sand skink and may qualify for
application of a categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on
Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations, DOI's NEPA regulations, and
the DOI Departmental Manual. A low-effect incidental take permit is one
that would result in (1) minor or nonsignificant effects on species
covered in the HCP; (2) nonsignificant effects on the human
environment; and (3) impacts that, when added together with the impacts
of other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions, would not
result in significant cumulative effects to the human environment.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments to
determine whether to issue the requested permit. We will also conduct
an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to
evaluate the effects of the proposed take. After considering the
preceding and other matters, we will determine whether the permit
issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If
met, the Service will issue ITP number PER6167047 to Columnar
Partnership Holding I, LLC (Withers Elementary School).
[[Page 52492]]
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that
your entire comment, including your personal identifying information,
may be made available to the public. If you submit a comment at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, your entire comment, including any personal
identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a
hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying information, such
as your address, phone number, or email address, you may request at the
top of your document that we withhold this information from public
review. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Moreover, all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, will be made available for public
disclosure in their entirety.
Authority
The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the
Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (50 CFR 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR part
1500-1508 and 43 CFR part 46).
Robert L. Carey,
Manager, Division of Environmental Review, Florida Ecological Services
Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2024-13754 Filed 6-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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