37996 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 118 / Monday, June 19, 2000 / Notices

that correction and provides for an

additional extension of the application

due date, which is 30 days from the date

of today’s publication.

This notice does not repeat the

application submission information.

That information was set out in the

March 10, 2000 NOFA (64 FR 13222)

and also the May 18, 2000 amendatory

notice (65 FR 31584).

As noted earlier, applicants that

already submitted applications by the

original application due date of April

24, 2000, or the extended due date of

June 19, 2000, need not resubmit a new

application, and need not amend their

applications. Applicants that have

provided a certification which would

have entitled them to points with

respect to residency preferences, and

that still will comply with the

certification they provided, need not

submit a further certification to receive

the points. Applicants that already

submitted applications, however, may

submit new or amended applications if

they so choose.

Submission of new or amended

applications should clearly identify the

name of the applicant, the applicant HA

code (e.g. CA002), and whether the

information submitted is new and

replaces a previously submitted

application in its entirety or is an

addendum to the previously submitted

application.

Accordingly, in the FY 2000 NOFA

for Fair Share Allocation of Incremental

Voucher Funding, notice document 00–

6027, beginning at 65 FR 13222, in the

issue of Friday, March 10 2000, as

amended by the notice published on

May 18, 2000, beginning at 65 FR 31584,

the following correction is made to

Selection Criterion 2 (Efforts of PHA to

Provide Area-Wide Housing

Opportunities for Families), the second

full paragraph under paragraph (b) of

Selection Criterion 2:

IV. Fair Share Application Rating

Process

* * * * *

(2) Selection Criterion 2: Efforts of

PHA to Provide Area-Wide Housing

Opportunities for Families (30 points).

* * * * *

• 5 Points—Assign 5 points if the

PHA certifies that (i) its administrative

plan does not include a ‘‘residency

preference’’ for selection of families to

participate in its voucher program, or

(ii) it will eliminate immediately any

‘‘residency preference’’ currently in its

administrative plan, or (iii) it will limit

applicability of residency preferences to

50% of all new admissions to the

voucher program.

* * * * *

Dated: June 13, 2000.

Harold Lucas,

Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian

Housing.

[FR Doc. 00–15365 Filed 6–16–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210–33–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Availability of a Draft Environmental

Assessment and Preliminary Finding

of No Significant Impact, and Receipt

of an Application for an Incidental Take

Permit for a Proposed Commercial

Development Called Bella Vista Retail

Center Located in Highlands County,

Florida

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

The 81 + 3 Florida, Inc. company

(Applicant) requests an incidental take

permit (ITP) pursuant to section

10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species

Act of 1973 (U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), as

amended (Act). The Applicant

anticipates taking 20.7 acres of sand

skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) and bluetail

mole skink (Eumeces egregius lividus)

habitat, incidental to the development

of a commercial retail center in section

23, Township 34 South, Range 28 East,

Sebring, Highlands County, Florida. The

Applicant proposes to mitigate the

taking of skinks through fee title

acquisition of at least 41.4 acres of

suitable skink habitat within the range

of the species.

Land clearing, infrastructure

installation and commercial

construction will destroy 20.7 acres of

habitat known to be occupied by sand

and bluetail mole skinks. A more

detailed description of the mitigation

and minimization measures to address

the effects of the Project to the protected

species are outlined in the Applicant’s

Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), the

Service’s draft Environmental

Assessment (EA), and in the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section

below.

The Service also announces the

availability of a draft EA and HCP for

the incidental take application. Copies

of the draft EA and/or HCP may be

obtained by making a request to the

Regional Office (see ADDRESSES).

Requests must be in writing to be

processed. This notice also advises the

public that the Service has made a

preliminary determination that issuing

the ITP is not a major Federal action

significantly affecting the quality of the

human environment within the meaning

of Section 102(2)(C) of the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as

amended (NEPA). The preliminary

Finding of No Significant Impact

(FONSI) is based on information

contained in the draft EA and HCP. The

final determination will be made no

sooner than 30 days from the date of

this notice. This notice is provided

pursuant to Section 10 of the Act and

NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

The Service specifically requests

information, views, and opinions from

the public via this Notice on the federal

action, including the identification of

any other aspects of the human

environment not already identified in

the Service’s draft EA. Further, the

Service is specifically soliciting

information regarding the adequacy of

the HCP as measured against the

Service’s ITP issuance criteria found in

50 CFR Parts 13 and 17.

If you wish to comment, you may

submit comments by any one of several

methods. Please reference permit

number TE026107–0 in such comments,

or in requests of the documents

discussed herein. You may mail

comments to the Service’s Regional

Office (see ADDRESSES). You may also

comment via the internet to

‘‘david_dell@fws.gov’’. Please submit

comments over the internet as an ASCII

file avoiding the use of special

characters and any form of encryption.

Please also include your name and

return address in your internet message.

If you do not receive a confirmation

from the Service that we have received

your internet message, contact us

directly at either telephone number

listed below (see FURTHER INFORMATION).

Finally, you may hand deliver

comments to either Service office listed

below (see ADDRESSES). Our practice is

to make comments, including names

and home addresses of respondents,

available for public review during

regular business hours. Individual

respondents may request that we

withhold their home address from the

administrative record. We will honor

such requests to the extent allowable by

law. There may also be other

circumstances in which we would

withhold from the administrative record

a respondent’s identity, as allowable by

law. If you wish us to withhold your

name and address, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your

comments. We will not; however,

consider anonymous comments. We

will make all submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 118 / Monday, June 19, 2000 / Notices 37997

organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

DATES: Written comments on the ITP

application, draft EA, and HCP should

be sent to the Service’s Regional Office

(see ADDRESSES) and should be received

on or before July 19, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review

the application, HCP, and draft EA may

obtain a copy by writing the Service’s

Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta,

Georgia. Documents will also be

available for public inspection by

appointment during normal business

hours at the Regional Office, 1875

Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta,

Georgia 30345 (Attn: Endangered

Species Permits), or Field Supervisor,

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Post

Office Box 2676, Vero Beach, Florida

32961–2676.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

David Dell, Regional HCP Coordinator,

(see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/

679–7313, facsimile: 404/679–7081; or

Mr. Mike Jennings, Fish and Wildlife

Biologist, South Florida Ecosystem

Office, Vero Beach, Florida (see

ADDRESSES above), telephone: 561/562–

3909.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sand

skinks and bluetail mole skinks are

restricted to dry, sandy uplands (xeric

communities) in southcentral

peninsular Florida. These areas are

predominated by deep, well drained

soils, and drought tolerant plant species.

Sand and bluetail mole skinks are found

primarily in sandy areas within xeric

uplands. Sand skinks are mostly found

on the soil surface or under leaf litter.

Bluetail mole skinks are fossorial and

remain underground throughout their

life.

Due to its high elevation and

tendency to remain dry, historic skink

habitat was favored by early settlers and

subsequently attracted urban and

agricultural development. Human

settlement has resulted in an estimated

85 percent loss of xeric communities,

which has likely adversely affected the

distribution and numbers of sand and

bluetail mole skinks.

Quantification of historic or current

population size and distribution of

skinks is difficult because these species

are difficult to survey; they are small

and hard to locate due to their semi-

(sand skink) to completely fossorial

(bluetail mole skink) habits. Although

widespread, definitive surveys are

usually not practicable for these species,

existing soils data can provide insight

into the distribution of suitable habitat

and the subsequent loss of such habitat

to anthropogenic causes.

Much of the historic skink habitat

occurred along a 100-mile stretch of

parallel ancient dunes that were

situated on a north-south axis from

Orange to Highlands counties. This area

is exposed to frequent lightning strikes

which resulted in the evolution of plant

and animal species that became

dependant on frequent fires to persist.

Due to the effects of urbanization and

agricultural development, historic skink

habitat has been reduced in size and has

become fragmented. As a consequence

of habitat fragmentation, much of the

remaining habitat for skinks is poor

quality due to the lack of periodic fires

brought on by post-settlement fire

exclusion.

Sand skinks and bluetail mole skinks

are currently known from 115 and 36

locations, respectively, including the

Project site. Issuance of the Permit to the

Applicant would result in a loss of 0.9

percent (1⁄115) of the known localities of

sand skinks and 2.8 percent (1⁄36) of

known localities of bluetail mole skinks.

These figures probably overestimate the

percentage loss since not all potentially

suitable habitat throughout the range of

these species has been surveyed. The

effects that loss of sand skinks and

habitat within the Project site will have

on the local population of skinks is not

known.

Construction of the Project’s

infrastructure and facilities will result

in death of, or injury to, sand skinks and

bluetail mole skinks, incidental to the

carrying out of these otherwise lawful

activities. Habitat alteration associated

with the proposed commercial

development will reduce the availability

of feeding, nesting, and sheltering

habitat for these species.

The draft EA considers the

environmental consequences of two

action alternatives, both of which would

require issuance of an ITP. The

preferred alternative would affect about

20.7 acres suitable sand and bluetail

mole skink habitat. The reduced take

alternative would affect about 15 acres

of suitable sand and bluetail mole skink

habitat. The no action alternative (not

issue the ITP) may result in loss of

habitat for federally listed species

described above and exposure of the

Applicant under Section 9 of the Act.

The proposed action alternative is

issuance of the ITP according to the

HCP as submitted and described above.

Under the proposed alternative, two

mitigation alternatives exists, both of

which will result in the acquisition,

protection, and management suitable

skink habitat off-site. Habitat acquisition

and management will be achieved

through one of two mitigation

alternatives; fee-simple purchase of a

minimum of 41.7 acres of suitable skink

habitat or deposit of sufficient funds

into an escrow account to acquire and

manage a minimum of 41.7 acres of

suitable skink habitat. Under the first

mitigation alternative, the Permittee

would purchase habitat adjacent to

Archbold Biological Station (ABS) (a

non-profit conservation and research

facility in southern Highlands County)

and subsequently transfer title of such

lands to ABS. ABS would assume

responsibility for perpetual management

of the acquired habitat. Under the

second mitigation alternative, the

Permittee would escrow sufficient funds

to acquire and manage a minimum of

41.7 acres of suitable skink habitat

adjacent to ABS. The Nature

Conservancy (TNC) would act as

intermediary in this case and use the

escrowed funds to acquire suitable

skink habitat and subsequently convey

fee-title of acquired habitat to ABS. A

conservation easement of the acquired

lands would also be developed between

TNC and ABS.

As stated above, the Service has made

a preliminary determination that the

issuance of the ITP is not a major

Federal action significantly effecting the

quality of the human environment

within the meaning of Section 102(2)(C)

of NEPA. This preliminary

determination may be revised due to

public comment received in response to

this notice and is based on information

contained in the draft EA and HCP.

The Service will also evaluate

whether the issuance of a Section

10(a)(1)(B) ITP complies with Section 7

of the Act by conducting an intraService Section 7 consultation. The

results of the biological opinion, in

combination with the above findings,

will be used in the final analysis to

determine whether or not to issue the

ITP.

Dated: June 12, 2000.

Sam D. Hamilton,

Regional Director.

[FR Doc. 00–15369 Filed 6–16–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[Docket No. OR–020–1020–DE; G–0247]

Meeting Notice for the Southeast

Oregon Resource Advisory Council

SUMMARY: The Southeast Oregon

Resource Advisory Council will meet at

the Bureau of Land Management, Burns

District Office, HC 74–12533 Hwy 20

West, Hines, Oregon 97738, 8:00 a.m. to