```

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3243-3244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00568]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2024-0190; FXES11140400000-256-FF04EF4000]

Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed 
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Sand Skink and Blue-tailed Mole-
skink; Polk County, FL; Categorical Exclusion

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt 
of an application from ADH Rollins Court, LLC (applicant) for an 
incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The 
applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed sand skink 
(Plestiodon reynoldsi) and blue-tailed mole skink (Eumeces egregius 
lividus) incidental to the construction of a residential development in 
Polk 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 February 13, 
2025.

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-2024-0190 at 
https://www.regulations.gov.
    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:
     Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2024-0190.
     U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R4-ES-2024-0190; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Al Begazo, by U.S. mail (see 
ADDRESSES), by telephone at 772-226-8134, or via email at 
[email protected]. 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 ADH Rollins Court, LLC 
(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 (Plestiodon 
reynoldsi) and blue-tailed mole skink (Eumeces egregius lividus) 
(skinks), federally listed as threatened under the ESA, incidental to 
the construction of a residential development in Polk 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 part 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 5.46 acres (ac) of occupied nesting, 
foraging, and sheltering skink habitat incidental to the construction 
of a residential development on 46 ac on Polk County Parcels 27-27-11-
735500-000140 and 27-27-11-734500-030300 within Section 11, Township 27 
South, Range 27 East, Polk County, Florida. The applicant proposes to 
mitigate for take of skinks through the purchase 10.92 ac of 
conservation credits (in accordance with the Service's 2:1 mitigation 
ratio guidelines) from a Service-authorized conservation bank 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 a 
residential development and associated infrastructure (e.g., electric, 
water, and sewer lines), would individually and cumulatively have a 
minor or negligible 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 skinks 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 ITP 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 ITP. 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 PER11450292 to ADH Rollins Court, LLC.

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

[[Page 3244]]

comment at https://www.regulations.gov, 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 1500 
through 1508 and 43 CFR part 46).

Robert L. Carey,
Manager, Division of Environmental Review, Florida Ecological Services 
Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2025-00568 Filed 1-13-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
```