West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

consultant is generally enlisted to draft these documents, which may cost from several thousanddollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the complexity of the project. Costs ofmost small and larger projects range from $5,000 to $65,000.Drafting the HCP and supporting documents is a small percentage of the cost; mitigationand compensation are the major expenses. For example, it cost about $3,500 in 1993 to draft theHCP and associated documents for a five-acre church site in Yucca Valley (Tierra MadreConsultants, Inc. 1993) and $6,200 in 1995 for the documents associated with a 35-acre gravelmine site north of Victorville (Circle Mountain Biological Consultants 1995). U.S. Boraxindicated that the Section 10(a) permit issued around 1996 for expansion of the U.S. Borax minesite at Boron allowed for expansion into 1,940 acres of marginal tortoise habitat. Theapproximate cost to draft the environmental documents, including documents relative to theirConditional Use Permit and SMARA requirements, was about $250,000.Months or even years may pass between submittal of a permit application and issuance ofthe permit. For example, it took 18 months for the 1993 Section 10(a) permit to be issued for afive-acre impact by two church sites (Tierra Madre Consultants, Inc. 1993) and three years forthe 1994 Sunland Communities Section 10(a) permit to be issued (Tierra Madre Consultants, Inc.1994). By the time this latter permit was issued, there was no market for this proposed tracthome development; despite the expenditure of $220,000 in mitigation funds, this residentialproject remains undeveloped as of 2002. Given backlogs, current workloads, and limitedUSFWS staffing, a one to two-year waiting period is likely for issuance of a new Section 10(a)permit. CDFG may issue a Section 2081 permit in six months to a year.Clearance Survey: Section 10(a) and Section 2081 permits invariably require clearancesurveys, where tortoises are moved out of harm’s way immediately prior to mechanicalvegetation removal. It takes a biologist about twice as long to clear the site of tortoises as toconduct a presence-absence survey. Thus the cost of a clearance survey is about $1,000 to$10,000 (compared to $500 to $5,000).Mitigation/Compensation: Incidental take permits invariably have a land compensationcomponent. Depending on the location of the land and size of the parcel, compensation landmay cost between $500 and $1,300/acre, although the prison constructed in the northeasternportion of California City cost $5,000/acre (J. Stewart, pers. comm.) In addition, CDFGtypically requires an endowment. Most Section 10(a) permits have been compensated at 1:1,although Kern County Waste Management reported a compensation ratio of 3:1 for threelandfills. Sunland Communities purchased 320 acres of compensation land to partially offset theimpacts to tortoises on the 160-acre parcel that was to be developed. The total mitigation costwas $220,000 for the 160-acre site, or about $1,375/acre (excluding document preparation ormonitoring costs). The mitigation cost for California’s first tortoise Section 10(a) permit was$9,000 for 5 acres, or about $1,800/acre (Tierra Madre Consultants, Inc. 1993). Dave Weiss(pers. comm. Nov 2002) indicated that U.S. Borax was required to compensate at a 1:1 ratio,replacing 1,940 acres of marginal habitat with more suitable, manageable habitats. DennisBoyle, also of U.S. Borax, indicated that the compensation costs were $969,900, or about$500/acre. This cost did not include on-site compliance, biological monitoring, and otherassociated costs.Chapter 3 3-40