3 - The Bowery_PUBLIC COMMENT_RAMSEY

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5.0 Environmental Analysis 5.1 Land Use Avion Project SEIR Page 5.1-4 Plan was approved in March 1997 and covers approximately 206,000 acres within the City’s jurisdictional boundary. The City, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have signed an MSCP Implementing Agreement that allows the City to issue incidental take authorizations for “MSCP Covered” species. The MSCP identifies approximately 57,000 acres as MHPA that is considered to be 90 percent conserved in order to adequately preserve habitat for the MSCP covered species. MHPA lands are those that have been included within the City’s MSCP Subarea Plan for habitat conservation. These lands have been determined to provide the necessary habitat quality, quantity, and connectivity to sustain the unique biodiversity of the San Diego region. MHPA lands are considered by the City to be a sensitive biological resource. MHPA lands once occurred over the majority of the project site. In 1998, the Subarea Plan EIR evaluated whether the project site (Southeast Perimeter Parcel C) and several other perimeter properties would impact the MHPA. As part of this subarea plan, an MHPA Boundary Line Adjustment (BLA) was approved that reconfigured the MHPA boundary over the project site to further exclude portions of the central ridge and lower flat land, while still including the canyons to the east and west of the ridge. Approximately 18.97 acres of the project site are included within the City’s MHPA as a result of the BLA approved for the Subarea Plan. The MSCP Subarea Plan northern area has four general guidelines, none of which apply to the project site. Land uses that are considered compatible with the objectives of the MSCP and which are permitted uses in MHPA open space include: • passive recreation; • utility lines and roads (must adhere to MHPA construction and maintenance policies); • limited water facilities and essential public facilities; • limited low-density residential use; • brush management zone-2; and • limited agriculture. For properties that are entirely within the MHPA, allowable development of up to 25 percent of the site can occur. San Diego's MSCP Subarea Plan states that adjustments to the MHPA boundary line are permitted without the need to amend San Diego's Subarea Plan, as discussed below. a. Boundary Line Adjustment An MHPA BLA may be requested by projects to move the MHPA boundary, as long as the adjustment provides an equivalent MHPA. The MHPA BLA requires approval from the City and Wildlife Agencies. For an MHPA BLA to be considered, it must meet six functional equivalency criteria to demonstrate the habitat conveyed is of equal or higher value. The comparison of biological value must analyze the following: 1. Effects on significantly and sufficiently conserved habitats (i.e., the exchange maintains or improves the conservation, configuration, or status of significantly or sufficiently conserved habitats);