3 - The Bowery_PUBLIC COMMENT_RAMSEY

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5.0 Environmental Analysis 5.1 Land Use Avion Project SEIR Page 5.1-8 restoration, public access, trails and recreation, litter/trash storage, adjacency management issues, exotics control, and flood control. Consistency with MSCP land use policies is summarized below, with additional detail regarding biological impacts and mitigation provided in Section 5.2 below. a. MHPA Boundary Line Adjustment The current MHPA boundary in the vicinity of the project site is shown on Figure 3-5a. Minor encroachments into the current MHPA boundary on the eastern portion of the site would occur under the project (see Figure 3-5b). These encroachments would impact a total of 0.55 acre comprised of 0.14 acre of coastal sage scrub, 0.27 acre of southern mixed chaparral, and 0.14 acre of non-native grassland. Under the proposed MHPA BLA, these impact areas would be removed from the current MHPA and on-site land not currently within the MHPA would be added into the preserve. Land added into the MHPA with the BLA would include 5.61 acres comprised of 4.99 acres of southern mixed chaparral, 0.49 acre of non-native grassland, and 0.13 acre of coastal sage scrub (Table 5.1-1), resulting in a net gain of 5.06 acres. Table 5.1-1 Summary of Proposed MHPA Boundary Line Adjustment Vegetation Communities/ Land Cover Types Existing MHPA Acres Deletions (Impact) Acres Added Acres Proposed MHPA with BLA (Net Change) Coastal Sage Scrub 3.58 0.14 0.13 3.57 (-0.01) Southern Mixed Chaparral 15.03 0.27 4.99 19.75 (+4.72) Non-native Grassland 0.23 0.14 0.49 0.58 (+0.35) Freshwater Marsh 0.13 -- -- 0.13 (0) Disturbed Land -- -- -- -- TOTAL 18.97 0.55 5.61 24.03 (+5.06) The overall MSCP policy for BLAs requires that they must transfer equal or higher biological values of impacted species and habitats into the preserve. A comparison of the biological values of the impacted areas and land to be transferred into the preserve is presented below. This comparison is based on the six biological factors required by the MSCP for a MHPA BLA. Effects on Significantly and Sufficiently Conserved Habitats • The amount and distribution of habitats considered significantly and sufficiently conserved within the preserve areas would be functionally equivalent to the impacted areas. The BLA would also result in an increase in total area due to an increase in acreage of southern mixed chaparral and non-native grassland. The areas of coastal sage scrub, southern mixed chaparral, and non-native grassland conserved together on-site within the adjusted MHPA would add approximately 5.06 acres of native habitat in excess of the amount of native habitat deleted, resulting in increases in the area of significantly conserved Tier IIIA and IIIB habitats within the MSCP subarea. The habitat value would be functionally higher relative to the current MHPA, despite the minor loss (0.01 acre) of coastal sage scrub as there would be a net gain of undisturbed native habitat to the MHPA. Thus, the proposed habitat exchange