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8001( ill FAcE-337 <br />11.A. SEBASTIAN AREA -WIDE SCRUB JAY HABITAT <br />CONSERVATION PLAN - SMITH ENVIRONMENTAL <br />SERVICES - PELICAN ISLAND ELEMENTARY <br />SCHOOL ECO TROOP PRESENTATION <br />The Board reviewed a Memorandum of November 9, 1999: <br />TO: James E. Chandler <br />County Administrator <br />D5PAPAffM HEAD CONCURRENCE: <br />Robert M. Keating, AICP <br />Community Development D' <br />FROM: Roland M DeBI 'CP <br />Chic& En ' ental Planning <br />DATE: November 9, 1999 <br />SUBJECT: Board Approval of the Sebastian Area -Wide Scrub Jay Habitat <br />Conservation Plan <br />It is requested that the information herein presented be given formal consideration by the Board of County <br />Commissioners at its regular meeting of November 16, 1999. <br />County staff requests that the Board of County Commissioners approve the Sebastian Area -Wide Scrub Jay <br />Habitat Conservation Plan (available for review in the County Commission Office). The purpose of the <br />Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is to obtain an "incidental take" permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife <br />Service (FWS) to release for development 317 privately owned platted scrub lots in Sebastian Highlands <br />Subdivision, using publicly owned scrub land for mitigation credit to offset the development impacts of the <br />platted scrub lots. <br />The scrub -jay HCP has been presented to and endorsed by the Sebastian City Council. County staff is <br />scheduled to present the HCP to the School Board for consideration at the School Board's meeting on the <br />evening of November 16, 1999. <br />Background <br />The Florida scrub -jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is a federally threatened species (listed in 1987) and is <br />protected under the federal Endangered Species Act as administered by the FWS. The scrub -jay is <br />indigenous to xeric oak scrub habitat; therefore, its survival as a regional population is directly related to the <br />amount of oak scrub habitat undeveloped and conserved in the county. For almost a decade now, there has <br />been a conflict between protection of occupied scrub -jay habitat on hundreds of platted lots in the Sebastian <br />Highlands vs. release of those lots for residential development. <br />NOVEMBER 16, 1999 <br />0 <br />-106- <br />