[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 88 (Thursday, May 7, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24912-24913]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-09093]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2026-0727; FXES11140400000-267-FF04EF4000]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed
Habitat Conservation Plan for Sand Skink and Blue-Tailed Mole Skink;
Polk County, FL; Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments and information.
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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt
of an application from FLLWCC, LLC/FLOW CC, LLC (Oakwood & Lake Wales
Country Club (Vintage)) (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP)
under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The applicant requests the ITP
to take the federally listed threatened sand skink and blue-tailed mole
skink (skinks) incidental to the construction of a multi-phase
residential development and associated clearing and infrastructure
installation in Polk County, Florida. We request public comment on the
application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat
conservation plan, and on the Service's preliminary determination that
the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical
exclusion pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the
Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI
Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we
prepared a draft screening form and NEPA statement for HCPs, which are
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 June 8, 2026.
To ensure your comment is received and considered, you must submit
it using one of the methods identified in the ADDRESSES section of this
document. Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this
document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be
considered.
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-2026-0727 at
https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: All submissions must include the docket number
[FWS-R4-ES-2026-0727] for this document. You must submit comments using
one of the following methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2026-0727.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R4-ES-2026-0727; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W; 5275
Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
Comments submitted through any method not authorized in this
document, or sent to an address not listed here, will not be
considered. We will not accept comments via email, fax, or hand
delivery. We are not required to consider comments that are submitted
after the comment period ends or that are submitted via a method
outside of these instructions. Comments containing profanity,
vulgarity, threats, or other inappropriate content will not be
considered.
We will post all comments at https://www.regulations.gov. You may
request that we withhold personal identifying information from public
review; however, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. See
Public Availability of Comments for more information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Gawera, Jacksonville Ecological
Services Field Office, by phone at 904-404-2464 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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce receipt of an application from FLLWCC, LLC/FLOW CC,
LLC (Oakwood & Lake Wales Country Club (Vintage)) (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 federally listed threatened sand skinks (Neopseps
(=Plestiodon) reynoldsi) and blue-tailed mole skinks (Eumeces egregius
lividus) (skinks) incidental to the construction of a multi-phase
residential development and associated clearing and infrastructure
installation in Polk County, Florida.
We request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's HCP, and on the Service's preliminary determination that
this proposed ITP may qualify for a categorical exclusion pursuant to
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.),
the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations (43 CFR part
46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual (DM; 516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make
this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft screening form and
NEPA statement for Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP), both of which are
available for public review.
Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 10-year ITP to take skinks via the
conversion of approximately 8.28 acres (ac) of occupied nesting,
foraging, and sheltering skink habitat incidental to the construction
and operation of a multi-phase residential development on 553.64 ac, on
parcel numbers 28-30-05-000000-021010, 28-30-05-000000-034020, 28-30-
05-000000-014010, 28-30-05-000000-013020, 28-30-05-000000-011020, 28-
30-05-000000-011090, 28-30-05-000000-011060, 28-30-05-000000-011030,
28-29-32-937720-020211, 28-29-32-937720-020041, 28-29-32-937720-020171,
28-29-32-937720-020201, 28-29-32-937720-020051, and 28-29-32-937720-
030291 in Sections 5, 6, 31, and 32, Township 29 and 30 South, Range 28
East, Polk County, Florida.
The applicant proposes to mitigate for take of the skinks by
purchasing credits equivalent to 16.56 ac of skink-occupied habitat in
the Lake Wales Ridge Conservation Bank or another Service approved
skink conservation bank. The Service would require the applicant to
purchase the credits prior to engaging in any phase of the project.
Our Preliminary Determination
The Service has made a preliminary determination that reasonably
foreseeable effects of the applicant's proposed project, including the
construction of a multi-phase residential development and the
associated clearing and infrastructure, would have a minor effect on
skinks and the human environment and that extraordinary
[[Page 24913]]
circumstances in 43 CFR 46.215 do not apply. Reasonably foreseeable
effects encompass effects of implementation of the action including
effects of the action in addition to other past, present, and
reasonably foreseeable future effects.
Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the proposed ESA
section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would be a low-effect ITP that may qualify
for application of a categorical exclusion (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)) pursuant
to NEPA, the DOI's NEPA regulations, and the DOI DM. A low-effect ITP
is one that would result in (1) negligible or minor individual or
cumulative effects on species covered in the HCP; (2) no significant
effect on the human environment; and (3) reasonably foreseeable effects
that would not result in significant 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 PER21381462 to FLLWCC, LLC/FLOW CC, LLC (Oakwood
& Lake Wales Country Club (Vintage)).
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 comment at https://www.regulations.gov, your entire comment, including any personal
identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a
hard copy 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.), its implementing
regulations (50 CFR 17.32), National Environmental Policy Act (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), as amended, and the and the Department of
Interior's implementing regulations (43 CFR part 46).
Jose Rivera,
Manager, Division of Environmental Review, Florida Ecological Services
Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-09093 Filed 5-6-26; 8:45 am]
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