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Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
Notice of availability; request for comments and information.
We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Rizzzo Self Storage of Sebring, LLC (Sebring Parkway Parcel) (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the federally listed sand skink and blue-tailed mole skink incidental to the construction of a self-storage facility and associated infrastructure. We request public ( printed page 10815) comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP), 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 is available for public review. We invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
We must receive your written comments on or before April 6, 2026.
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-2025-1595 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
Lindsay Needs, by U.S. mail (see ADDRESSES ), by telephone at 772-226-8158 or via email at lindsay_needs@fws.gov. 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.
We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt of an application from Rizzzo Self Storage of Sebring, LLC (applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP), also known as a section 10(a)(1)(B) permit, 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 threatened sand skink ( Neopseps (= Plestiodon) reynoldsi) and blue-tailed mole skink ( Eumeces egregius lividus) incidental to the construction and operation of a self-storage facility in Highlands County, Florida. We request public comment on the application, which includes the applicant's habitat conservation plan (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 46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft screening form and NEPA statement for HCPs, both of which are available for public review.
The applicant requests a 5-year ITP to take skinks via the conversion of approximately 0.88 acres (ac) of occupied nesting, foraging, and sheltering skink habitat incidental to the construction and operation of a commercial development on 5.92-ac on Parcel #C-33-34-29-080-0000-0510 in Section 33, Township 34S, and Range 29E, in the City of Sebring, Highlands County, Florida. The applicant proposes to mitigate for take of the skinks by purchasing credits equivalent to 1.76 ac of skink-occupied habitat within a Service-approved conservation bank. The Service would require the applicant to purchase the credits prior to engaging in any phase of the project.
The Service has made a preliminary determination that reasonably foreseeable effects of the applicant's proposed project, construction of a commercial development and associated infrastructure ( e.g., electric, water, and sewer lines), would have a minor effect on the skinks and the human environment, with applicability of none of the extraordinary circumstances of 43 CFR 46.215. Reasonably foreseeable effects encompass effects of implementation of the proposed project as well as other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future effects. We, therefore, have preliminarily determined that the requested 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 Departmental Manual. 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.
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 PER23207493 to Rizzzo Self Storage of Sebring, LLC.
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.
The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (43 CFR 46).
Jose Rivera,
Manager, Division of Environmental Review, Florida Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-04369 Filed 3-4-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
2 comments have been received at Regulations.gov.
Agencies review all submissions and may choose to redact, or withhold, certain submissions (or portions thereof). Submitted comments may not be available to be read until the agency has approved them.