7-2-2: FINDINGS:
The city council finds and determines that:
   A.   Pursuant to the authority granted to it in the federal endangered species act of 1973, 16 USC section 1531 et seq., the U.S. fish and wildlife service has listed the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) as a threatened species, effective April 2, 1990.
   B.   The secretary of the interior may permit the incidental taking of a threatened species in accordance with a permit issued pursuant to section 10(a) of the endangered species act (16 USC section 1539). All applications for a section 10(a) permit must be accompanied by a habitat conservation plan approved by the U.S. fish and wildlife service. Said section 10(a) permit may allow the incidental taking of the threatened species as a consequence of otherwise lawful activities on the basis that the habitat conservation plan will provide a program for the protection of the species.
   C.   The U.S. fish and wildlife service has decreed that:
      1.   Development within the historic range (habitat) of the desert tortoise has resulted in loss and degradation of occupied desert tortoise habitat, increased the isolation of desert tortoise populations, reduced the potential habitat areas for future colonization, and eliminated the corridors which allow the species to relocate as environmental conditions warrant;
      2.   The desert tortoise's survival cannot be ensured on small isolated acreage surrounded by, or in close proximity to, development or human populations; and
      3.   Impacts to the desert tortoise are not limited to loss or degradation of actually occupied habitat only.
   D.   To decrease the impact upon land development in Clark County caused by the listing of the desert tortoise as a threatened species and to assist in the preservation of the desert tortoise, the county has developed and proposes to implement a habitat conservation plan, which it has entitled "The Clark County Desert Conservation Plan", and which was approved by the board of county commissioners on June 21, 1994. A copy of the desert conservation plan is on file with the county clerk, commission division. The costs of developing and implementing the desert conservation plan have been and shall continue to be borne by those who disturb land within the historic range of habitat of the desert tortoise. The desert conservation plan has also been approved by the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and Mesquite and the Nevada department of transportation and was submitted to the U.S. fish and wildlife service, together with a request for a section 10(a) permit to take desert tortoises. On or about August 1, 1995, the U.S. fish and wildlife service issued its section 10(a) permit to Clark County, the Nevada department of transportation and the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and Mesquite. Among the conditions of the section 10(a) permit is a provision that Clark County and each of the cities adopt and enforce ordinances containing the provisions herein contained.
   E.   All mitigation fees collected pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be used to facilitate the implementation of the desert conservation plan and the terms of the section 10(a) permit.
   F.   Adoption and implementation of this chapter demonstrates the county's and city's intent to cooperate with federal and state agencies and conservation groups to provide for the survival of the desert tortoise and other species of concern, while at the same time to provide for the further development of property in Clark County.
   G.   The terms of this chapter are intended to be consistent with the requirements of the desert conservation plan and the section 10(a) permit. (Ord. 479, 3-11-2014)