The continued growth of the human-built environment in Pima County, Arizona will result in the “incidental take” of species that are listed under the Endangered Species Act. To avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts to both listed and unlisted species and their habitats, Pima County is submitting this Multi-species Conservation Plan for 44 species that may be impacted as a result of the otherwise lawful activities of Pima County and its development community. The Incidental Take Permit, also called a Section 10 permit, will be for 30 years. This MSCP is part of the required documentation needed to receive an Incidental Take Permit under Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA.

Provides an overview of the issues related to monitoring the 36 species proposed for coverage under the forthcoming Section 10 permit to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. By integrating the requirements for MSCP compliance and effectiveness monitoring with the challenges inherent in single-species monitoring, this document seeks a balance between species-specific monitoring and other habitat, ecosystem and threats-based measures (parameters). By designing such a program, Pima County will be in a better position to anticipate and adjust management actions for the conservation of covered species and the ecosystems that support them.

The Multiple Species Conservation Plan will complete the land use planning process in a conflict between competing interests on the question of growth. A path of balance was chosen by advancing the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. This second draft will be posted on the website and distributed to interested community and committee members. A public process will be conducted so that during 200t the document can be finalized and submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the application for a federal endangered species permit.

In order to work effectively, concurrency requirements and level of service standards mus be an integral part of long term planning and the development review process. To create incentives for density, affordable housing, and mixed use development, staff will propose the application of lower level of service standards for land use types appropriate to certain growth areas.

Provides background information relevant to the Circulation Element of the draft Comprehensive Land Use Plan. It describes historic traffic volumes for roads within the various subregional planning areas of Pima County, and compare Pima County trends to national data in areas such as vehicle ownership, travel time, vehicle miles traveled, work trip modes of travel, registration, and vehicle costs.

Provides insights on historical and current issues in transportation planning. The first section describes the last five decades of planning efforts, funding initiatives and the increasing use of the roadway system. The second section is a series of fact sheets and maps of each subregion that presents the extent of the roadways, traffic volumes on major streets, transit and bicycle facility availability, future planned improvements, issues within the subregion, an overlay of the draft biological reserve, and in the northwest, a further overlay of pygmy-owl habitat with a detailed analysis of bond projects.