Eagle Creek

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Eagle Creek is a Residential Planned Development (RPD) consisting of 51 lots on 15.30 acres located at 685 and 687 East Klosterman Road; Northeast corner of East Klosterman Road and South Disston Avenue. It is being developed by David Weekly Homes, this gated community will be constructed in one phase with City utilities made available to the residents.

WILDLIFE & HABITAT PROTECTION

37 Gopher Tortoises have been relocated per Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Gopher Tortoise Relocation (Conservation) Permit Application (attached in documents section). The contractor has hired Flatwoods Consulting Group to monitor the eagles nest located within the radius buffer as required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Flatwoods stated the following:

"We put two buffers around the nest location per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bald Eagle Monitoring Guidelines. The first one is a 330 foot radius buffer around the nest where no construction of any kind is allowed when there is active eagle nest until after May 15^th or when it is confirmed the eaglet has successfully fledged from the nest. The second buffer is a 660 foot radius around the nest. Construction can happen in the area between the 330-660 foot buffer as long as there is a biologist monitoring the nest during construction activities. The monitoring schedule per the guidelines is three times a week at the beginning phases of nesting. Beginning the fifth week post-hatching of eaglets, monitoring may be reduced to one day each week and continue until fledging occurs or on May 15, whichever comes first".

The contractor has installed silt fence just outside the 330 foot line to display where they are not allowed to enter. We are currently monitoring once a week because the eaglet is around 7-8 weeks old. We monitor the eagles with a high-powered spotting scope from the ground more than 700 foot from the nest. We look for signs of distress such as distress calls, standing over the nest in a defensive posture, adults spending less time at the nest (as the eaglets get older, the adults normally spend less time at the nest), adults feeding the chicks less frequently (again as eaglets get older they will cash food in the nest so eaglets can feed while adults are not present), and the premature fledging of eaglets. Thankfully we haven’t observed any of those behaviors during the construction project but if we did, we would have the contractors stop what they are doing and resume after the nesting season. Because the eagles are in an urban area with heavy traffic nearby, I suspect them to be more used to urban noises."

Permit 20-2801 - 685 E. Klosterman Rd.
Eagle Protection Zone

MORE INFORMATION

Additional information regarding this project can be found in the 'Documents' widget on the right side of this page, which includes a copy of the approved Final Development Plan.