Red-legged frogs have been found at HMB’s park site

An environmental consultant working for Half Moon Bay’s park planning company MIG has found fourteen California Red-Legged Frogs at the irrigation basin on the northwest corner of the park site. This confirms what nearly everyone, including the city, has already anticipated.

According to a memo from Dan Stephens, a resource management consultant [PDF of memo] from H. T. Harvey , on the team of the park’s planners at MIG:

It is likely that those individuals observed are only a portion of the frogs present in the basin.  It is not possible to definitively determine if the red-legged frogs are breeding in the basin, but breeding is possible.  It is likely that the frogs move back and forth across the site, between this basin and Pilarcitos Creek.  Such dispersal would most likely occur during the rainy season.

Coastsider reported in October that there was likely frog traffic between the site and the other side of Highway 92, and that the frogs might be breeding in the basin. The story quoted David Johnston, environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game,

"We don’t see any significant opposition to the plan," he said. And while he can’t speak for the US Fish & Wildlife Service, he doesn’t anticipate any major problems with them either. "I suspect they’ll want to add more to the design than we would."

Rich Quadri, the city’s park planner, said "We were told that it could be assumed there was habitat at the creek, but we didn’t know what else.  And that it would be good to get this out as soon as possible." Stephens’s memo says that surveying for the California red-legged frog can begin no earlier than the beginning of May. The survey was conducted May 9.

Quadri says MIG’s planning for the park has always assumed passive uses in the northwest corner, which may be required if the basin is determined to be frog habitat. The city is also exploring the option of moving the habitat to the buffer area near the creek, which would have to be done in consultation with the appropriate agencies.

It’s less clear what the impact of the frogs will be on the cost of the park.  "A lot of what we’d be doing would be required by CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act]," says Quadri. A CEQA-ready master plan is already budgeted for. CEQA compliance costs are unknown until the park plan goes through the process.

However,  H. T. Harvey is recommending a Section 7 consultation with the US Army Corps of Engineers. That would expedite the process of working with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, but will entail additional expense.