COLONY COMMERCE CENTER EAST SPECIFIC PLAN Biological Resources Assessment Prepared for March 2017 Caprock Partners COLONY COMMERCE CENTER EAST SPECIFIC PLAN Biological Resources Assessment Prepared for March 2017 Caprock Partners 2050 Main Street, Suite 240 Irvine, CA 92614 626 Wilshire Boulevard Suite 1100 Los Angeles, CA 90017 213.599.4300 www.esassoc.com Irvine Sacramento Los Angeles San Diego Oakland San Francisco Orlando Santa Monica Pasadena Seattle Petaluma Tampa Portland Woodland Hills D170027.00 OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY | ESA helps a variety of public and private sector clients plan and prepare for climate change and emerging regulations that limit GHG emissions. ESA is a registered assessor with the California Climate Action Registry, a Climate Leader, and founding reporter for the Climate Registry. ESA is also a corporate member of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Business Council on Climate Change (BC3). Internally, ESA has adopted a Sustainability Vision and Policy Statement and a plan to reduce waste and energy within our operations. This document was produced using recycled paper. TABLE OF CONTENTS Biological Resources Assessment Page 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background and Purpose ..................................................................................... 1 1.2 Sources ................................................................................................................ 1 1.3 Study Area Location ............................................................................................. 1 1.4 Scope of Study ..................................................................................................... 5 2 Project Description ...................................................................................................... 5 3 Methods of Study ......................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Approach .............................................................................................................. 7 3.2 Literature Review .................................................................................................. 8 3.3 Field Investigations ............................................................................................... 8 4 Existing Conditions ................................................................................................... 11 4.1 Characteristics of the Study Area ....................................................................... 11 4.2 Plant Communities .............................................................................................. 12 4.3 General Plant Inventory ...................................................................................... 19 4.4 General Wildlife Inventory ................................................................................... 19 4.5 Wildlife Movement Corridor ................................................................................ 19 4.6 Jurisdictional Waters and Wetlands .................................................................... 24 4.7 Special-Status Biological Resources .................................................................. 32 5 Thresholds of Significance ....................................................................................... 43 6 Project Related Impacts ............................................................................................ 45 6.1 Regulatory Setting .............................................................................................. 45 6.2 Project Related Impacts ...................................................................................... 45 6.3 Impact Analysis................................................................................................... 46 7 Mitigation Measures .................................................................................................. 57 7.1 Approach ............................................................................................................ 57 7.2 Mitigation Measures for Significant Impacts ....................................................... 57 8 Impact After Mitigation .............................................................................................. 60 8.1 Level of Significance after Mitigation .................................................................. 60 8.2 Cumulative Impacts ............................................................................................ 60 9 References ................................................................................................................. 61 Appendices A Floral and Faunal Compendium B Wetland Data Sheets C Special-Status Plant Species D Special-Status Wildlife Species Colony Commerce Center East Specific Plan i ESA / D170027.00 Biological Resources Assessment March 2017 Preliminary Subject to Revision Table of Contents Page List of Figures 1 Regional Map ........................................................................................................... 2 2 Vicinity Map ............................................................................................................. 3 3 Study Area Map ....................................................................................................... 4 4 Site Plan .................................................................................................................. 6 5 Soils Map ............................................................................................................... 14 6 Plant Communities ................................................................................................. 15 7a Site Photographs ................................................................................................... 16 7b Site Photographs ................................................................................................... 18 8 Regional Aerial Photograph ................................................................................... 22 9 Drainage Features ................................................................................................. 25 10a Drainage Feature and Stock Pond Photographs ................................................... 26 10b Drainage Feature and Stock Pond Photographs ................................................... 28 11 Impacts to Plant Communities ............................................................................... 49 12 Impacts to Drainage Features ................................................................................ 53 List of Tables 1 Plant Communities ................................................................................................. 12 2 Jurisdictional Drainage Features ........................................................................... 25 3 Proposed Impacts to USACE/RWQCB and CDFW Jurisdictional Features .......... 51 Colony Commerce Center East Specific Plan ii ESA / D170027.00 Biological Resources Assessment March 2017 COLONY COMMERCE CENTER EAST SPECIFIC PLAN Biological Resources Assessment 1 Introduction 1.1 Background and Purpose This report presents the findings of a Biological Resources Assessment (BRA) conducted by Environmental Science Associates (ESA) for the approximately 103.38-acre Colony Commerce Center East Specific Plan (project) located in the City of Ontario, San Bernardino County, California. The project includes Assessor’s Parcel Numbers (APNs) 218-311-02, -03, -07, -08, - 10, -13 (project site) in addition to 0.39 acre of associated infrastructure improvements for a total of 103.77 acres (study area). The purpose of this study is to satisfy the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and to supplement subsequent regulatory applications pursuant to Sections 404 and 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Section 1602 of the California Fish & Game Code (CF&G). 1.2 Sources This BRA is based on information compiled through field reconnaissance and appropriate reference materials. A general biological survey, habitat assessment, vegetation mapping, and investigation of jurisdictional waters and wetlands was conducted by ESA. The information sources used in preparation of this BRA are provided in Section 9.0, References. 1.3 Study Area Location The study area is generally located approximately 2.5 miles to the east of Interstate (I) 15 and 4.45 miles to the northeast of State Route (SR) 71 (Figure 1, Regional Map). Specifically, the study area is located south of Merrill Avenue, north of County Line Channel, west of South Archibald Avenue, and east of Cucamonga Creek Channel. The study area can be found on the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 7.5-minute Corona North topographic quadrangle map within Section 22, Township 2 South, Range 7 West, as shown in Figure 2, Vicinity Map (USGS 1967, Earth Survey 2017). The study area is also shown on an aerial as Figure 3, Study Area Map, and includes the proposed project area and associated infrastructure improvements, as described in Section 2.0 below. Colony Commerce Center East Specific Plan 1 ESA / D170027.00 Biological Resources Assessment March 2017 STUDY AREA 0 10 N Miles Study Area Boundary Path:E:\GIS_ACTIVE\Caprock_Ontario_West_87\Projects\2017 -BRA\Fig -R01 egional Map-8x11 -03-13-17.mxd, sgeissler3/13/2017 SOURCE: Open Street Map, 2017. Colony Commerce Center East Specific Plan