Developers submitting plans for projects in Pahrump will soon have another layer of government bureaucracy to go through.

County planners will be checking to see if they are in a zone requiring a desert tortoise mitigation fee.

Nye County will be in charge of administering the desert tortoise habitat protection plan from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.The commissioners vote on the proposal Dec. 18.

The majority of Pahrump will be in a no fee area. Areas east of Highway 160, are in the high fee area requiring mitigation fees of $550 per acre, while the southernmost valley is in a zone where a $250 per acre fee would be charged.

Developers who often receive waivers or exemptions from master plan amendments, zone changes and other permits from the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission can't expect any breaks on paying this fee.

"This is a federal requirement. I don't know how we'll get around it," Nye County Planning Director Jack Lohman said. "Our function is going to be to map it out, find a mechanism to deal with it, identify areas that are affected and when it's decided, get the fees collected. I don't know if it's going to be in the application process or the permit process."

Nye County Natural Resources Director Jim Marble said the county expects development to occur in 600 acres of the no fee zone in the next three years. But there could be more, he said, adding, "Developers don't come in and share their long term plans too often."

Marble hosted the first of two open houses to discuss the desert tortoise habitat conservation plan Nov. 15. A second workshop is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Nye County Natural Resources Office, 401 S. Frontage Rd.

Some of the funds will go toward restoring habitat for the desert tortoise, Marble said. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to replant areas converted into illegal roads by all-terrain vehicles, he said.

While the first open house was sparsely attended, those that stopped by included Greg Hafen II, representing the Hafen family of developers, and Liz Sorokac, an attorney representing Focus Property Group, a company planning a development with 5,800 homes. Two fish and wildlife representatives were on hand.

Marble said the county is requesting the boundaries of the tortoise protection plan be extended to the Clark County line. It would include the proposed Focus Property Group project.

"I worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so the boundaries are along roads, so you don't need to do a survey whether you're in or out," Marble told Hafen, whose family is planning a development with 440 homes just inside the high fee zone.

The desert tortoise habitat protection plan being considered by county commissioners Dec. 18 is also only temporary for the next three years, Marble said. That will be replaced by a multi-species conservation plan, that could include the Amargosa toad, the yellow-billed cuckoo and plant species like the Pahrump buckwheat.

Areas like the proposed Pahrump airport site haven't been included in the desert tortoise habitat conservation plan.

Any piece of land more than 100 acres will be subject to a full-fledged environmental impact statement, Marble said. He noted developers will only pay the per acre mitigation fee for areas that are disturbed.

A letter from Bob Williams, field supervisor of the state office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office, warned Nye County Commission Chairman Gary Hollis about their concern over land disturbances in Pahrump resulting in the unauthorized taking of desert tortoises.

Williams reminded county officials of previous letters.

"Both of our letters advised Nye County and the Pahrump town board to work expeditiously with developers to complete a habitat conservation plan and obtain an incidental take permit prior to the commencement of further development activity in desert tortoise habitat," Williams wrote, in a letter dated Oct. 12.

Nye County received $175,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service habitat conservation planning assistant program and $50,000 from the state's conservation and resource protection program funded by question one on the ballot, to draw up the plan.

"We advise you to inform all developers in southern Nye County of their responsibilities for obtaining a permit prior to the commencement of additional land clearing activities in desert tortoise habitat," Williams wrote.

The county natural resources department is accepting comments through Tuesday.

With numerous developments set to occur in Pahrump, Janet Bair, assistant director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Las Vegas field office said, "the way to preserve species is to get in front of development."

"We are picking up a lot of tortoises as development progresses and habitat decreases," Bair said. She said 59 desert tortoises were turned in to the desert tortoise conservation center from Pahrump Valley in the past two years.

"Somebody brought in a tortoise last spring and it had been painted green for St. Patrick's Day," Bair said.