Fly Habitat Part Of Settlement Developer Agrees To Buy Land For Endangered Desert Insect

Habitat for an endangered fly is part of an Irvinebased developer’s $162,500 settlement of two lawsuits brought by a Jurupa-based environmental group challenging a Mira Loma warehouse project.

Pacific Newport Properties Inc. will pay $50,000 to the Jurupa Area Recreation and Park District for park development in the Glen Avon area and $82,500 to the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice for purchase of habitat for the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly. The remaining $30,000 will pay attorneys’ costs for the Center for Community Action.

In return, the environmental group agreed to dismiss its lawsuits against the developer and Riverside County.

Second District Supervisor John Tavaglione, who helped broker the agreement, which was made official on Tuesday, criticized the payment of tens of thousands of dollars to buy habitat for a fly.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of,” Tavaglione said. “There’s no science to back up that the fly is endangered or that there is fly habitat in the area they sued on.”

The Delhi Sands fly, about an inch long, has been listed under the endangered species act since 1993.