April 24, 2019
CENAO-WR-R
NAO-2014-01572
FEDERAL PUBLIC NOTICE
The District Commander has received a joint application for Federal and State permits as described below:
APPLICANT
Shirley Contracting Company, LLC
Attn: Jeff Austin
45240 Business Court, Suite 100
Dulles, Virginia 22079
WATERWAY AND LOCATION OF THE PROPOSED WORK: The project is located in Dog Run a tributary to the Potomac River, in Fairfax County, east of Reston, Virginia.
PROPOSED WORK AND PURPOSE: The applicant proposes to widen existing Route 7 from four lanes to six lanes for 3.3 miles from Reston Avenue to Colvin Run Road. In addition, the proposed work will include intersection improvements, bridge replacement over Difficult Run, shared use paths, utility relocations, stormwater management and nooise attenuation. The work will require relocating 1,600 linear feet of Colvin Run which runs parallel to Route 7. The existing channel will be impacted by adding an additional lane and shared use path. The purpose of the work is to increase capacity, decrease congestion, and improve emergency use and safety in the project area. An additional 3.5 miles of widening from Colvin Run Road to Jarret Valley Drive is being reviewed as an State Programatic General Permit. Route 7 has been widened previously from Rolling Holly Drive and Restor Avenue to the wets in 2016 and east fo this project area between Dulles Airport Access Highway and the Toll Road was scheduled to be completed in 2018.
The applicant avoided and minimized impacts by shifting the proposed alignment. The median on the western side of the project was reduced from 48 feet to 16 feet, the lane width for the entire project was reduced from 12 feet to 11 feet, the Shared Use Path (SUP) width was reduced from 10 feet to 8 feet and the SUP buffer from the back of the curb was reduced from 8 feet to 5 feet. These changed reduced stream impacts by 109 linear feet and impacts to wetlands were reduced by 2.7 acres. In addition, impacts from strormwater management facilities were reduced by eliminating 2 proposed basins and relocating other basins orientation such that impacts to wetlands were reduced from 1.73 acres to 0.01 acres.
The proposed work will permanently impact 0.97 acres of wetlands (0.84 acres are forested wetlands, 0.03 acres are open water, 0.06 acres are emergent wetlands and 0.05 acres are scrub/shrub wetlands). In addition, the proposed work will permanently impact 2,196 linear feet of streams. To mitigate the impacts, the applicant will provide 1.85 acres of weltand credits from a wetland bank servicing the watershed in which the impacts will occur. The proposed stream impacts will require 2,101 feet of stream credits which are proposed to be purchased from a mitigation bank servicing the watershed in which the impacts are proposed.
In addition to the required Department of the Army permit, the applicant must obtain a Virginia Water Protection Permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) assuring that applicable laws and regulations pertaining to water quality are not violated. Project drawings are attached.
AUTHORITY: Permits are required pursuant to Sections 401 and 404 of the Clean Water Act (Public Law 95-217) and Title 62.1 of the Code of Virginia.
FEDERAL EVALUATION OF APPLICATION: The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact including cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest. The decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits which reasonably may be expected from the proposal must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All of the proposal's relevant factors will be considered, including conservation, economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, cultural values, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, flood plain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food and fiber production, mineral needs, consideration of property ownership and, in general, the needs and welfare of the people. The Environmental Protection Agency's "Guidelines for Specification of Disposal Sites for Dredged or Fill Material" will also be applied (Section 404(b)(1) of the Clean Water Act).
The Corps of Engineers is soliciting comments from the public; Federal, state, and local agencies and officials; Indian Tribes; and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps of Engineers to determine whether to issue, modify, condition or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this decision, comments are used to assess impacts on endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity. Anyone may request a public hearing to consider this permit application by writing to the District Commander within 30 days of the date of this notice, stating specific reasons for holding the public hearing. The District Commander will then decide if a hearing should be held.
Preliminary review indicates that: (l) no environmental impact statement will be required; (2) all required coordination under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544, 87 Stat. 884, as amended) has already been completed by the lead Federal Agency (Federal Highways Administration) and no further coordination is required and the Official Species List and Species Conclusion Table is attached for review and comment by Fish and Wildlife Service; and (3) all required consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act has already been completed by the lead Federal Agency (Federal Highway Administration) and no further coordination is required.. Additional information might change any of these findings.
For compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended for projects located in Tidewater, the applicant must certify that federally licensed or permitted activities affecting Virginia's coastal uses or resources will be conducted in a manner consistent with the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program (VCP) and obtain concurrence from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Office of Environmental Impact Review (OEIR). We have not received a certification from the applicant prior to publication of this public notice. It is the applicant’s responsibility to submit a consistency certification to the Office of Environmental Impact Review for concurrence or objection and proof of concurrence must be submitted to the Corps prior to final permit issuance. A template federal consistency certification can be found here: http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/EnvironmentalImpactReview/FederalConsistencyReviews.aspx#cert . For more information or to obtain a list of the enforceable policies of the VCP, contact the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Impact Review at (804) 698-4330 or e-mail: bettina.sullivan@deq.virginia.gov or john.fisher@deq.virginia.gov.
COMMENT PERIOD: Comments on this project should be in writing and can be sent by either email to robert.a.berg@usace.army.mil, or by regular mail, addressed to the Norfolk District, Corps of Engineers (ATTN: CENAO-WR-R), 803 Front Street, Norfolk, Virginia 23510-1011, and should be received by the close of business on May 24, 2019.
PRIVACY & CONFIDENTIALITY: Comments and information, including the identity of the submitter, submitted in response to this Public Notice may be disclosed, reproduced, and distributed at the discretion of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Information that is submitted in connection with this Public Notice cannot be maintained as confidential by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Submissions should not include any information that the submitter seeks to preserve as confidential.
If you have any questions about this project or the permit process, contact
Robert Berg at (757) 201-7793.
Attachment: Drawings