The
district commander has received a prospectus to establish a tidal wetland
compensatory mitigation bank for federal and state permits as described below:
APPLICANT
Chesapeake Land Development, LLC
6062
Indian River Road, Suite 104
Virginia
Beach, VA
WATERWAY AND
LOCATION OF THE PROPOSED WORK: The proposed bank is located in on the west
side of Steel Street, east of Marlboro Avenue, north of I-64 and the entrance to
Deep Creek Canal in Chesapeake, Va.
PROPOSED
WORK AND PURPOSE: Chesapeake Land Development, LLC proposes to
establish the Steel Street Tidal Mitigation Bank in Chesapeake, Va. This
tidal wetland bank will provide effective off-site compensation for impacts to
tidal wetlands that cannot be practicably avoided as a result of disturbances
within Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC’s) 02080208, 02080206 and any other areas
deemed appropriate by the IRT.
The purpose of the bank will be
to provide off-site compensation for the unavoidable loss of tidal wetlands as
a result of impacts from development projects authorized under Section 401 and
404 of the Clean Water Act, Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbor Act, and
Section § 62.1-44.15:20 of the Code of Virginia, provided such impacts have met
all applicable requirements and are approved by the respective permitting
agencies.
The principal goal for the
proposed bank is to provide self-sustaining tidal wetland mitigation to
compensate for unavoidable impacts to other wetlands in the watershed. The
constructed tidal wetlands will be created through the conversion of existing
uplands, routinely mowed emergent and recently logged forested non-tidal
wetlands. Chesapeake Land Development, LLC proposes to establish emergent tidal
wetlands on about 30 acres of the Steel Street property in the areas within and
between the easements. Upland buffer will account for about 12 acres with about
1.25 acres of preserved existing tidal marsh. All impacts to existing non-tidal
wetlands will be mitigated by the purchase of mitigation credits from a
non-tidal mitigation bank in the same watershed.
The targeted functions of the
mitigation area include improvements/expansion of fish and wildlife habitat,
water quality, flood storage, and erosion and sediment control. In particular,
the creation of new uncontaminated fish habitat will allow fishery resources to
avoid the extensive contaminated habitat in the Southern Branch of the
Elizabeth River improving their health and productivity.
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 and a permit from the Chesapeake Wetlands Board. 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
classification, 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) after conducting the NAO ESA Project
Review Process, no listed/proposed/candidate species and/or designated/proposed
critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544,
87 Stat. 884), as amended) will be affected.
Based on this no effect determination, no further coordination with the
Fish and Wildlife Service is required; and
(3) no known properties eligible for inclusion or included in the National
Register of Historic Places are in or near the permit area, or would likely be
affected by the proposal. 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.state.va.us/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: ellie.irons@deq.virginia.gov or
john.fisher@deq.virginia.gov.
COMMENT
PERIOD: Comments
on this project should be made in writing, addressed to the Norfolk District,
Corps of Engineers (ATTN: CENAO-WR-R),
803 Front Street, Norfolk, Virginia
23510-1096, and should be received by the close of business on May 3, 2014.
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
Stephen Decker stephen.j.decker@usace.army.mil.
FOR THE DISTRICT COMMANDER:
Peter Kube
Chief, Eastern Virginia
Regulatory Section