The district commander has received a permit application for work described below:
APPLICANT
Friends of Claytor Lake
Post Office Box 300
Dublin, VA 24084
WATERWAY AND LOCATION OF THE PROPOSED WORK: The project is located in Claytor Lake, an impoundment of the New River, at Clark Road, Hiwassii, Pulaski County Virginia.
PROPOSED WORK AND PURPOSE: The applicant, Friends of Claytor Lake (FOCL), proposes to construct a concrete abutment to be used for loading and unloading equipment used to remove woody and man-made debris during clean up operations. FOCL removes about 250-300 30-cubic yard container loads of woody and man-made debris from the lake annually. A push boat and two barges are used with an excavator to load and off load debris into roll offs which are then hauled to a burn site or the County landfill. The abutment is approximately 100-feet long and will extend 25-feet from the bank. The steel and wood bulkhead will be backfilled with Class 1 clean erosion stone 5-7” to grade. A 6-inch steel reinforced concrete slab will be poured over the stone fill. A 4-inch concrete slab will cover the remaining surface of the bulkhead. All disturbed areas between the road and bulkhead will be covered with stone placed over fabric. Upland, a guard rail will be installed at roadside. A tubular 20’ steel gate at abutment entrance will be installed. All disturbed uplands areas will be reseeded. The length of the abutment accommodates the length of a 30- cubic yard container and the truck that hauls it. Currently there is an abutment located below Lowmans Ferry Bridge. The bridge is too low to accommodate moving the barges and equipment under it to access the southern end of the Lake. The new abutment would be built parallel to the shore (see attached drawings for plans and size descriptions). The location of the abutment was chosen just behind a natural bend in the river bank to inhibit siltation, has the depth to allow for boat and barge access and there is no adjacent development that would be impacted. This abutment would also allow for removal of sedimentation from above the bridge for the Pulaski County Water Intake. This abutment is a replacement for one that was located on private property and was removed several years ago.
In addition to the required Department of the Army permit, the applicant must obtain a Virginia Water Protection Permit/401 certification from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality assuring that applicable laws and regulations pertaining to water quality are not violated. Project drawings are attached.
AUTHORITY: Permits are required pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403).
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 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; 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.
COMMENT PERIOD: Comments on this project should be made in writing, addressed to the Danielle Courtois, Blue Ridge Field Office USACE, P.O. Box 143, Floyd, VA 24190, and should be received by the close of business on May 9, 2015.
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, please contact the Blue Ridge Field Office, Danielle Courtois at (540) 651-2088 or Danielle.R.Courtois@usace.army.mil.