09 Feb 2015
CENAO-WR-R
NAO-2007-01406
(16-V0154)
FEDERAL PUBLIC
NOTICE
The District Commander has received a
joint application for Federal and State permits as described below:
APPLICANT
Roslyn Farm Corporation
320 C Charles H. Dimmock
Parkway
Suite 1
Colonial Heights, VA 23834
WATERWAY AND LOCATION OF THE PROPOSED
WORK:
The project site is an approximately 40-acre undeveloped property adjacent to and directly east of 5155 Chudoba Parkway in
Rives, Virginia. The project is located in unnamed tributaries
to Blackwater Swamp in Prince George County, Virginia.
PROPOSED WORK AND PURPOSE: The applicant proposes to provide “pad ready”
commercial/industrial sites on property within the Virginia Enterprise Zone
located within Prince George County, Virginia. The Prince George Enterprise
Zone consists of over 3000 acres of property between Interstate 295 and U.S.
Route 460. The proposed project is an industrial/commercial development of
three large warehouse buildings (47,000 to 135,200 square feet) each with
associated truck parking/docking and employee parking. Additionally, the
overall development would have five stormwater management BMPs and an outside
storage area. As proposed the project would result in permanent impacts to approximately
1.42 acres of non-tidal wetlands (0.86 acres of emergent wetlands, 0.46 acres
of scrub-shrub wetlands, and 0.1 acres of forested wetlands). To minimize
impacts to wetlands the applicant designed the development to largely avoid
impacts to onsite forested wetlands and streams.
The applicant proposes to compensate for
the permanent wetland impacts at the standard ratios (1:1 for emergent
wetlands, 1.5:1 for scrub-shrub, and 2:1 for forested wetland impacts) by
purchasing 1.75 credits from a wetland mitigation bank within the same
watershed.
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
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, there
may be an effect to listed species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and
the Official
Species List and Species Conclusion Table is attached for review and comment by
Fish and Wildlife Service;
and (3) no known properties eligible for inclusion or included in the National
Register of Historic Places are in 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.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 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 10 March
2016.
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 Mr. David Knepper at (757) 201-7488 or david.a.knepper@usace.army.mil.
Attachment:
Drawings