The District Commander has received a joint application for Federal and State permits as described below:
APPLICANT
Moore’s Pointe LLC
WATERWAY AND LOCATION OF THE PROPOSED WORK: The project is located in Burnetts Mill Creek a tributary to the Nansemond River, at 1524 Nansemond Parkway, Suffolk, Virginia.
PROPOSED WORK AND PURPOSE: Moore's Point, LLC, proposes to build 161 residential lots on 48.855 acres of land located between Nansemond Parkway and Portsmouth Blvd in Suffolk, Virginia. All of the lots and most of the roads will be constructed on uplands. The project requires that two access roads be constructed through forested wetlands. The forested wetlands are PF02/1E wetlands composed of 10% or more of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). The city requires two ingress and egress points for any subdivision over 24 lots and are necessary for emergency vehicle access and proper traffic flow within the neighborhood. To minimize the footprint of the proposed road crossings, the applicant has chosen a design using nearly vertical modular block retaining walls. Road crossing A will permanently impact 0.303 acres of wetlands. In addition, there will be 0.12 acres of wetlands that will be temporarily impacted by construction. At road crossing B there will be 0.329 acre of permanent impacts and 0.139 acres of temporary impacts. All areas of temporary impact will be restored to their original grades after construction and planted with bald cypress seedlings on 10 ft centers. The total permanent impact for both crossings is 0.632 acres and the total temporary impact for both crossings is 0.259 acres. This equals total impacts (both temporary and permanent) of 0.891 acres. To further reduce impacts, the road crossings are located at the narrowest point of the wetlands drainages. To compensate for these unavoidable impacts, the applicant proposes to purchase 1.523 wetland bank credits from the Great Dismal Swamp Restoration Bank, Lewis Farm site. Both the impacts and the bank are in HUC 02080208. This represents a 2:1 mitigation ratio for permanent impacts to forested wetlands and a 1:1 ratio for temporary impacts to forested wetlands.
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 Suffolk 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: (1) no environmental impact statement will be required; (2) after conducting the NAO ESA Project Review Process, there may be an affect to listed/proposed/candidate species and/or designated/proposed critical habitat 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) properties eligible for inclusion or included in the National Register of Historic Places are in or near the permit area and consultation has been initiated. 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 October 29, 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. Brian Denson at brian.c.denson@usace.army.mil or at 757-201-7792.