Public Notice Notifications

The Jacksonville District currently has five categories of public notice notification mailing lists. If you wish to receive email notifications when new public notices are added to this page, please send a request to Regulatory Webmaster.  Each category is described below. Be sure to specify which list(s) you want to be included on.

Florida - This includes all public notices for projects being reviewed for Standard Permits within the State of Florida.

Antilles - This includes all public notices for projects being reviewed for Standard Permits within the Antilles area (this includes Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands).

Tropical Storms & Other Emergencies - These public notices provide information on procedures for emergency permitting requirements due to specific tropical storm events or other emergency situations.

Special Issues - These are public notices that involve the Regulatory program but which are generally not limited to one particular geographic area. These would include public notices for the establishment or modification of Restricted Areas/Danger Zones, re-issuance of General Permits or Nationwide Permits, changes to guidance and policies, etc.

Administrative Penalty - These public notices provide information associated with Administrative Penalties. An Administrative Penalty can be assessed to address violations associated with issued Department of the Army permits.

SAJ-2014-03115(SP-LSL)

Published Nov. 9, 2017
Expiration date: 11/29/2017

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has received an application for a Department of the Army permit pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1344) as described below:

APPLICANT: Mr. Mario Gisbert                                               Ms. Bridget Precise
                      City of Panama City Beach                                The St. Joe Company
                      116 South Arnold Road                                      133 South WaterSound Parkway
                      Panama City Beach, FL 32413                           WaterSound, FL 32413

WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with Botheration Bayou. The project site is located north of U.S. Highway 98 in Section 25, Township 3 South, Range 16 West, Panama City Beach, Bay County, Florida. The ditch is a +7,000 linear foot long segment of excavated, steep-sided ditch.

Directions to the site are as follows: The site is a linear ditch running from Highway 98 just west of Moylan Road to Breakfast Point Mitigation Bank.

APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES:

Latitude:     30.197353°
Longitude: -85.796381°

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic: Drainage improvements.

Overall: Improve drainage for the Hombre and North Glades subdivisions in Panama City Beach, Bay County, Florida.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: The wetland system consists of palustrine scrub-shrub and forested systems. The onsite vegetation consists of magnolia, gallberry, fetterbush, black titi and white titi. The existing area surrounding the project area consists of additional St. Joe lands, Ashely Apartment Home Complex, Florida Department of Transportation right of way, and Breakfast Point Mitigation Bank.

PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to improve the existing drainage within the residential communities of Hombre and North Glades subdivisions. To achieve the project purpose, the ditch location would be modified slightly to decrease the angles within the route, the ditch bottom would be leveled and set at an appropriate elevation to improve flow and the side slope angle decreased for safety, maintenance, erosion prevention and flow improvement. All would improve stormwater attenuation upstream and water quality downstream. Erosion and sedimentation controls would be utilized.

AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION INFORMATION – The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment:

The location of the project was selected to remain within the footprint of the existing ditch to the maximum extent practicable. The few changes to the location were to decrease angles and therefore the potential for future erosion, flow and water quality issues. Impacts have been reduced after agency pre-application meetings, i.e. from 4.7 acres to 0.74 acre.

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment:

The applicant proposes to purchase 0.61 palustrine mitigation bank credits from Breakfast Point Mitigation Bank.

CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps has determined the permit area has been extensively modified by previous work and there is little likelihood a historic property may be affected.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has determined, based on the use of Eastern Indigo Snake Programmatic Effect Determination Key (August 2013), that the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the Eastern Indigo snake.

NOTE: This public notice is being issued based on information furnished by the applicant. This information has not been verified or evaluated to ensure compliance with laws and regulation governing the regulatory program. The jurisdictional line has not been verified by Corps personnel.

AUTHORIZATION FROM OTHER AGENCIES: Water Quality Certification may be required from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and/or one of the state Water Management Districts.

COMMENTS regarding the potential authorization of the work proposed should be submitted in writing to the attention of the District Engineer through the Panama City Permit Section, 1002 West 23rd Street, Suite 350, Panama City, Florida 32405 within 21 days from the date of this notice.

The decision whether to issue or deny this permit application will be based on the information received from this public notice and the evaluation of the probable impact to the associated wetlands. This is based on an analysis of the applicant's avoidance and minimization efforts for the project, as well as the compensatory mitigation proposed.

QUESTIONS concerning this application should be directed to the project manager, Mrs. Lisa S. Lovvorn, in writing at the Panama City Permits Section, 1002 West 23rd Street, Suite 350, Panama City, Florida 32405; by electronic mail at lisa.s.lovvorn@usace.army.mil; by facsimile transmission at (850) 872-0231; or, by telephone at (850)763-0717, extension 27.

IMPACT ON NATURAL RESOURCES: Coordination with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Marine Fisheries Services, and other Federal, State, and local agencies, environmental groups, and concerned citizens generally yields pertinent environmental information that is instrumental in determining the impact the proposed action will have on the natural resources of the area.

EVALUATION: 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. That decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits, which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the proposal, must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors which may be relevant to the proposal will be considered including cumulative impacts thereof; among these are conservation, economics, esthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historical properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food, and fiber production, mineral needs, considerations of property ownership, and in general, the needs and welfare of the people. Evaluation of the impact of the activity on the public interest will also include application of the guidelines promulgated by the Administrator, EPA, under authority of Section 404(b) of the Clean Water Act or the criteria established under authority of Section 102(a) of the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. A permit will be granted unless its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest.

The Corps 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 impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps to determine whether to issue, modify, condition, or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this determination, comments are used to assess impacts to endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.

COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT CONSISTENCY: In Florida, the State approval constitutes compliance with the approved Coastal Zone Management Plan. In Puerto Rico, a Coastal Zone Management Consistency Concurrence is required from the Puerto Rico Planning Board. In the Virgin Islands, the Department of Planning and Natural Resources permit constitutes compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Plan.

REQUEST FOR PUBLIC HEARING: Any person may request a public hearing. The request must be submitted in writing to the District Engineer within the designated comment period of the notice and must state the specific reasons for requesting the public hearing.