Public Notice Notifications

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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.

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SAJ-2018-00659(SP-VEK)

Published Sept. 4, 2018
Expiration date: 9/25/2018
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) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §403) as described below:

APPLICANT: Martin County Board of County Commissioners
                      C/o Ms. Lisa Wichser, County Engineer
                      2401 SE Monterey Road
                      Stuart, FL 34996

WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with Willoughby Creek. The project site is located at 2000 SE St. Lucie Blvd in Section 14 &15, Township 38 South, Range 41 East, Stuart, Martin County, Florida.

Directions to the site are as follows: From the intersection of SE Federal Highway (US-1) and SE Monterey Rd (SR-714) in Stuart, head south on US-1 and take a left on SE Indian St. At the intersection of SE Indian St and Old Dixie Hwy (A1A), take a left and the project area will be just past SE Normand St on your right.

APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES:
Latitude:     27.172681°
Longitude: -80.222431°

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic: The basic project purpose is to improve water quality.

Overall: The overall project purpose is to improve water quality to the Willoughby Creek watershed in the St. Lucie River in Stuart, Florida.

EXISTING CONDITIONS:
The Willoughby Creek Basin, upstream of the proposed project, is comprised of highly impervious land uses, including commercial and industrial properties along US Highway 1, the B&A Industrial Park and Flea Market, Old Dixie Highway, a portion of Witham Airport and the Martin County Field Operations Complex. Most all of the basin upstream of the proposed project was developed prior to modern design standards for water quality treatment. The Willoughby Creek watershed has been identified as the fifth highest nutrient polluted tributary to the St. Lucie Estuary for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total suspended solids (TSS) and copper by more than 10-years of water quality monitoring by the South Florida Water Management District. The St. Lucie River and Estuary, located downstream of Willoughby Creek, has been identified as an impaired water body. As such, the St. Lucie River and Estuary adopted a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) in 2009 and adopted a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) in 2013, as part of the Clean Water Act. The purpose of the Willoughby Creek Water Quality Improvement Project is to provide water quality treatment to the highly impervious upstream watershed and reduce nutrient loads to the St. Lucie Estuary in order to meet the nutrient reduction targets set forth in the TMDL/BMAP.

The 16.32 acre project site consists of mixed habitats including pine flatwoods, linear waters associated with Willoughby Creek, palustrine forested Melaleuca wetlands and Brazillian pepper dominated upland flatwoods. The onsite wetland ecosystem consists of a 1.0 acre freshwater palustrine forested wetland dominated by Melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia), slash pine (Pinus elliotii), swamp fern (Blechnum serralatum) and Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum). Onsite linear waters associated with Willoughby Creek comprise 1.62 acres of the project site.

PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to construct a Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) comprised of two treatment cells, water control structures between Cell 1 and Cell 2, and the installation of a sheet pile weir and rip rap downstream of the STA Cells within Willoughby Creek. The STA will combine deep, wet detention lakes and vegetated shallows that will be planted with native herbaceous emergent and submergent vegetation to maximize the biological filtering of nutrients and allow for reduced velocities, maximized storage capacity, attenuation and hydraulic residence time for stormwater discharges into the St Lucie River and Estuary. Proposed construction activities include dredge and fill activities within the existing Willoughby Creek and the onsite palustrine forested Melaleuca wetland and installation of water control structures associated with the STA.

As a result of the project, the applicant proposes to impact approximately 1.62 acres of linear waters associated with Willoughby Creek via dredge and fill activities to establish required side slopes, redirect flows, remove muck for replacement with suitable material, and remove and replace existing headwalls and pipes. This work also includes the construction of twin water control structures with inflow and outflow pipes and headwalls and the installation of a sheetpile weir and 160 square yards of rip rap. The project will also impact 1 acre of wetlands via dredge and fill activities to create the berms/side slopes and vegetated shallows associated with the STA.

The Willoughby Creek Stormwater Quality Retrofit is designed to provide the necessary amount of water quality treatment volume needed for previously constructed developments upstream within the watershed that do not meet current design standards. Furthermore, the project will reduce nutrient loads into the St. Lucie Estuary and eliminate downstream flooding that has occurred on the Martin County Golf Course property. This project will provide water quality benefits by reducing the nutrient loads of Total Nitrogen (TN) by an estimated 37%, Total Phosphorus (TP) by 65% and Total Suspended Solids to the St Lucie Estuary.

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:

Direct impacts associated with construction will lie within Martin County property lines and while there are unavoidable impacts to existing surface waters on site, the project has been designed to maximize water quality improvements downstream due to stormwater discharges. Offsite project related impacts will be minimized by utilizing best management practices during construction.

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

To offset unavoidable impacts, the applicant intends to purchase credits from an offsite Mitigation Bank.

CULTURAL RESOURCES:

The Corps is aware of historic property/properties within or in close proximity of the permit area. The Corps will initiate consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office and those federally recognized tribes with concerns in Florida and the Permit Area, by separate letter.

ENDANGERED SPECIES:

The Corps has determined the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the Wood stork (Mycteria Americana) and Eastern Indigo Snake (Drymarchon corais couperi).

Wood Stork- Potential impacts to the threatened Wood Stork were assessed using the Programmatic Concurrence Key dated May 18, 2010. Use of this key produced the sequential determination of A-B-C-E-MANLAA. While the proposed project will impact greater than 0.5 acres of suitable foraging habitat, it is located greater than 0.47 miles from a Colony Site, will impact less than 50 acres of wetlands, and wetland impacts will be mitigated for to allow for habitat compensation that will replace foraging value. Therefore, per the MANLAA determination the requirements of Section 7 of ESA are fulfilled for the Wood Stork and no further action is required.

Eastern Indigo Snake- Use of The Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Eastern Indigo Snake Key dated August 1, 2017 resulted in a path of A-B-C-D-E, not likely to adversely affect. A determination of “not likely to adversely affect” was made for the Indigo snake provided the permit includes a special condition for the Eastern Indigo Snake Protection Measures during construction. With an outcome of “may affect, not likely to adversely affect (MANLAA)” as outlined in the key, the requirements of Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act are fulfilled for the Eastern Indigo Snake and no further action is required.

ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT (EFH): This notice initiates consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service on EFH as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996. Our initial determination is that the proposed action would not have a substantial adverse impact on EFH or Federally managed fisheries in Willoughby Creek. Our final determination relative to project impacts and the need for mitigation measures is subject to review by and coordination with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

NOTE: This public notice is being issued based on information furnished by the applicant. This information has not been verified to ensure compliance with laws and regulation governing the regulatory program. As of the date of this Public Notice, The jurisdictional line has been verified by Corps personnel.

AUTHORIZATION FROM OTHER AGENCIES: Water Quality Certification for the proposed project was issued by the South Florida Water Management District on December 7, 2017.

COMMENTS regarding the potential authorization of the work proposed should be submitted in writing to the attention of the District Engineer through the Palm Beach Gardens Permits Section, 4400 PGA Boulevard, Suite 500, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 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, Virginia King, in writing at the Palm Beach Gardens Permits Section, 4400 PGA Boulevard, Suite 500, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410; by electronic mail at Virginia.E.King@usace.army.mil; or, by telephone at (561) 472-3515.

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 US Army Corps of Engineers (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.