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-2013-00706 (SP-AWP)

Published Feb. 15, 2017
Expiration date: 3/8/2017
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:  Frontier Development
                       1801 SW 3rd Avenue
                       Miami, Florida 33129

WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with the St. Johns River. The project site is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of State Road 405 and 50, in Section 29, Township 22 South, Range 33 East, Titusville, Brevard County, Florida.

Directions to the site are as follows: The project site is located in the northeast corner of the intersection of State Road 405 and 50.

APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES:  Latitude 28.5561°
                                                                          Longitude -80.8462°

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic:  Commercial development.

Overall:  Construction of a commercial development (gas station and convenience store) located in southwest Titusville, Florida.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: The site is comprised entirely of palustrine wetlands. Vegetation across the site consists predominately of Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) and Carolina willow (Salix caroliniana), with minor amounts of red maple (Acer rubrum), cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), dahoon holly (Ilex cassine), laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), and live oak (Q. virginiana) in the canopy. The sub-canopy again consists predominately of Brazilian pepper and Carolina willow, with a mix of wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera) and salt bush (Baccharis halimfolia). Understory and groundcover vegetation consists of wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa), chain fern (Woodwardia fimbriata), arrowhead (Sagittaria lancifolia), primrose willow (Ludwigia sp.), swamp fern (Blechnum serrulatum), saw grass (Cladium jamaicense), cord grass (Spartina alterniflora), leather fern (Acrostichum danaeifolium), and elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta).

PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to discharge clean fill material into 4.26 acres of waters of the United States (wetlands) for the construction of a commercial development, with a gas station/convenience store anchor and two additional commercial buildings.

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 proposed development involves the construction of a commercial development, including associated parking and stormwater facilities. In order to meet the project purpose, the entire site was utilized for development. Although all of the wetlands on site are proposed for impact, as they are largely comprised of nuisance and exotic species, the ecological value of the wetland area is low.

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment: In order to offset wetland impacts, the applicant proposes to purchase forested wetland mitigation credit(s) at a Federally approved mitigation bank.

CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps is not aware of any known historic properties within the permit area. By copy of this public notice, the Corps is providing information for review. Our final determination relative to historic resource impacts is subject to review by and coordination with the State Historic Preservation Officer and those federally recognized tribes with concerns in Florida and the Permit Area.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: The property is located within the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Consultation Area for the Audubon’s caracara, everglades snail kite, eastern indigo snake, wood stork, and Florida scrub jay. The proposed work area does not contain habitat suitable for the Audubon’s caracara, everglades snail kite, or Florida scrub jay. None of the species listed above were observed by the applicant’s consultant during site assessments. The Corps has determined the proposed work would have no effect to the Audubon’s caracara, everglades snail kite, and Florida scrub jay.

The Corps completed an evaluation of the project based upon the August 13, 2013 updated addendum to the January 2010 North and South Florida Ecological Services Field Offices Programmatic Concurrence for use with the Eastern Indigo Snake. Use of the Key for the Eastern Indigo Snake resulted in the following sequential determination: A (The project is not located in open water or salt marsh.) >B (The permit will be conditioned for use of the Service’s Standard Protection Measures for the Eastern Indigo Snake during site preparation and protection construction.) >C (There are no gopher tortoise burrows, holes, cavities, or other refugia where a snake could be buried or trapped and injured during project activities.) = Not Likely to Adversely Affect (NLAA) with the applicant adherence to the standard protection measures for the Eastern Indigo Snake. Based upon the NLAA determination for the Eastern Indigo Snake no further coordination is required.

Based upon review of the Wood Stork Key for Central and North Peninsular Florida dated September 2008, the proposed project resulted in the following sequential determination: A > B > C = “NLAA” the wood stork. This determination is based on the project not being located within 2,500 feet of an active colony site; impacts to suitable foraging habitat (SFH), project impacts to SFH are less than 0.5 acre. Based upon the NLAA determination for the wood stork no further coordination is required.

ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT (EFH): The proposed work would have no effect to EFH.

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 Cocoa Permits Section, 400 High Point Drive, Suite 600, Cocoa, Florida 32926 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, Andrew Phillips, in writing at the Cocoa Permits Section, 400 High Point Drive, Suite 600, Cocoa, Florida 32926; by electronic mail at andrew.w.phillips@usace.army.mil; by facsimile transmission at (321)504-3803; or, by telephone at (321)504-3771 extension 14.

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.