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: Escambia County Board of County Commissioners,
Colby Brown, Engineering
3363 West Park Place
Pensacola, FL 32505
WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with Heron Bayou and Perdido Bay. The project is located at 10836 Lillian Highway, in Section 16, Township 2 South, Range 31 West, in Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida.
Directions to the site are as follows: From downtown Pensacola, proceed east on US Highway 98 to State Highway 298/Lillian Highway. Turn north on Highway 298/Lillian Highway and proceed 0.4 miles. The site is located on the west side of the road at 10836 Lillian Highway.
APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES: Latitude 30.408325°, Longitude -87.373028°
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: Boat Ramp
Overall: Construct a public boat ramp on Perdido Bay in Pensacola, Florida.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The 32.99 acre parcel is comprised of 11.74 acres of freshwater wetlands and 21.25 acres of uplands. “There are five ecological communities located within and adjacent to the subject property. They include emergent tidal marsh, submersed aquatic vegetation, freshwater marsh (non-tidal), bottomland forest, and upland mixed hardwoods.”
The emergent tidal marsh “is dominated black needle rush (Juncus roemerianus), sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense), and in the lower elevations and nearer to the mouth of Perdido Bay, saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora).”
“The submersed aquatic vegetation is limited to the riparian waterfront along the southeast corner of the subject property. Wild celery is a salt tolerant, freshwater species that occurs in fresh, oligohaline, and mesohaline reaches of estuaries in the southeastern United States. The area of submersed vegetation is located proximal to the outfall of a large stormwater conveyance ditch located along the southern property line. The conveyance ditch has a continuous flow/discharge of freshwater that enters Heron Bayou near the southeast corner of the subject property. The areal extent of this submersed resource is concentrated at the outfall location and wanes the further removed from this freshwater source. This is most likely due to changes in salinity.”
The freshwater marsh is located in the northeast corner of the subject property. Like the emergent tidal marsh this community is dominated by a dense layer of herbaceous plants consists primarily of black needle rush and sawgrass.”
The wetland “bottomland forest” is “found throughout the subject property. The canopy is comprised of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), slash pine (Pinus elliottii), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), swamp laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), water oak (Q. nigra), swamp tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora) and pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens). Subcanopy and shrub strata include sweetbay, swamp bay (Persea palustris), fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), large gallberry (Ilex coriacea), titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), and wax myrtle (Morella cerifera). The herbaceous groundcover is largely supressed due to the dense, closed canopy; therefore herbs are absent or few, and when found typically consist of ferns such as cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomea), netted chain fern (Woodwardia areolata), and Virginia chain fern (W. virginica).” Two small areas of the forested wetland complex have been previously disturbed and are shown on the drawings as “Disturbed Bottomland Forest”.
The upland hardwood forest is “dominated by deciduous hardwood and evergreen trees consisting of live oak (Quercus virginiana), laurel oak (Q. hemisphaerica), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), and southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora). The subcanopy is composed of younger canopy species as well as small trees, and tall shrubs, such as American holly (Ilex opaca), yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), and persimmon (Diospyros virginiana). The groundcover is composed of shade-tolerant herbs, graminoids, and vines, such as partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), violets (Viola spp.), sedges (Carex spp.), sarsaparilla vine (Smilax pumila), and ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron).”
The existing area surrounding the project area consists of Perdido Bay to the north, forested uplands and wetlands and single family residences to the east, single family residential developments to the south, and Heron Bayou and associated emergent wetlands to the west.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to discharge fill over 0.44 acres of forested wetlands and 0.03 acres of emergent wetlands for the construction of a 2-lane public boat ramp with associated access piers, parking, access road, and stormwater management facility. The access piers would consist of two L-shaped docks measuring 162 feet by 6 feet and 161 feet by 6 feet. The work also includes the hydraulic dredging of 7,245 cubic yards of sediments from a 3.09 acre area to -5 feet mean low water for the construction of a 40 foot wide access channel through Heron Bayou to Perdido Bay. Dredged sediments would be placed in a spoil disposal cell located in adjacent uplands with no return water to waters of the United States.
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 applicant has configured the majority of the development to be located within uplands and sited the proposed boat ramp through the narrow portion of the emergent tidal marsh near the southwestern corner of the subject property. The proposed entrance road would utilize an existing on-grade road and would avoid direct impact to adjacent wetlands. Best Management Practices would be utilized during construction.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment: The applicant proposes to preserve 10.7 acres of onsite hardwood wetlands, preserve and enhance 0.4 acre of disturbed onsite hardwood wetlands, and preserve 4.04 acres of onsite upland buffers. The enhanced wetlands would be inter-planted with 3-gallon containerized sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens) on twelve foot centers. All preserved wetlands would be managed for exotic and nuisance plant species through herbicide application.
CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps is aware of historic property/properties within or in close proximity of the permit area. The Corps has initiated consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office and those federally recognized tribes with concerns in Florida and the Permit Area, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation as applicable pursuant to 33 CFR 325, Appendix C and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, by separate letter.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has determined the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the Eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi) as determined using the 2013 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Eastern Indigo Snake Programmatic Effect Determination Key, following couplets A> B> C> D> E. The Corps has determined the proposed project may affect, but would not likely adversely affect the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) as determined using the 2013 Manatee Key, following couplets A > B > C > G > H > I > J> L > N > O > P. The Corps has also determined the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi), Green turtle (Chelonia mydas), Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), Kemp’s Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), and Smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata). The Corps will request National Marine Fisheries Service concurrence with this determination pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.
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. The proposal would impact approximately 3.09 acres of estuarine subtidal habitat and 0.03 acre of emergent tidal marsh utilized by various life stages of 2 shark species (bull, spinner), four shrimp species (brown, white, pink, Royal red), coastal migratory pelagic species, red drum, and 43 species of reef fish. Our initial determination is that the proposed action would not have a substantial adverse impact on EFH or Federally managed fisheries. 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 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 Pensacola Permits Section, 41 North Jefferson Street, Suite 301, Pensacola, Florida, 32502 within 30 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, Holly Millsap, in writing at the Pensacola Permits Section, 41 North Jefferson Street, Suite 301, Pensacola, FL 32502, by electronic mail at Holly.M.Millsap@usace.army.mil, or by telephone at (850) 470-9823.
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.