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: Patriot Ridge, LLP
2955 Hartley Road, Suite 108
Jacksonville, Florida 32257
WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with Wills Branch. The project site is located at 7633 Wilson Boulevard, in Section 2, Township 3 South, Range 25 East, Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida.
Directions to the site are as follows: Traveling from downtown Jacksonville, take Interstate 10 (I-10) to I-295. Take I-295 South to Wilson Boulevard. Turn west onto Wilson Boulevard and continue to the project site located at 7633 Wilson Boulevard.
APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES: Latitude 30.270084°
Longitude -81.777549°
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: The basic project purpose is residential development.
Overall: The overall project purpose is residential development on the west side of Jacksonville.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project site was previously a mobile home park and is currently vacant. The parcel consists of mostly forested uplands but also contains a 3-acre forested wetland located on the northern portion of the parcel. The onsite vegetative communities as classified by the Florida Department of Transportation publication Florida Land Use, Cover and Forms Classification System (FLUCFCS) are: Abandoned Mobile Home Park, Pine-Mesic Oak, Inland Ponds and Sloughs, Hydric Pine Flatwoods, and Ditch/Channel. The Abandoned Mobile Home Park was previously developed as the Pine Villa mobile home park. The business closed a number of years ago and all of the mobile homes and other buildings have been removed from the parcel. The property still contains the remains of the interior driveways and pads. This area has various trees including laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), water oak (Q. nigra), camphor (Cinnamomum camphora), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). The ground cover vegetation is dominated by Spanish needles (Bidens pilosa), dogfennel (Eupatorium sp.), greenbriar (Smilax spp.), and grape vine (Vitis rotundifolia). The Pine-Mesic Oak area is located in the northwest corner of the parcel and has a canopy of Loblolly pine, laurel oak, and water oak. The ground cover in this area includes bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum), bitter gallberry (Ilex glabra), greenbriar, and grape vine. This area was not used by the mobile home park. The Inland Ponds and Sloughs community is located in the northeast corner of the property and contains an area of forested wetland that forms part of an unnamed headwater of Wills Branch. The upper edges contain seepage slope wetlands, and the lower portions are comprised of hardwood slough wetlands. The canopy in this area includes blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), red maple (Acer rubrum), water oak, and laurel oak mixed with scattered loblolly pine along the upper edge. The understory and ground cover include sweet gallberry (Ilex coriacea), fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), wax myrtle (Morella cerifera), Virginia willow (Itea virginica), netted chain fern (Woodwardia areolata), cinnamon fern (Osmumda cinnamomea), and royal fern (O. regalis). This community also contains scattered Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera). The northwest corner of the onsite wetland includes a Hydric Pine Flatwoods community. This community has a canopy dominated by loblolly pine. The ground cover in this area is relatively open and is dominated by cinnamon fern and netted chain fern. The eastern edge of this wetland area is bordered by a deeply incised erosional channel. The bottom of this channel is 7 to 9 feet below the grade of the adjacent hydric pine flatwood wetland. There is a layer in the soil in the wetland that keeps the water table perched near the surface during the rainy season. The Ditch/Channel community includes 2 ditches. The ditch that extends along the northern property boundary serves as the outfall ditch for the storm water pond on the adjacent Wilson West development. The other onsite ditch was originally excavated as a roadside ditch along an interior road in the mobile home park. This ditch connects to an eroded channel located on the northern end of the parcel. The parcel is bordered by Wilson Boulevard to the south, an existing residential development called Wilson West to the west, an existing commercial development called Barco-Duval on the east, an existing residential development called Springwood on the northwest, and forested wetlands on the northeast.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to place fill material in 0.70 acre of waters of the United States in association with the construction of a residential development. The proposed impacts include the reshaping of an existing drainage ditch located on the northern perimeter of the property.
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 project was designed to avoid impacts to wetlands except for an area required for construction of a storm water treatment pond and part of one lot.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment:
Mitigation will be accomplished through the purchase of credit from a 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 Corps has determined the proposal would have no effect on any listed threatened or endangered species or designated critical habitat.
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 Wills Branch. 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 Jacksonville Permits Section, P.O. Box 4970, Jacksonville, Florida 32232, 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, Paula R. Johnson, in writing at the Jacksonville Permits Section, P.O. Box 4970, Jacksonville, Florida 32232; by electronic mail at paula.r.johnson@usace.army.mil or by telephone at (904)232-2503.
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.