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 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §403) as described below:
APPLICANT: Brevard County Natural Resources Management Dept.
2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building A, Room 219
Viera, Florida 32940
WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with the Indian River. The project area is located within the Indian River immediate north and south of the Eau Gallie causeway, in Section 15,16,21, and 22, Township 27 South, Range 37 East, Brevard County, Florida.
Directions to the site are as follows: Heading south on 1-95, exit onto State Road (SR) 404 / Eau Gallie Blvd. Proceed west to the Indian River. The project area is north and south of the Eau Gallie Causeway within the Indian River.
Dredge Material Management Area (DMMA) BV-52 is on the western shore of the Indian River Lagoon, south of the intersection of Robert J Conlan Boulevard Northeast and US Highway 1 City of Palm Bay, Florida.
APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES: Latitude 28.13024°
Longitude -80.61900°
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: Dredging
Overall: Dredging of the Indian River adjacent to the Eau Gallie River to remove muck sediments (fine surface sediments with high nutrient and organic material levels).
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project area is located within the Indian River and contains a significant muck layer over much of the bottom. No seagrass is present within the dredge area. Seagrass beds have been located near the DMMA area and the pipe corridor has been designed to avoid the seagrass beds.
Small mangrove fringes could be found where the dredge pipe enters the shoreline. The species include red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) and White mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa). There would be no impacts to the mangrove fringes. In order to protect any trees along the shoreline, all vessels and construction equipment, tools, and dredging activities would be setback a minimum of fifteen (15) feet from mangrove branches and mangrove root systems within the
Project footprint.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to dredge up to 812,650 cubic yards of organic rich fine-grained sediment (muck) from about 241-acres of the Indian River adjacent to the Eau Gallie River. Dredging would expose those underlying sediments more suitable for benthic resource recruitment. Final depths would vary from approximately -4-ft North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88) to a maximum of approximately -21-ft NAVD (in a few localized depressions within the project limits) depending on the thickness of the muck layers.
Dredging would be accomplished using a small- to medium-sized hydraulic dredge (12- to 18-inches). The muck sediments would be hydraulically dredged from a shallow draft dredge and pumped from the project via a 12- to 18-inch diameter pipeline, which would discharge into an existing, permitted, 15.2-acre DMMA known as BV-52, a self-contained upland containment facility owned and maintained by the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND).
FIND developed DMMA BV-52 to receive and treat dredged materials from Reach V of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICWW) in Brevard County as a part of its long-range dredged material management planning effort. The center of the 12.69-mile segment of Reach V is in the vicinity of the IRL adjacent to the Eau Gallie River. FIND constructed the DMMA in the late 1990’s. The DMMA has been previously used for the dredging of Turkey Creek in 1999-2001 and 2016 under the authorizations granted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
Hydraulic dredging is expected to occur using a 12”–18” dredge platform (contractor’s choice). The dredge platforms are typically in the 30x50-ft size range, with a draft of a few feet. Dredging would occur almost exclusively in depths >2 meters (6+ ft).
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: Brevard County is targeting muck thicknesses greater than 1 ft. with the proposed dredge template. There is still muck surrounding the areas proposed to be dredged, albeit at thicknesses of less than 1 ft. The dredge template has not been smoothed; it includes only those areas with muck thicknesses greater than I ft.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment: The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: The proposed action would not result in the loss of water of the United States.
CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps has determined the activity is of such limited scope there is little likelihood of impact upon a historic property; therefore, the proposed project would have “No Potential to Cause Effect”.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has determined the proposal may affect the West Indian manatee and would have no effects to its designated critical habitat. The Corps will request initiation of formal consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act by separate letter.
Potential impacts to the eastern indigo snake were evaluated using the “Eastern Indigo Snake Programmatic Effect Determination Key” dated 25 January 2010 and 13 August 2013 Updated Addendum. 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). Based upon the NLAA determination for the eastern indigo snake no further coordination is required
Potential impacts to the wood stork were evaluated using the “Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jacksonville Ecological Services Field Office and State of Florida Effect Determination Key for the Wood Stork in Central and North Peninsular Florida”. The proposed project resulted in the following sequential determination: A > B = “no effect”. This determination is based on the project not being located within 2,500 feet of an active colony site and no impacts to suitable foraging habitat. No further consultation with the FWS is necessary.
The Corps evaluated potential impacts to swimming sea turtles, smalltooth sawfish, and goliath grouper utilizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District’s Programmatic Biological Opinion, dated November 20, 2018. The evaluation resulted in a may affect, not likely adversely affect. No further consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Protected Resource Division is necessary.
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 241 acres of estuarine areas (including sand/mud bottom and water column) utilized by various life stages of brown, white, and pink shrimp, sheepshead, crevalle jack, Atlantic spadefish, and cobia. Our initial determination is that the proposed action would not 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 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 15 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.