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: Mr. Bryan Hare
PACEM, Defense, LLC
4700 Providence Road
Perry, Florida 32347
WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with Rocky Creek. The project site is located adjacent to 4700 Providence Road in Section 20, Township 3 South, Range 7 East, Perry, Taylor County, Florida.
Directions to the site are as follows: From Perry, take Highway 19 Northwest approximately 8.5 miles and turn to east on Providence Road. Site access is restricted; therefore, you must schedule a site visit and check into the guard shack prior to entering the property.
APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES: Latitude 30.203481°
Longitude -83.647893°
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: Storage.
Overall: Provide storage for an existing business.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The wetland system consists of an 11.47 acre jurisdictional freshwater system. The existing conditions on the property consists of coniferous plantations and areas cleared by silvicultural practices. Soils within the project area are Sapelo fine sand and Surrency, Stake and Croaton soils, depressional. The onsite vegetation consists of slash pine, sweetbay, red maple, fetterbush, chain fern, cinnamon fern, sweet gallberry, titi, woodoats, panic grasses and caric sedges. The existing area surrounding the project area consists of existing development to the southwest, a paved road to the northwest, undeveloped lands to the northeast, and lands to the southwest owned by a timber company.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to impact 1.46 acres of jurisdictional wetlands in order to construct four storage containers with associated berms, an offloading ramp, an access road, and stormwater treatment facilities.
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 siting successfully located the storage buildings within uplands and avoided all the intact mixed hardwood wetlands in the vicinity. The impacts to wetlands are limited to cleared areas or planted pine wetlands. The initial layout was based upon a previously completed wetland delineation that has since been revised based upon current conditions. Two other site layouts were investigated in an attempt to reduce wetland impacts. The initial layouts had more wetland impacts, but a major revision reduced those impacts to the current layout. The use of the storage is for material that is necessary to manufacturing and is such that its location must be set back from other buildings and also utilize berms. The project has been minimized to the greatest extent practicable.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment:
The applicant proposes to purchase 0.72 federal bank credits from San Pedro 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: Based on the information, the potential impacts to the endangered eastern indigo snake were evaluated using The Eastern Indigo Snake Programmatic Effect Determination Key, August 2013. Use of the Eastern Indigo snake key resulted in the following sequential determination: A > B > C > D > E = not likely to adversely affect the Eastern Indigo snake.
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 Panama City Permits Section, 1706 East 5th Street, Panama City, Florida 32401 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, Mrs. Lisa S. Lovvorn, in writing at the Panama City Permits Section, 1706 East 5th Street, Panama City, Florida 32401; by electronic mail at lisa.s.lovvorn@usace.army.mil; or by telephone at (850)784-4594.
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 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.