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US Army Corps of Engineers

Jacksonville District Website

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Public Notice Archive

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-2023-00711

CESAJ-RD-SP

Published Sept. 6, 2023

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DECISION TO ACCEPT FUNDS FROM SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT TO EXPEDITE PERMIT APPLICATION REVIEW
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT

Public Notice No.: SAJ-2023-00711
Public Notice Date: September 6, 2023
Corps Contact: Alisa Zarbo at 561-308-4531 (phone) or Alisa.A.Zarbo@usace.army.mil (email)

This Special Public Notice announces the decision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Jacksonville District to accept and expend funds from the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) to expedite processing of their Department of the Army (DA) permit applications and to develop the documentation to comply with the NEPA evaluation for SFWMD projects that require authorization under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (33 U.S.C. 408). This decision follows a previous public noticed issued by the Jacksonville District on March 21, 2023, and re-noticed on June 1, 2023, that solicited public comment on the aforementioned funding arrangement.

Following consideration of comments received on the initial public notice on March 21, 2023 and subsequent notice on June 1, 2023, the Jacksonville District Commander determined that acceptance and expenditure of such funds would be appropriate in accordance with Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, (WRDA 2000, Public Law No. 106-541), as amended.

Section 214 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (WRDA 2000, Public Law No. 106-541), as amended and codified at 33 U.S.C. 2352, authorizes the Secretary of the Army, after public notice, to accept and expend funds contributed by non-Federal public entities, public-utility companies, natural gas companies, or railroad carriers to expedite the evaluation of a permit of that entity, company, or carrier related to a project or activity for a public purpose under the jurisdiction of the DA. The authority to accept and expend funds under Section 214 has been delegated from the Secretary of the Army to District and Division Commanders, including the Commander of the Jacksonville District, Corps. SFWMD is eligible to provide funds to the Corps under Section 214 as a non-Federal public entity.

The Corps is implementing the provisions of Section 214 of WRDA 2000, as amended with SFWMD through a signed memorandum of agreement (MOA) that will be posted on the Corps’ Headquarters website at: https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/Section-214/
Procedures to ensure impartial decision-making: To ensure the funds will not impact impartial decision-making, the District has incorporated the following procedures into the funding agreement:

All final permit decisions where funds were used for the permit review process will be reviewed and approved in writing by a Corps official that is at least one level above the typical Corps decision-maker. Funds accepted under the agreement will not be expended for review of such decisions by supervisors or other Corps officials in the decision-making chain of command. Additionally, the one-level-above reviewer must hold a position that is not partially or fully funded by the SFWMD for at least one year.

Instruments for mitigation banks or in-lieu fee programs proposed for review by the funding entity will be signed by the Jacksonville District Regulatory Division Chief, an equivalent, or a higher level position that is not funded by any funding agreement.

All preliminary jurisdictional determinations (JDs) and approved JDs where funds are used to complete the JD will have documentation in the administrative record that a non-funded Corps District Regulatory Program staff member conducted a review of the determination. This review does not require a field review. For those approved JDs that require coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, additional internal review will not be required.

For Section 408 requests for permission, funds will only be used to develop the documentation to comply with the NEPA evaluation for SFWMD projects that require authorization under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (33 U.S.C. 408).

The Corps will not use funds accepted under this agreement to conduct enforcement activities; this includes, but is not limited to, the resolution of non-compliance issues.

The Corps will comply with all applicable laws and regulations and will not eliminate any procedures or decisions that would otherwise be required for the type of project and permit application under consideration.

To ensure transparency, the Corps will ensure the funding agreement and all final permit decisions carried out using funds accepted from the SFWMD will be made available to the public on the Corps Headquarters’ public web pages at: https://permits.ops.usace.army.mil/orm-public# and https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/Section-214

Additional information concerning Section 214 of WRDA 2000, as amended, may be found on the Corps Headquarters website at https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/Section-214/. If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact the Jacksonville District Regulatory Project Manager Alisa Zarbo by email at Alisa.A.Zarbo@usace.army.mil, by cell phone at 561-308-4531, or by mailing address at 4400 PGA Boulevard, Suite 500, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410.