SAJ-2024-01562 (SP-CMM)

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:           Dave Sharma School District of Osceola County

                                 809 Bill Beck Blvd

                                 Kissimmee, FL, 34744

WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect aquatic resources associated with Reedy Creek. The project site is located at 5300 Robert McLane Blvd, in Section 10, Township 26 South, Range 28 East, Kissimmee, Osceola County, 34758.

Directions to the site are as follows: Exit I-95 to SR60 and continue until turning onto A1A northbound. Continue North for about 2.5 miles and turn left onto Fred R Tuerk Drive. Follow as the road turns into Sago Palm Road and then make a left onto Stingaree Point. The project site is located on the north side of the road at 100 Stingaree Point.

APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES:    Latitude     28.24773 °

                                                                            Longitude -81.499175 °

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic: Public School Infrastructure

Overall: Construction of a public school bus depot to park, store, and service school buses for the School District of Osceola County.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project is a 65.64 acre site situated east of a large industrial/commercial park in Osceola County. To the north, south, and west of the project site are undeveloped uplands as well as wetlands associated with Reedy Creek, including a large open surface water to the south. On-site vegetative communitiesconsist of improved pasture (40.21 acres), hardwood-conifer mixed forest (1.11 acres), streams and waterways (0.08 acres), wetland forested mix (15.67 acres), and vegetated non-forested wetlands (8.58 acres).

PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to fill approximately 5.24 acres of wetlands to facilitate the construction of a bus depot for use by Osceola County Public Schools.

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:

“An effort to maximize avoidance and minimization of wetland impacts was attempted via several site designs before the final design. The final site design limits impacts to lower quality portions of the onsite wetlands.”

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment:

Mitigation credits to be purchased from Florida Mitigation Bank is as follows: 1.55 Freshwater Herbaceous credits and 0.75 Freshwater Forested to offset the functional loss of the impacted wetlands.

CULTURAL RESOURCES:

The Corps is evaluating the undertaking for effects to historic properties as required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This public notice serves to inform the public of the proposed undertaking and invites comments including those from local, State, and Federal government Agencies with respect to historic resources. Our final determination relative to historic resource impacts may be subject to additional coordination with the State Historic Preservation Officer, those federally recognized tribes with concerns in Florida and the Permit Area, and other interested parties.

ENDANGERED SPECIES:

The Corps has determined the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the Wood Stork (Mycteria americana), Florida Bonneted Bat (Eumops floridanus), Crested Caracara (Caracara plancu audobonii), Everglades Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus), Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus), Southeastern American Kestrel (Falco spaverius paulus), Red Cockaded Woodpecker (Dryobates borealis), Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) or its designated critical habitat. The Corps will request U.S. Fish and Wildlife/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.

NAVIGATION: The proposed structure is not located in the vicinity of a federal navigation channel.

SECTION 408: The applicant will not require permission under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (33 USC 408) because the activity, in whole or in part, would not alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.

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.

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 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, Corey Maier, in writing at the Cocoa Permits Section, 400 High Point Drive, Suite 600, Cocoa, Florida, 32926; by electronic mail at corey.m.maier@usace.army.mil; or, by telephone at (321) 504-3771 ext. 0015.

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.