WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with the Indian River Lagoon Basin (HUC 030802020302). The project site is located at 2450 West NASA Blvd. in Section 31, Township 27 South, Range 37 East, Melbourne, Brevard County, Florida.
Directions to the site are as follows: From I-95, take exit 182 east to Ellis Road. Continue on West NASA Boulevard to the site.
APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES: Latitude 28.098971° North
Longitude 80.656368° West
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: Commercial Office Space
Overall: Construction of a new controlled access commercial office space and associated infrastructure within the Melbourne Airport security limits.
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The 40.45-acre property is located within the greater Melbourne Orlando Airport operating boundary. The Site is bordered to the south by West NASA Boulevard, to the north by Melbourne Orlando Airport Runway 9R and Taxiway A, and to the east and west by existing controlled access commercial office facilities.
The onsite wetland(s) consist of freshwater systems. The vegetated wetland consists of approximately 1.23-acre wetland scrub habitat dominated by Brazilian pepper, melaleuca, Carolina willow, cabbage palm, live oak, laurel oak, swamp fern, Virginian chain fern, royal fern, buttonbush, catbriar, Virginian chain fern, and muscadine grape. The site also contains an approximately 0.42-acre manmade swale system dominated by torpedo grass, sedges, smartweed, capeweed, and cattail.
PROPOSED WORK: The Applicant seeks authorization to fill 1.23-acres of wetland and relocate the 0.42-acre surface waters for the development of a controlled access commercial office space and associated infrastructure within the Melbourne Airport security limits.
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 siting of the building within the property limits on Project Daisy includes a number of considerations such as the geometry of the building, driven by operational workflow, interconnection of the building with the existing adjacent campus, flexibility for future changed conditions, and limitations imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
For a building of this size (~300,000 square feet), the geometry of the building is constrained by the perimeter of the site to be rectangular in shape, with the east-west axis being longer than the north-south axis. This shape allows for circulation around the entire perimeter of the building, facilitating a public entrance (and accessible parking), loading/unloading for deliveries, and maintenance of the building’s utilities. A rotated building, where the north-south axis was longer than the east-west axis would eliminate the ability to access all sides.
Knowing the natural shape of the building creates (3) possible locations: eastern orientation, western orientation, and central orientation. An eastern orientation, where the building was pushed to the far east would still impact the existing wetlands, but also cut off any potential connection to the adjacent campus. A western orientation would cause an inefficient parking scenario where the logical primary connection at Commerce Drive would be inaccessible due to the proximity to the building corner. Furthermore, building occupants may have to walk over 1,500 feet to get to the building entrance. A central location, as shown, allows for the Commerce Dr. connection, full perimeter circulation, minimizes potential walking lengths to the building, and allows for efficient interconnection to the adjacent campus, if required in the future.
While the building is being developed for a single, primary tenant, who also happens to occupy the adjacent campus, the building may have multiple tenants in the future, and being able to segregate tenant parking in the future is a benefit of having the building centrally located. Should the current anticipated tenant not occupy the building at all, it would be necessary to physically separate the various leased areas. The current plan allows for that happen.
The final consideration for a proper building location is the height requirement of the Federal Aviation Authority. The FAA has a restriction on building height driven by a distance from the runway or taxiway. Based on the size and shape of the building as described above, the building needed to be 3-stories high, with a larger 1st floor to accommodate the Tenant’s workflow. The shortest building height that could be designed forced the building to be a minimum distance away from the adjacent Taxiway A. That distance is where we placed the building. Any closer and the building would be in violation of FAA for height restrictions.
All things considered, the building is currently located in the optimum position. Any other location would introduce challenges reducing the viability of the project.”
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment:
“Compensatory mitigation for the 1.23-acres of direct wetland impacts is proposed via the purchase of 0.62 credits from the Basin 22 Mitigation Bank.”
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 the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens), the eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi), and/or their designated critical habitats.
The Corps has determined the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the Audubon's Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway), Tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), Wood Stork (Mycteria americana), eastern black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis), and/or their designated critical habitats.
The Corps has determined the proposed project will have no effect on the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis), Everglades Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus), and/or their designated critical habitats.
The Corps will request U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concurrence with these determinations, pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.
Navigation: The proposed activity 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, FL 32926, within 30 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, John Baehre, in writing at the Cocoa Permits Section, Suite 600, Cocoa, FL 32926; by electronic mail at john.m.baehre@usace.army.mil; or by telephone at 321-504-3771, extension 0013.
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.
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.
WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION: Water Quality Certification may be required from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). The project is being reviewed under application no. 224827.
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.