SAJ-2024-00576(SP-TEH)

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). The purpose of this public notice is to solicit comments from the public regarding the work described below:

If you are interested in receiving additional project drawings associated with this public notice, please send an e-mail to the project manager by electronic mail at Tracy.E.Hurst@usace.army.mil.

APPLICANT: SEI Plant City, LLC

                     1680 47th Street

       Brooklyn, NY 11204

WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect aquatic resources associated with Itchepackesassa Creek.  The project site is located at 5102 North Carlton Road, north of Knights Griffin Road and east of Paul Buchman Highway; at latitude 28.081877° and longitude -82.127262°; in Plant City, Hillsborough County, Florida.

EXISTING CONDITIONS:  The +/- 481.97-acre project site contains approximately 413.24 acres of uplands and 68.73 acres of freshwater wetlands.  The wetland systems on the project site include freshwater marsh, human-made agricultural ponds, forested wetlands, cypress domes, drainage ditches, and wet prairie.  There are ten different freshwater marsh systems on site. All marshes on site have little to no canopy, but the largest ones in the east to southeast portion of the site do have sparsely scattered sweetgum. Otherwise, the rest of the marshes contain dogfennel, cattail, Peruvian primrosewillow, softrush, duck potato, sedges, cattails, maidencane, paragrass, smartweed, and hydrocotyle. The project site contains numerous ponds which were created as part of the historical agricultural use of the site. Vegetation within the agricultural ponds is limited.  There are two forested wetlands within the project site, both on the western side.  The canopy of these wetlands includes bald cypress, red maple, sweetbay, cabbage palm, and water oak. The subcanopy contains juvenile red maple and cabbage palm.  Groundcover includes blackberry, softrush, taro, smartweed, alligatorweed, cinnamon fern, and swamp fern.  There is one cypress wetland located on the western portion of the project site. The canopy is exclusively bald cypress.  Groundcover includes softrush, sedges, maidencane, paragrass, smartweed, West Indian marshgrass, fire flag, and hydrocotyle.  The project site contains numerous drainage ditches which have been in place for many decades as part of the historical agricultural use of the site.  Many of the drainage ditches are upland cut features, although some lie within historic wetland areas.  Vegetation within the ditches, where present, is generally characterized by Peruvian primrose willow, soft rush, maidencane, taro, and smartweed.  There is one wet prairie in the middle of the site, hydrologically fed by a ditch that is feeding into two other freshwater marshes.  It is in poor condition due to ongoing agricultural operations. It is dominated by sedges, hydrocotyle, and alligatorweed.

Upland communities on the project site include row crops, improved pasture, upland hardwood forest, and low-density residential development.  The majority of the site is currently in active row crops for strawberries. There is little to no groundcover between the rows due to continuous disturbance from the ongoing crop rotations.  There are occasional patches of bahia grass; no canopy is present.  Several areas of the project site contain improved pastureland, including in the southeast and west, but with cattle present only in the southeast.  Canopy vegetation includes live oak, occasional cabbage palm, slash pine, sweetgum, and black cherry. There is little subcanopy due to the history of cattle grazing on this site, including juvenile oaks, Brazilian pepper, and juvenile cabbage palm.  Groundcover is dominated by bahia grass and dogfennel and also contains beggarstick, cogongrass, Virginia creeper, rosary pea, caesarweed, and ragweed.  A limited area of upland hardwood forest exists on the western portion of the project site.  Canopy vegetation includes primarily live oak and slash pine. Groundcover is dominated by bahia grass, beggarstick, and dogfennel.  The western edge of the project site contains one residential area, consisting of a live oak canopy and maintained bahia grass.

The project area is bordered by major roadway on the south and west and by undeveloped and low-density residential areas to the north and east.      

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic:  To develop a commercial warehouse facility.

Overall:  To develop a commercial warehouse facility in Plant City, Hillsborough County, Florida.

PROPOSED WORK:  The applicant requests authorization to develop a commercial warehouse facility known as “Stalwart Business Park”, including 9 warehouses totaling 3.4 million square feet, access roads, and railway infrastructure.  The proposed work requires impacts to 19.94 acres of aquatic resources, including 14.06 acres of non-wetland resources and 5.88 acres of wetlands (4.92 ac freshwater marsh and 0.96 ac mixed forest).

AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment:

“The current site plan avoids impacts to over 87% of the existing wetlands on-site. Impacts to other non-wetland aquatic features are limited to man-made agricultural ponds and ditches.  In addition to the avoidance of most of the overall wetland acreage, the current site plan has been designed to limit and consolidate wetland impacts to just 4 of the 14 wetlands onsite (WL-1, WL-3, WL-10, and WL-14). Of these impacted wetlands, only WL-3, an isolated wetland of relatively average to below average quality, is proposed to be impacted in its entirety.  The applicant performed an alternatives analysis which demonstrates that the proposed project has been located and designed to avoid and/or minimize impacts to natural resources to the greatest extent practicable while fulfilling the overall project purpose and represents the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative.” 

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment:  The applicant proposes to purchase 3.36 mitigation bank credits from a federally approved mitigation bank to offset unavoidable impacts to wetland aquatic resources WL-01, WL-03, WL-10, and WL-14, totaling 4.06 acres.

CULTURAL RESOURCES:

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, federally recognized tribes and other interested parties.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has performed an initial review of the application to determine if any threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, as well as the proposed and final designated critical habitat may occur in the vicinity of the proposed project. Based on this initial review, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the proposed project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, the species listed below. No other ESA-listed species or critical habitat will be affected by the proposed action. No critical habitat is present on the project site.

Table 1: ESA-listed species potentially present in the action area.

Pursuant to Section 7 ESA, any required consultation with the Service(s) will be conducted in accordance with 50 CFR part 402. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the lead Federal agency for ESA consultation for the proposed action. Any required consultation will be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

This notice serves as request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for any additional information on whether any listed or proposed to be listed endangered or threatened species or critical habitat may be present in the area which would be affected by the proposed activity.

NAVIGATION: The proposed structure or 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 of 1899 (33 USC 408) because the activity, in whole or in part,   would not alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.

WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION:  Water Quality Certification is required from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and is currently being evaluated under File No. 47817.001 (App: 904999).

COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT CONSISTENCY: Coastal Zone Consistency Concurrence is required from Southwest Florida Water Management District. In Florida, the State approval constitutes compliance with the approved Coastal Zone Management Plan.

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 geographic extent of aquatic resources within the proposed project area that either are, or are presumed to be, within the Corps jurisdiction has not been verified by Corps personnel.

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.  A permit will be granted unless its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest.

COMMENTS: 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 used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.

The Jacksonville District will receive written comments on the proposed work, as outlined above, until July 8, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Tracy Hurst at Tracy.E.Hurst@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, Attention:  Tracy Hurst, 10117 Princess Palm Avenue, Suite 120, Tampa, Florida 33610.  Please refer to the permit application number in your comments.

Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider the application. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing. Requests for a public hearing will be granted, unless the District Engineer determines that the issues raised are insubstantial or there is otherwise no valid interest to be served by a hearing.

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