Public Notice with Attachments
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DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT P.O. BOX 4970 JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32232-0019 October 24, 2018 CESAJ-RD-NC PUBLIC NOTICE Permit Application No. SAJ-2018-03098(SP-AWP) 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: Cypress Bay Farms, LLC Attn: Ben Jefferies 235 West Drive Melbourne, Florida 32904 WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States associated with the Sebastian River. The project area is located at 9145 Babcock Street, in Section 3, Township 30 South, Range 37 East, Palm Bay, Brevard County, Florida. Directions to the site are as follows: From the intersection of Malabar Road and Babcock Street proceed south on Babcock Street for approximately 6.5 miles. The project site is on the east side of the road at 9145 Babcock Street. APPROXIMATE CENTRAL COORDINATES: Latitude 27.9014° Longitude -80.6166° PROJECT PURPOSE: Basic: Commercial and Residential Development Overall: To develop a multi-use development, which includes single-family homes, multi-family homes, and commercial/retail, near Palm Bay Parkway in Palm Bay, Florida, to meet local demand for this type of development. EXISTING CONDITIONS: The 214.15 acre project area currently supports eight (8) land use types/vegetative communities. These land use types/vegetative communities were identified utilizing the Florida Land Use, Cover and Forms Classification System, Level III (FLUCCS, FDOT, January 1999). Jurisdictional wetland and other water communities within the project area comprise approximately 54.65 acres and consist of surface waters - 510, Reservoirs - 530, Wetland Forested Mixed - 630, and Wet Prairies - 643. The on-site upland land use types/vegetative communities comprise approximately 146.73 acres and consist of Agriculture – 200, Pine Flatwoods - 411, Other Pines - 419, Xeric Oak - 421 and Hardwoods-Coniferous Mix - 434. Four (4) Corps jurisdictional wetlands totaling 1.77 acres are located within the project boundary (Wetlands 1, 6, 7, and 9). Only Wetland 1 (+0.30 acres) is proposed for impact. Wetlands 6, 7, and 9 are to be preserved along with the upland buffers. Wetland 1 is a wet prairie that is mowed on a regular basis, supports cattle grazing, and is dominated by blue maidencane, torpedograss, beakrush, sedges, capeweed, redroot, and yellow-eyed grass. Wetlands 6, 7, and 9 support a mixture of herbaceous and shrubby vegetation including sawgrass, chalky bluestem, chain fern, swamp fern, black rush, red root, with lesser amounts of wax myrtle, Carolina willow, swamp bay, and dahoon holly. Both Wetlands 7 and 9 are directly connected to off-site wetlands that extend northward and tie into a large slough system. Jurisdictional surface waters consisting of irrigation swales and ditches total 9.49 acres are spread across the site. The ditches were excavated wholly in uplands for agricultural purposes but also hydrologically connect wetlands to waters of the United States. The swales were likely excavated for bedding material used in the abandon citrus and palm operations. The swales/ditches can range from flooded to intermittently wet. Almost half of ditches (4.6 acres) are not maintained and do not contain suitable foraging habitat for the wood stork. Surface water number 9, totaling 4.89 acres, occurs in the central portion of the site and conveys water in an east to west direction discharging into the ditch on the east side of Babcock Street. This surface water contains suitable foraging habitat for the wood stork and the applicant has proposed compensatory mitigation. There are four (4) isolated wetlands, totaling 3.42 acres, located within the project boundary (Wetland 2 = 1.2 Acres; Wetland 3 = 1.87 acres; Wetland 4 = 0.31 acres; and Wetland 8 = 0.04). Wetlands 2,3,4, and 8 are surrounded by upland vegetation and do not have any physical, chemical, or biological connections to waters of the United States. Given the absence of factual determination of subsurface flow, or a substantial nexus to commerce, these wetlands were determined to be isolated consistent with SWANCC and the "Migratory Bird Rule''. There are 9.35 acres of non-jurisdictional surface waters located within the project boundary. The surface waters include swales and ditches which were excavated entirely within uplands and do not convey water to waters of the United States. An abandon borrow pit totaling 43.4 acres occurs in the north boundary of the site. The banks of the pit are routinely mowed and the littoral edges are sparsely vegetated. The applicant has conceded jurisdiction of the borrow pit. PROPOSED WORK: The applicant seeks authorization to dredge and fill 0.3 acre of jurisdictional wetlands and 9.52 acres of jurisdictional surface waters for the construction of a multi-use development, which includes single-family homes, multi- family homes, commercial/retail, roads, and surface water management systems. 2 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: “A total of 1.77 acres of USACE jurisdictional wetlands exist on the subject site. Of this wetland acreage, 0.3 acres of the lowest quality wetlands are proposed for impact while the other 1.47 acres of higher quality wetlands would be avoided and surrounded by upland buffers.” COMPENSATORY MITIGATION – The applicant has offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment: The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: The applicant proposes to purchase federal credits from the federally approved Lake Washington 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: The action area includes the entire 214.15 acre project site. The project is located within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Consultation Area for the eastern indigo snake, wood stork, Florida scrub-jay, Audubon’s crested caracara, grasshopper sparrow, Everglades snail kite and red cockaded woodpecker. The project site does not contain habitat suitable for grasshopper sparrow, Everglades snail kite, or red cockaded woodpecker. The Corps has determined the proposed work would have no effect to the grasshopper sparrow, Everglades snail kite, or red cockaded woodpecker. The site contains suitable habitat for the Florida scrub jay. The applicant has completed scrub jay surveys and none were observed. The applicant coordinated with the FWS via separate letter and the FWS concurred no scrub jays occur within the project boundaries. The Corps has determined the proposed action would have no effect to the Florida scrub jay. The Corps completed an evaluation of the project based upon the August 13, 2013, updated addendum to the January 2010 North and South Florida Ecological Services Field Offices Programmatic Concurrence for use with the Eastern Indigo Snake. Use of the Key for the Eastern Indigo Snake resulted in the following sequential determination: A (The project is not located in open water or salt marsh.) >B (The permit will be conditioned for use of the Service’s standard Protection Measures for the Eastern Indigo snake during site preparation and protection construction.) >C (There are gopher tortoise burrows, holes, cavities, or other refugia where a snake could be buried or trapped and injured during project activities.) > D (The project will impact less than 25 acres of xeric habitat supporting less than 25 active and inactive gopher tortoise burrows) = Not Likely to Adversely Affect (NLAA) with the applicant adherence to the 3 standard protection measures for the Eastern Indigo Snake. Based upon the NLAA determination for the Eastern Indigo Snake no further coordination is required. The Corps completed an evaluation of the project based upon the September 2008, North and Central Peninsular Florida Ecological Services Field Offices Programmatic Concurrence for use with the Wood Stork. Use of the Key for the Wood Stork resulted in the following sequential determination: A (Project is more than 2500 feet from a colony site.) > B (Project impacts SFH) >C (Impacts to SFH are greater than 0.5 acres) >D (Project impacts to SFH are within a Core Foraging Area.) >E (Project provides SFH compensation within the Service Area of a Service-approved wetland mitigation bank.) = NLAA. Based upon the NLAA determination for the Wood Stork no further coordination is required. ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT (EFH): The proposed work would have no effect to EFH. 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 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 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.