20020689 Ver 1_Complete File_20071026

NCDENR a
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Division of Coastal Management
Michael F. Easley, Governor James H. Gregson, Director William G. Ross Jr., Secretary
October 26, 2007
Philip S. Harris, III, P.E.
Project Development and Environmental Analysis
N.C. Department of Transportation
1598 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1598
RE: Rocky Hock Creek Bridge Mitigation Site, Chowan County, Coastal Area Management Act
(CAMA) Permit No. 105-02, TIP No. B-3435.
Dear Mr. Harris:
This letter is in response to the N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) letter dated 4/26/07
regarding the Rocky Hock Creek Bridge Mitigation Site in Chowan County. In the letter, NCDOT
requests that the appropriate resource agencies provide documentation stating that no further
monitoring is required and that the site is closed.
The Rocky Hock Creek Bridge Mitigation Site involved replacing the existing 160-foot long timber
bridge over Rocky Hock Creek with an 850-foot long concrete bridge spanning Rocky Hock Creek and
the adjacent cypress-gum swamp near its confluence with the Chowan River. Approximately 639 feet
of causeway was excavated from the existing roadbed and restored to its previous wetland hydrology.
The mitigation site provides 0.6 acres of riverine wetland restoration and 7.36 acres of riverine wetland
enhancement. The approved mitigation plan is dated 6/27/02, and is titled: "On-site Mitigation Plan
for the Proposed Replacement of Bridge No. 04 on SR 1207 over Rocky Hock Creek in Chowan
County, North Carolina."
In addition to the approved mitigation plan for the wetland restoration and enhancement areas,
Condition No. 24 of CAMA Permit No. 105-02 requires that NCDOT conduct monitoring to ensure
that the wetland areas temporarily impacted by this project re-attain jurisdictional wetland status.
The N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM) has reviewed the annual monitoring reports
prepared by NCDOT in 2005 and 2006. DCM has also visited the site on 6/14/07, and consulted with
the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) and the N.C. Division of Water Quality (DWQ).
Based upon this review, DCM agrees that no further monitoring is required and that the site may be
officially closed. DCM believes that post-construction monitoring demonstrates that success criteria
for the mitigation site have been met. DCM also believes that the wetland areas temporarily impacted
by this project have re-attained jurisdictional wetland status.
1638 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1638
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DCM has the following comments to add to the documentation upon closing out this mitigation site:
¦ According to the NCDOT letter dated 4/26/07, NCDOT monitored 0.04 acres of temporary impacts
due to mechanized clearing. However, this does not include 0.06 acres of non-mechanized
clearing that were reported by NCDOT in early 2003 and included within the Minor Modification
of CAMA Permit No. 105-02 that was issued on 11/14/03. It also does not include 0.27 acres of
non-mechanized clearing within the Right-of-Way on the northern side of the bridge that were
authorized in a Letter of Refinement for CAMA Permit No. 105-02 on or about 11/12/02.
The NCDOT letter dated 4/26/07 mistakenly says that hydrologic monitoring was not required for
this project. Actually, hydrologic monitoring was required by the approved mitigation plan, and
was successfully completed by NCDOT as documented in the 2005 Annual Monitoring Report.
Within the 2005 Annual Monitoring Report, NCDOT states that: "Based on the data collected
from the on-site surface gauge and rain gauge, the fluctuations in the depth of the surface water is
not solely attributed to rainfall events as required by the mitigation plan. The Rocky Hock
Mitigation Site has met the success criteria established by the mitigation plan and fulfilled the
mitigation monitoring requirements, therefore NCDOT recommends removing the gauges."
¦ Condition No. 4 of the Minor Modification of CAMA Permit No. 105-02 issued on 11/14/03
requires that NCDOT submit a debit ledger to DCM for the mitigation credits generated by TIP
No. B-3435. This condition was satisfied by a letter dated 11/6/06 from NCDOT to the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (USACE). The 11/6/06 NCDOT letter documents debits of 0.60 acres from the
Rocky Hock Creek Bridge Mitigation Site for impacts of 0.411 acres from two projects, TIP No.
B-3435 and TIP No. R-3850. DCM is not aware of any additional debits that have been made to
this mitigation site. Therefore the mitigation site has a remaining surplus of 7.36 acres of wetland
enhancement credits, and no remaining wetland restoration credits.
DCM commends NCDOT on a very successful on-site mitigation project. Please contact Cathy
Brittingham at [phone] x238 or via e-mail at [e-mail] if you have any
questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
,a V #
?r
Doug Iggett
Major Permits and Consistency Coordinator
CC: Bill Biddlecome, USACE
David Wainwright, DWQ
Garcy Ward, DWQ
Randy Griffin, NCDOT
Jim Hoadley, DCM
Cathy Brittingham, DCM
Travis Wilson, WRC