20010404 Ver 3_General Correspondence_20100102

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Sandhills o-1
Home Office: 140-A SW Board Street, P.O. Box 1032, Southern Pines, NC 28388
Phone: [phone] - [e-mail]
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www sandhillslandtruscore
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Cumberland County Office: 831 Arsenal Avenue, Fayetteville, NC 28305
Phone: [phone] - [e-mail]
January 2, 2010
Mr. Scott McLendon
Assistant Chief
ReLlUlatory Division
Department of the Army. Corps of Engineers
69 Darlinoton Avenue
Wilmington, NC 28403-1343
Re: ORM ID Number: 199300570, TIP R-210. US I Relocation
Dear Vlr. McLendon,
Thank you for resolving the confusion of the missing page from your letter dated
November 17, 2009. 1 wanted to confirm that I did receive the full letter via email on
December 7. 2009 concerning the 327-acre tract adjacent to the Little River near Lobelia
in Moore County owned by L:R. Hunt Club, LLC.' I have reviewed the violations and the
remediation requests and have begun to address them.
On December 9. 2009, 'I met with the landowner,'J.J. Barnes, on the site to examine the
violations and discuss steps to resolve the issues noted in your November 17`h letter. The
outcome of the meetin- was that he is willing to remove the new culverts that he installed
as well as the staging piles of rock but has requested guidance from the Corp and
NCDOT as to what to replace the culverts with in order to allow him access onto his tract
via the permitted "carriage trail" allowed in both easements. Perhaps an additional site
visit or meeting could be arranged to address specific solutions to the violations and
actions that Mr. Barnes will need to take in order to satisfy the mitigation permit/
easement conditions while allowing him access and use of his land.
As to your specific concerns about SALT's acceptability as an easement holder on future
conservation easements required by the Corps, 1 will attempt to address them point by
point. Please note that I have been the Executive Director of SALT since October 1,
2009 so my responses are not based on first-hand experience with or knowledge of the
project history.
1. Rationale behind the granting of the 2003 easement given that there was an
existing 1998 easement.
I n the land!trustcommtmity. the use of a'secondary conservation easement is only used in
situations wherebv a land trust or landowner feels that the conservation values of a
property need greater protection than the language of'the first easement allows. On
December 15, 2009, 1 met with the attorney, Hunter Stoval of Southern Pines, who
drafted the second easement to discuss the rationale behind the second easement. He
informed me that he had been directed by the Executive Director of SALT at that time -
Richard, Perritt- to draft a second easement that would ensure a continued monitoring
role for SALT in the event that DOT or the Corps ever abandoned or released the 1998
casement. He informed me that he worked with the attorney that had drafted the first
easement, Marsh Smith of Southern Pines, in drafting the language of the second
easement and did not see a conflict at that time between the two easements in that the
second easement was meant to be merely a backstop should the first easement be
released. I have asked Mr. Stoval to submit to me a statement of the rationale for the
second casement so that Imay forward it to your attention.
2. Inventory of Corps mitigation sites where SALT holds an easement or similar
interest, and confirmation that no subsequent easements have been recorded on
these properties
To date. SALT has stewardship responsibilities on three mitigation sites - two in Moore .
County and one in Cumberland County. In Moore County, one is the Taylor (SALT)
tract, which this letter is addressing, and the second is our Riverbend tract, part of the
Forest Creek Golf Course mitigation through J.H. Carter and Associates. The Riverbend
property. located off Hwy.690/Lobelia Road (parcel pin # 955102880249) is owned by
Forest Creek Holding Company with the easement held by SALT. Once the mitigation is.
complete, it will be transferred to SALT fee simple. It does have a conservation
easement on the tract that was part of the actual mitigation agreement for the project. No
additional easement has been placed on the parcel nor are there any future plans to do so.
The Cumberland County project is located in southeastern Cumberland off of Hwy. 210
and is known as Barra Farms (parcel #0493-04-5262). The project, 623 acres within a
Carolina Bay, was part of a for-profit mitigation project through EcoBanl: and has only
its original mitigation easement between EcoBank and State of NC dated February 17,
1995. It was donated fee simple by EcoBank to SALT on May 5, 2006 and no additional
easement has been placed on the tract nor future plans to do so_
All of our mitigation easements/projects have updated current condition reports that are
available for your review should you so desire.
3. Indication of how SALT mi,,ht be able to remedy the current situation on this
property
As indicated earlier in this letter, SALT is.making every effort to work with the Corps,
NCDOT, and the landowner to remedy the violations on this property. We have a good
working relationship with the landowner, who is willing to cooperate any way that he
can. We are hoping that by having a second site meeting we would be able to discuss
solutions that would be financially feasible to correct whatever is necessary to meet
acceptable remediation of the problems without dramatically impacting the value of the
property and the landowner's investment. Mr. Barnes loves his land and has hunted it for
many years prior to owning it. He is a good steward of his lands and regrets that he
proceeded with work on this tract without notifying the appropriate agencies of his
2
intentions and gaining approval to proceed. There was no malicious intent in his
ed'orts.... jList lack of understanding of the full intent of the easement language.
I am presently investigating protocols for extinguishing or amending an easement but do
51 not have anything definitive at this time. I understand your interest in extinguishing the
second easement but that is extremely difficult to do and would most likely incur
extensive legal costs, which my organization is not in a position to incur at this time. I
will continue to explore this realm and would be open to discussing any possible
solutions you may suggest.
Statement regarding SALT'S future policy regarding layering of easements
According to the Land Trust Alliance, the nationwide land trust support organization,
there is no existing policy within the land trust community regarding layering of
easements. SALT*s Land Committee will be addressing this issue at its upcoming
January meeting with the intention of beginning work on drafting a policy that will
address this issue.
As I hope you can see, I am committed to working with all parties in resolving the
violations. I deeply regret that this has occurred but I am confident that we can reach
satisfactory solutions to the issues. I look forward to hearing from you as to how we
should proceed.
Sincerely.
Candace Williams
Executive Director
Cc:
Mr. Brian Wrenn
Water Quality Section
NC Division of Environment and Natural Resources
1650 Mail Service Center
Ralei;h, NC 27699-1650
Gre,-,orv J. Thorpe, Ph.D.
Environmental Mana;ement Director, PDBA
NC Department of Transportation
1545 Mail Service Center
Ralek,h, NC 27699-1548
Mr. J.J. Barnes. Jr.
115 Drake Street
P.O. Box 1741
Fayetteville, NC 28302
Planter Stovall. Attorney at Law
Stovall & Blevins, P.A.
2J0 North Bennett Street
Southern Pines, NC 28388