HomeMy WebLinkAbout20090430 Ver 2_Modifications_20100430D?_ 0430
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WIDICKSON
community infrastructure consultants
April 28, 2010
Mr. Thomas Brown
US Army Corps of Engineers
Raleigh Regulatory Field Office
331 Heritage Trade Drive, Suite 105 D ^ Le 0W
Wake Forest, NC 27587 ;[vim
Mr. Ian McMillan APPy 4 C 2010
Division of Water Quality
401 Wetlands Unit ?? AND -WATER QUALITY
2321 Crabtree Blvd., Suite 250
Raleigh, NC 27604
RE: Johnston County Airport ERSA Mitigation (USACE Permit No. SAW-2009-00846 and
Certification No3822)
Mr. Brown and Mr. McMillan:
On behalf of Johnston County Airport (Airport), WK Dickson is requesting modifications to the
above referenced 401 Certification and 404 Permit. Due to construction funding shortfalls and
reduced needs, the Airport is choosing to move forward with construction of the FAA mandated
Extended Runway Safety Area (ERSA) phase. Construction of the Corporate Area phase is not
currently funded. As a result, there will be no impacts to non-riparian wetlands. The Airport is
requesting that construction of the ERSA be allowed after purchase of the following mitigation
credits: 15.5 riparian WMUs, 1,370 SMUs, and 176,199 BMUs. These mitigation unit purchases
will compensate for permitted impacts associated with the ERSA construction. The Airport would
like to delay purchase of the non-riparian WMUs and Nutrient Offset Credits associated with the
Corporate Area until that phase of construction is funded and moves to construction. All
mitigation purchases will be made prior to any impacts to the associated regulated water.
If the Airport is able to proceed with construction of the Corporate Area in the five year permit
time frame 21 non-riparian WMUs will be purchased prior to construction. Concurrence with
that mitigation unit purchase will be requested from NCDWQ and USACE at that time.
The 401 Certification and 404 Permit currently identify NCEEP as the mitigation provider. In an
effort to reduce construction costs the Airport solicited mitigation unit cost proposals from two
commercial mitigation providers (EarthMark and Environmental Banc and Exchange) to compare
unit fees with the NC EEP Schedule of Fees for the ERSA compensatory mitigation. The
Environmental Banc and Exchange (EBX) proposal had the lowest mitigation unit costs and was
substantially lower than NCEEP (attached). The Airport is requesting a modification to allow use of
either Approved Credits from the EBX Neu-Con Wetland and Stream Umbrella Mitigation Bank
and EBX Neuse Riparian Buffer Umbrella Mitigation Bank - or - NCEEP in lieu fee program. This
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approach will allow the Airport to purchase existing Approved Credits from EBX and future
Approved Credits at a substantially reduced cost. If the required Approved Credits are not
available from EBX the Airport will purchase credits from NCEEP per the attached Acceptance
Letter. The Airport will not purchase mitigation credits until they are approved by the IRT (stream
and wetland) or NCDWQ (buffer) for use in the Neuse 01 HUC. Note: the credit purchases may
be made separately to match grant funding schedules.
Please confirm your agreement to this mitigation approach and permit modifications or provide
questions/comments concerning the proposed ERSA mitigation. The Airport seeks to complete a
portion of the mitigation credit purchase by June 1, 2010 to fully utilize existing grant funds. Thank
you for your prompt attention to these important items.
Sincerely,
W.K. Dickson & Co., Inc.
Daniel Ingram
Project Manager
Attachments
cc: Carroll Triplett, WK Dickson
Ray Blackmon, Johnston County Airport
Chastity Clark, NCDOT DOA
Project file, 80324.00.CA
APR 1 6 2010
Environmental Banc & Exchange
Capital - Experience - Expertise
April 14, 2010
Mr. Daniel Ingram
W.K. Dickson & Co., Inc.
720 Corporate Center Drive
Raleigh, NC 27607
BY: --------------------
Subject: Johnston County Airport Mitigation
Dear Daniel:
EBX is pleased to submit this Letter Proposal for the wetland, stream and buffer
mitigation required for the expansion of the Jo>hnston,County Airport. .
The proposed prices for the miti:gatioh credits required by -the `Airport' 'are as
follows: -
Mitigation Units Need EBX
Unit Price
Riparian Wetlands _
15.46 Credits _
$62,00
0
Stream
1,370 Credits _
_
$310
Buffer 176,199 Credits $U.75
EBX proposes that the Airport purchase the needed mitigation credits in three
phases as follows:
tigation Units_
-------- Mi
>partan Wetlands _
Stream
April/M
Amount
10.90
0
a,,2U10
Price
$675,800
0
June/Ju
Amount
4.56
0
l 2010
Price
$282,7.20_ ?
0 ----
Aug/Se
Amount
0_
1
370
t 2010
Price
0
$424
700
_
Buffer
Total - -- _
------ 0-
$675,800 _
0 -
?- ; 0
$282,T1U ,
1_76,199
--_ ,
$132,?49
$556,849_1
The EBX proposed pricing is conditioned up (i) the Airport purchasing all of its
riparian wetland, stream and buffer mitigation from EBX, (ii) the NC IRT
approving the release of streant cred is from the Howell Woods stream mitigation
site of the leu-Con Wuland and Stream lhnbreihi Nlitil a±ion l3an.k sponsored by
EBX and (iii.) the NC DWQ approving th(.: release of h: acredits irom the
riparian buffer mitigation site of the EBX Nobs:: Riparian Buffer Umbrella
Mitigation Bank sponsored by EBX.
10055 Red Run Boulevard
Suite 130
Owings Mills, MD 21117
p 410.356.5159
p 888.781.7075
f 410.356.5822
909 Capability Drive
Suite 3100
Raleigh, NC 27606
p 919.829.9909
f 919.829.9913
604 Greene Street
Suite 100
Camden, SC 29020
p 803.427.7877
f 410.356.5822
www.ebxuso.com
Please let me know if we can provide the Airport with any additional information.
'ncerely,
L,---,
Thomas Rinker
Principal
cc: Norton Webster
Ely Perry
tem
T?Vfit
E PROGRAM
August 27, 2009
Ray Blackman
Johnston County Airport
3149 Swift Creek Rd.
Smithfield, NC 27377
=Project: Extended Runway Safety Area
Expiration of Acceptance: May 27, 2010
County: Johnston
The purpose of this letter is to notify you that the North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program (NCEEP) is willing-to accept
payment for impacts associated with the above referenced project. Please note that this decision does not assure that the payment will
be approved by the permit issuing. agencies as mitigation for project impacts. Itis.the responsibility of the aplicati ttoTcontact these
agencies to determine if pa
yment to the NCEEP will be anoroved.?.mdct ,r
This acceptance is valid for nine months from the date of this letter and is not transferable. If we have not received a copy of the
issued 404 Permit/401 Certification/CAMA permit within this time frame, this acceptance will expire. It is the applicant's
responsibility to send copies of the permits to NCEEP. Once NCEEP receives a copy of the permit(s) an invoice will be issued based
on the required mitigation in that permit and payment must be made prior to conducting the authorized work. The amount of the In
Lieu Fee to be paid to NCEEP by an applicant is calculated based upon the Fee Schedule and policies listed at www.nceep.net.
Based on the information supplied by you the impacts that may require compensatory mitigation are summarized in the following
table.
River CU Stream (feet)
Basin Location I
Wetlands (acres) Buffer I Buffer
(Sq. Ft.) (Sq. Ft
Cold Cool Warm Riparian Non-Ri arian Coastal Marsh
Impact Neuse 03020201 0 0 685 7.73 10.31 0 44,486 28,47
Credits Neuse 03020201 _Lj__O_?? 1,370 15.46 20.62 0 133,488 42,71
Upon receipt of payment, EEP will take responsibility for providing the compensatory mitigation. If the regulatory agencies require
mitigation credits greater than indicated above, and the applicant wants NCEEP to be responsible for the additional mitigation, the
applicant will need to submit a mitigation request to NCEEP for approval prior to permit issuance. The mitigation will be performed
in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dated November 4, 1998.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Valerie Mitchener at (919) 715-1973,
cc: Cyndi Karoly, NCDWQ Wetlands/401 Unit
Thomas Brown, USACE-Raleigh
Eric Kulz, NCDWQ-Raleigh
Daniel Ingram, agent
File
Sincerely,
William D. Gilmore, PE
Director
7•;7
RPM hort; tg... 1r ... Pro" 0" fw&
North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program, 1652 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1652 1919-715-0476 / www.nceep.net