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Home My WebLink About20090430 Ver 2_Modifications_20100430D?_ 0430 WWI< 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 20 Ca?rhr?r?itr? G Ifiv's 1 X31 ?),?fi1.`l(?<? dig ,k'( )II,(()In Irari?tp)rtit i( )n • \v,aI(,I Ri' (Irc(s + 1,1[mr) i)ev0of )IIir,nT 0 (_;, !icy 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