20081143 Ver 1_Emails_20101029

Kulz, Eric
From: Kulz, Eric
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 8:20 AM
To: Homewood, Sue
Cc: Mcmillan, Ian
Subject: Cripple Creek Mitigation Bank - Alamance County (#08-1143)
Hey Sue:
I got Restoration Systems' response to your letter. With respect to the first item, good catch! I would probably add that
as a condition to the 401.
With respect to the second issue, FYI the requirement for buffer has NEVER been an average of 50 feet. This is an
interpretation by some out there to try to avoid our recent guidance on credit reduction for buffers less than 50 feet.
Since the 2003 Stream Mitigation Guidelines explicitly says that narrower buffers may result is reduced credit, there is
no "grandfathering" issue here. The guidance that we are working on simply makes the credit reduction predictable,
and it is based (at least somewhat) on science.
It may be that the site falls under the "Minor variations from established buffer widths" provision in our draft guidance
"if the total length of streams with buffers less than the minimum, standard width comprise less than or equal to 5% of
the stream length on any one side of the stream, then no credit will be deducted for these narrower buffers. The
purpose of this provision is to allow the regulatory agencies and mitigation providers to focus on projects which have
widths which are substantially different from the standard widths". This project will be close.
The simplest thing to do here (so you/we don't have to address it at this stage) is to include the following condition in
the 401. We put this condition in all mitigation project 401s:
Mitigation Credit
Approval of the restoration plan and issuance of the 401 Water Quality Certification means that DWQ has
determined that the proposed activity will not remove or degrade significant existing uses of the surface water
(15A NCAC 2H .0506(a)). The issuance does not represent an approval of credit yield for the project.
I think that should cover it, unless you have additional issues.
Hope you had a great vacation!!!
Eric
Eric W. Kulz
Environmental Senior Specialist
N.C. Division of Water Quality
401 Oversight and Express Permitting Unit
2321 Crabtree Blvd., Suite 250
Raleigh, NC 27604
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
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