19961054 Ver 2_Public Notice Comments_20110705

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
WILMINGTON DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS
69 DARLINGTON AVENUE
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA 28403-1343
REPLY TO
ATTENTION OF:
July 1, 2011
Regulatory Division
Action ID No. SAW-2009-01242
Patricia Donovan Bennett
Bennett Brothers Yachts, Inc.
1701 J.E.L. Wade Drive
Wilmington, North Carolina 28401
Dear Ms. Bennett:
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Reference our May 10, 2011 Public Notice describing the proposal by the Bennett Brothers
Yachts to perform dredging within the Cape Fear Marina located immediately north of the
Isabella Holmes Bridge, adjacent to the Northeast Cape Fear River, Wilmington, North Carolina,
Brunswick County, North Carolina.
After review of your proposal, we have received comments from the National Marine
Fisheries Service (letter dated June 10, 2011), the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries
(letter dated June 6, 2011), the North Carolina Division of Water Quality (letter dated June 8,
2011), the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (letter dated May 20, 2011), the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service (letter dated June 21, 2011), and the North Carolina
Wildlife Resources Commission (letter dated June 30, 2011). Copies of all these letters are
enclosed. These comments and recommendations are due to anticipated adverse environmental
impacts associated with your project.
Our administrative process provides you the opportunity to respond to the resource agency
comments before we make a final permit decision. In this regard, please review the comments
and recommendations and submit your written response to us on or before July 24, 2011.
As stated in our letter dated November 3, 2009 and acknowledged in your permit application
narrative dated April 18, 2011, on February 6, 1990, the Department of the Army (DA) and the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA)
establishing procedures to determine the type and level of mitigation necessary to comply with
Clean Water Act Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines. This MOA provides for first, avoiding impacts
to waters and wetlands through the selection of the least damaging, practical alternative
(LEDPA), secondly, employing all appropriate and practical steps to reduce impacts on waters
and wetlands (minimization); and finally, compensation for remaining unavoidable impacts to
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the extent appropriate and practical. Our referenced letter requested that you provide the
following additional information:
a. Permits for work within wetlands or other special aquatic sites are available only if the
proposed work is the least environmentally damaging, practicable alternative. Please furnish
information regarding any other alternatives, including upland alternatives, to the work for which
you have applied and provide justification that your selected plan is the least damaging to water
or wetland areas.
b. It is necessary for you to have taken all appropriate and practicable steps to minimize
wetland losses and adverse impacts to waters of the United States (fishery resources). Please
indicate all that you have done, especially regarding development and modification of plans and
proposed construction techniques, to minimize adverse impacts.
c. The MOA requires that appropriate and practicable mitigation will be required for all
unavoidable adverse impacts remaining after all appropriate and practicable minimization has
been employed. Please indicate your plan to mitigate for the projected, unavoidable loss of
waters or wetlands or provide information as to the absence of any such appropriate and
practicable measures.
Based on the information provided in your permit application and the comments received by
the resource agencies on the referenced public notice, the information you have provided to this
office does not adequately address the information requested in our letter dated November 3,
2009. In view of the resource agency comments on your proposed project, it is very important
that you provide an analysis of a full range of alternatives considered and re-consider your
compensatory mitigation proposal to offset the permanent losses of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH),
designated as Primary Nursery Area (PNA) by the State of North Carolina associated with your
project. To emphasize this importance, we have also included a copy of NMFS' letter dated
September 30, 2009 regarding deficiencies in your proposed project. As stated above, your
responses to the entire resource agency comments on your project are needed prior our final
permit decision. In addition to this information, we request that you provide the following:
1. An analysis of a full range of alternatives in view of the purpose and need of your
proposed project and services provided by Cape Fear Marina.
2. Draft data on the vessels that use Cape Fear Marina and the water depths that are
needed to accommodate these vessels. Please also include data on vessels that used the
marina immediately after construction. Based on a statement CRC hearing on May 19,
2010, water depths in the marina were approximately -4.0 ft NLW. In addition, Ms.
Bennett stated at this meeting that vessels using the marina at that time only required
depths of -6.0 MLW. Please provide data on the minimum depth needed in the marina and
rationale that supports the need for this depth.
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3. A new hydrographic survey of the marina along with along with a comparison of this
data to the 2009 hydrographic survey data contained in your permit application. In
addition, please provide an analysis of the local sediment budget in the vicinity of the
marina to identify the sources and volumes of sediment that have shoaled within the marina
since its construction in 1997. This should also include an analysis of historic shorelines
and causes of erosion, such as the City of Wilmington storm drain, near Cape Fear Marina
with estimates of the shoreline losses (in cubic yards). Lastly, please provide an estimate
of the future dredging needs of Cape Fear Marina.
Finally, please be aware that the Corps cannot issue a final permit for your proposed activity
until your project has been determined consistent with the approved state Coastal Zone
Management (CZM) Program and that you have received a Section 401 Water Quality
Certification from the North Carolina Division of Water Quality. Please inform this office when
you have obtained these approvals.
If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at [phone].
Sincerely,
Dave Timpy, Project Manager
Wilmington Regulatory Field Office
Enclosure
Copies Furnished (with enclosure):
Bruce Marek, PE
5489 Eastwind Road
Wilmington, North Carolina 28403
Mr. Doug Huggett
Division of Coastal Management
North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
400 Commerce Avenue
Morehead City, North Carolina 28557
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Ms. Karen Higgins
Division of Environmental Management
North Carolina Department of
J Environment and Natural Resources
1650 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1650
Ms. Jennifer Derby
Wetlands Section - Region IV
Water Management Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Mr. Pete Benjamin
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Fish and Wildlife Enhancement
Post Office Box 33726
Raleigh, North Carolina 27636-3726
Mr. Ron Sechler
National Marine Fisheries Service
101 Pivers Island
Beaufort, North Carolina 28516
Ms. Rennee Gledhill Earley
North Carolina Department of
Cultural Resources
State Historic Preservation Office
4617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699
Ms. Anne Deaton
Division of Marine Fisheries
North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington, North Carolina 28405
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Ms. Jessi Baker
Division of Marine Fisheries
North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington, North Carolina 28405
Ms. Deborah Wilson
North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
Division of Coastal Management
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington, North Carolina 28405
Molly Ellwood
Southeastern Permit Coordinator
NCWRC/Habitat Conservation Program
127 Cardinal Drive
Wilmington, North Carolina 28405