HomeMy WebLinkAbout20111022 Ver 1_Approval Letter_20130607W
CCDENR
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Division of Water Quality
Pat McCrory Charles Wakild, P.E.
Governor Director
June 7, 2013
Kristy Urquhart, Associate Director
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
34 Wall St. Suite 202
Asheville, NC 28801
Subject: 401 Water Quality Certification - Approval
Project Name: Anderson Farms Stream Mitigation Bank
DWQ Project # 2011 -1022
Buncombe County
French Broad River Basin / Newfound Creek / 6 -84 / C
Dear Ms. Urquhart:
John E. Skvada, III
Secretary
The Division of Water Quality has completed the review of your 401 Water Quality Certification application
associated with the subject project listed above.
Approval has been granted to place fill within or otherwise impact 3,455 feet of streams for the purpose of a
Stream Mitigation Bank at the subject property. This certification does not authorize the approval of credit
ratios and/or releases associated with the Anderson Fauns Stream Mitigation Bank nor indicate IRT approval of
this bank. This approval requires you to follow the conditions listed in the attached Certification and any
additional conditions listed below.
Project impacts are covered by General Water Quality Certification Number 3885. This Certification allows
you to use Nationwide Permit 27 when issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE). Authorization to
proceed with your proposed impacts or to conduct impacts to waters as depicted in your application and as
authorized by this Certification shall expire upon expiration of the corresponding USACE Permit Verification.
In addition, you should obtain or otherwise comply with any other required federal, state or local permits before
you proceed with your project including (but not limited to) Erosion and Sediment Control, Buffer and
Floodplain regulations.
This approval is for the purpose and design that you described in your application. If you change your project,
you must notify us and may be required to submit a new application.
Impacts Approved
The following impacts are hereby approved as long as all of the other specific and general conditions of
this Certification are met. No other impacts are approved including incidental impacts:
Location: 2090 U.S. Highway 70, Swannanoa, North Carolina 28778
Phone: 828 - 29645001 FAX: 828- 299 -7043
Internet www.ncwaterqualfty.org
An Equal Opportunity 1 Affirmative Action Employer
lCarolina ura!!t�
Southern Appalachian Conservancy
June 7, 2013
Page 2 of 3
ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS:
1. Appropriate measures should be installed prior to any land clearing activities to protect waters and wetlands
from turbidity and/ or sedimentation. These measures should be routinely inspected and properly maintained.
Excessive silt and sediment loads can have numerous detrimental effects on aquatic resources including
destruction of spawning habitat, suffocation of eggs, and clogging of gills of aquatic species.
2. Any visible increase in stream turbidity or failed silt fences MUST be reported to the DWQ Asheville
Regional Office immediately at (828) 296 -4500.
3. The channel must be restored to a more stable condition. However, under no circumstances should river
rock, sand or other materials be dredged (excavated) from the stream channel under authorization of this
permit except, if necessary, in the immediate vicinity of the eroding banks for the explicit purpose of
anchoring stabilizing or flow /grade control structures or for re- establishing the natural and more stable stream
channel dimensions. Streambed materials are unstable in flowing -water situations and are unsuitable for bank
stabilization. Stream dredging has catastrophic effects on aquatic life and disturbance of the natural form of
the stream channel can cause downstream erosion problems. The natural dimension, pattern, and profile of the
stream upstream and downstream of the permitted area should not be modified by widening the stream
channel or changing its depth.
4. If pasture along the stream is to be used for grazing, the permittee must inform the appropriate landowners that
cattle should be prohibited from damaging riparian areas and from de- stabilizing the stream banks and
channel.
5. Stream bed habitat material, such as cobble and gravel, should be harvested from abandoned channels and
relocated to new channels to the maximum extent practical.
6. Monitoring benchmarks must be established. Cross sectional and longitudinal measurements shall be
conducted at end of construction, at the first year anniversary after completion of the work, then annually
for 4 more years (along with photo documentation) at a minumum. Reports shall be submitted (after the end
of each monitoring year) within 30 days of completion of each monitoring event. Both the ACOE and
DWQ shall be notified if repairs are necessary and the applicant / property owner will receive approval prior
to implementation. Vegetation assessments shall also be made and reported during this time.
7. This authorization exempts the Permittee from meeting Condition #7 in the attached general certification for
the placement of in -stream structure material into the Newfound Creek. The Permittee shall take all
reasonable measures to construct in -stream structures while keeping heavy equipment out of the stream
channel. Stream flow will be diverted around work areas as much as practicable. All reasonable steps must
be taken to limit the amount of disturbance in the channel and to therefore reduce downstream turbidity
during construction. This exemption does not relieve the Permittee of meeting stream standards as indicated
in 15A NCAC 02B.
8. The designer or his designee must supervise the installation of in -stream structures.
The permittee will provide on -site supervision of stability work including, but not limited to bank re-
sloping, in -stream structure placement, and riparian zone re- establishment, by an appropriately trained
individual.
Amount Approved nits
Plan Location or Reference
Stream
13455 feet
Application Item C. 3.
ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS:
1. Appropriate measures should be installed prior to any land clearing activities to protect waters and wetlands
from turbidity and/ or sedimentation. These measures should be routinely inspected and properly maintained.
Excessive silt and sediment loads can have numerous detrimental effects on aquatic resources including
destruction of spawning habitat, suffocation of eggs, and clogging of gills of aquatic species.
2. Any visible increase in stream turbidity or failed silt fences MUST be reported to the DWQ Asheville
Regional Office immediately at (828) 296 -4500.
3. The channel must be restored to a more stable condition. However, under no circumstances should river
rock, sand or other materials be dredged (excavated) from the stream channel under authorization of this
permit except, if necessary, in the immediate vicinity of the eroding banks for the explicit purpose of
anchoring stabilizing or flow /grade control structures or for re- establishing the natural and more stable stream
channel dimensions. Streambed materials are unstable in flowing -water situations and are unsuitable for bank
stabilization. Stream dredging has catastrophic effects on aquatic life and disturbance of the natural form of
the stream channel can cause downstream erosion problems. The natural dimension, pattern, and profile of the
stream upstream and downstream of the permitted area should not be modified by widening the stream
channel or changing its depth.
4. If pasture along the stream is to be used for grazing, the permittee must inform the appropriate landowners that
cattle should be prohibited from damaging riparian areas and from de- stabilizing the stream banks and
channel.
5. Stream bed habitat material, such as cobble and gravel, should be harvested from abandoned channels and
relocated to new channels to the maximum extent practical.
6. Monitoring benchmarks must be established. Cross sectional and longitudinal measurements shall be
conducted at end of construction, at the first year anniversary after completion of the work, then annually
for 4 more years (along with photo documentation) at a minumum. Reports shall be submitted (after the end
of each monitoring year) within 30 days of completion of each monitoring event. Both the ACOE and
DWQ shall be notified if repairs are necessary and the applicant / property owner will receive approval prior
to implementation. Vegetation assessments shall also be made and reported during this time.
7. This authorization exempts the Permittee from meeting Condition #7 in the attached general certification for
the placement of in -stream structure material into the Newfound Creek. The Permittee shall take all
reasonable measures to construct in -stream structures while keeping heavy equipment out of the stream
channel. Stream flow will be diverted around work areas as much as practicable. All reasonable steps must
be taken to limit the amount of disturbance in the channel and to therefore reduce downstream turbidity
during construction. This exemption does not relieve the Permittee of meeting stream standards as indicated
in 15A NCAC 02B.
8. The designer or his designee must supervise the installation of in -stream structures.
The permittee will provide on -site supervision of stability work including, but not limited to bank re-
sloping, in -stream structure placement, and riparian zone re- establishment, by an appropriately trained
individual.
Southern Appalachian Conservancy
June 7, 2013
Page 3 of 3
9. The permitee shall require its contractors and/or agents to comply with the terms and conditions of this
permit in the construction and maintenance of this project, and shall provide each of its contractors and/or
agents associated with the construction or maintenance of this project with a copy of this Certification. A
copy of this Certification, including all conditions shall be available at the project site during the
construction and maintenance of this project.
10. Vegetation monitoring should continue for 7 years per public notice issued by the Division on March 12,
2009 (http•/ ortal.ncdenr.or web /wq /swp /ws/ 401/ certsandpermits /mitigation/memos). Any large areas
with poor vegetation survival shall be addressed, regardless of whether the area is within a monitoring plot
or elsewhere within the project boundaries.
Violations of any condition herein set forth may result in revocation of this Certification and may result in
criminal and/or civil penalties.
If you do not accept any of the conditions of this Certification (associated with the approved wetland or stream
impacts), you may ask for an adjudicatory hearing. You must act within 60 days of the date that you receive
this letter. To ask for a hearing, send a written petition, which conforms to Chapter 150B of the North Carolina
General Statutes to the Office of Administrative Hearings, 6714 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-
6714. This certification and its conditions are final and binding unless you ask for a hearing.
This letter completes the review of your application by the Division of Water Quality under Section 401 of the
Clean Water Act. If you have any questions, please contact Tim Fox in the Asheville Regional Office at (828)
296 -4664.
Sincerely,
o, Charles Wakild, P.E., Director
CW/trf
Enc: GC3885
Certificate of Completion
cc: Eric Kulz — DWQ Wetlands, Buffers, Stormwater — Compliance & Permitting Unit
Zan Price — Altamont Environmental, Inc.
USACE Asheville Regulatory Field Office
WBSCP Unit — Central Office
File Copy
S: \SWP \Buncombe \401s\Non- DOT\Anderson Farm\ APRVL .40IAndersonFarms.06- 07- 13.doc