20211219 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20210915

Strickland, Bev
From: Leslie, Andrea J
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2021 9:05 AM
To: Messina, Erik;[e-mail]
Cc: Homewood, Sue; Hamstead, Byron A; [e-mail]; Gingerich, Todd;
Johnson, Matt; Gardner, Gary
Subject: RE: [External] RE: Pltzer Road Access - questions
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Flagged
I just received word that NCWRC staff had weighed in on the ramp design earlier, and they were OK with the
steps, so please disregard the last email I sent. However, I still recommend less hardening of the bank -
perhaps using sloping and planting or geolifts on the 60' to either side of the ramp/stairs and planting at the S-
shaped ramp, as well.
Andrea
Andrea Leslie
Mountain Habitat Conservation Coordinator
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
645 Fish Hatchery Rd., Building B
Marion, NC 28752
828-400-4223 (cell)
www.ncwildlife.org
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From: Leslie, Andrea J
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 4:31 PM
To: Messina, Erik <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]
Cc: Homewood, Sue <[e-mail]>; Hamstead, Byron A <[e-mail]>;
[e-mail]; Gingerich, Todd <[e-mail]>; Johnson, Matt <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: [External] RE: Pltzer Road Access - questions
I also checked in with my colleague Kin Hodges, the district fisheries biologist. He has suggestions about the
design of the access itself. Please see below:
-I would prefer to have a ramp, and I ran this by my contact with Stokes County and they would prefer a ramp as well.
Ramps are easier to traverse than stairs and they're easier to maintain after floods. Also, having a ramp would allow
county EMS staff to launch rescue boats during rescue operations. This latter point about the EMS is legit and is
something that is becoming more and more of a problem in my district. All of our rivers are seeing a sharp increase in
recreational usage and are requiring more search & rescue operations, but there are very few places on any of these
rivers to launch a trailered boat.
i

- Given the 16' vertical difference shown between the top of the stairs and mean water level, a ramp would need to be
^'115' long if built at the standard 14% grade. That's a long ramp, but we have done longer at other locations. One factor
that often limits ramp length is the amount of usable space for the driveway and parking area (i.e. if you only have a
narrow strip of land on which to build your upland facilities, building a long ramp can take up so much of your upland
area that you won't have room for your parking area or driveway). But this parcel would seem to have unlimited space if
you needed to move the parking area farther from the river to make room for the ramp. As an added bonus, that would
also put the parking area further upland where it would be less likely to be inundated during floods.
- The extreme amount of bank clearing & armoring in the plans was necessary to accommodate the proposed ADA path.
If a ramp was built instead of stairs, then the ADA path should not be needed in the first place, as normal ADA
accessibility standards state (paraphrased) that a site is compliant if you can get users to the top of a paved ramp
without having any barriers along the way.
- If the stairs can't be avoided, I would advise against using the combined handrail/boat slide being shown on the last
page of the plans. We tried something similar at one of our initial projects on the Yadkin River and received negative
feedback on it from the public. Their complaint was that it was hard to lift your boat up to set it on the slide given that
the slide was at handrail height, especially when going from the water back up to the parking lot. We have since revised
our designs and now attach the slide directly to the stairs, as shown in the attached picture. In this picture, the slide ran
down the center of the stairs. But it works even better if you can offset it to one side to where it's 2-3' from the handrail.
That way you can have one hand on the handrail to steady yourself and pull your boat up the slide with your other hand.
Andrea Leslie
Mountain Habitat Conservation Coordinator
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
645 Fish Hatchery Rd., Building B
Marion, NC 28752
828-400-4223 (cell)
www.ncwildlife.org
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From: Leslie, Andrea J
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2021 3:36 PM
To: Messina, Erik <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]
Cc: Homewood, Sue <[e-mail]>; Hamstead, Byron A <byron [e-mail]>;
[e-mail]; Gingerich, Todd <[e-mail]>; Johnson, Matt <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: [External] RE: Pltzer Road Access - questions
Thank you for the explanation and revisions, Erik. I appreciate the incorporation of livestakes into the plan,
but I'm still concerned about the amount of bank hardening proposed. About half of the 225' of clearing
appears to be for the construction corridor only, and it would be great to see a non riprap option for
stabilization of that area, such as sloping and planting or geolift. Is that possible?
Andrea Leslie
2

Mountain Habitat Conservation Coordinator
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
645 Fish Hatchery Rd., Building B
Marion, NC 28752
828-400-4223 (cell)
www.ncwildlife.org
8• f
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From: Messina, Erik <[e-mail]>
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2021 1:21 PM
To: Leslie, Andrea J <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]
Cc: Homewood, Sue <[e-mail]>; Hamstead, Byron A <byron [e-mail]>;
[e-mail]; Gingerich, Todd <[e-mail]>; Johnson, Matt <[e-mail]>
Subject: [External] RE: Pltzer Road Access - questions
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Andrea,
Thank you for your review and questions. We would like to provide the following responses and design revisions:
1. The 225' of clearing and associated grading is due to the ADA requirements to create an accessible path
down to the kayak launch area. The grading was minimized by using steps and switchbacks for the ADA
path as there is a significant vertical drop off to the water level along the river bank.
2. The existing riparian buffer on this property is a narrow strip along the top of bank with scrub and smaller
plant growth. The soil in this area is eroding into the Dan River, and we feel as though rip -rap is necessary
to stabilize the bank and control further erosion of sediments into the river. We can utilize live staking
along the bank within the rip rap with a mix of native plantings (Black Willow, Shady Bark, Hickory, etc.).
3. We will revise the riprap ditch off of the parking area to a vegetative swale to provide biological
treatment/management of runoff from this area.
Please let me know if you would like to discuss further or have any additional questions.
Best regards,
Erik P. Messina, P.E. I Project Manager
Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.
3701 Arco Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Charlotte, NC 28273
direct 980.260.2131 office 980.237.0373 mobile [phone]
www.cecinc.com
CEC CHARLOTTE CELEBRATING 1O YEARS
WEO
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Personal Bua',ess Relationships
From: Leslie, Andrea J <[e-mail]>
Sent: Thursday, September 9, 2021 4:16 PM
3

To: Messina, Erik <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]
Cc: Homewood, Sue <[e-mail]>; Hamstead, Byron A <byron [e-mail]>;
[e-mail]
Subject: Pltzer Road Access - questions
Hi there -
I'm reviewing the Pitzer Road Access Area PCN, and I've a few questions. As you likely know, the Dan River
at this location is an extremely important ecological resource, and it supports a number of state/federally
listed species, including the James Spinymussel, Green Floater, and Notched Rainbow. I'm concerned about
the possible impacts to these species from this project. I've a couple of questions for you:
1. You propose to remove about 180' of forested buffer along the Dan River and replace it with the kayak
access and riprap along 225' of bank. Is there a way to minimize this tree clearing?
2. Instead of riprap for this length of river bank, can you use sloping and planting or some sort of
bioengineering (e.g., geolifts) method? We are concerned about the loss of riparian vegetation here.
3. The parking lot is about 100' away from the Dan River. It appears that you are proposing to direct
stormwater runoff from this lot directly into a riprap ditch that will feed the river. Can you use a
vegetated swale, stormwater wetland, or some other bioengineering method to provide some
treatment/management?
Thank you,
Andrea
Andrea Leslie
Mountain Habitat Conservation Coordinator
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
645 Fish Hatchery Rd., Building B
Marion, NC 28752
828-400-4223 (cell)
www.ncwildlife.org
8" f
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