20070966 Ver 1_USACE Correspondence_20071010

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DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
WILMINGTON DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS
PO BOX 1890
WILMINGTON NC 28402-1890
October 4, 2007
Regulatory Division
Action ID No. 2007-01700-016
USPG Portfolio Two, LLC
Attn: Jim McNally
310 S. Hamilton Road
Gahanna, Ohio 43230
Dear Mr. McNally:
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Please reference your application for the Department of the Army (DA) authorization to
discharge fill material into 0.86 acre of jurisdictional wetlands within the existing Cypress Bay
Plaza Shopping Center just west of the US Highway 70 and NC Highway 24 intersection, at the
headwaters of an unnamed tributary to Newport River, in Morehead City, Carteret County, North
Carolina. Also, please reference my August 29, 2007 telephone conversation with Mr. Jim Jones
of SWCA and my September 26, 2007 e-mail.
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; second, taking appropriate and
practical steps to reduce impacts on waters and wetlands; and finally, compensation for
remaining unavoidable impacts to the extent appropriate and practical. To enable us to process
your application, in compliance with the MOA, we request that you provide the following
additional information:
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. As stated in your application, the purpose of the project is to redesign the existing parking
facility to improve traffic flow for safety reasons. However, your plan includes over 70 new parking
spaces in wetlands that don't appear to be associated with safety concerns.

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Please provide the justification for these additional spaces, why this number of spaces (over 70) is
needed, and why the existing parking spaces can not accommodate current customers at the shopping
center. Also, please indicate all that you have done from a design standpoint to minimize adverse
impacts associated with the expanded parking area.
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. In your mitigation proposal, plans show the excavation of existing wetlands
located behind the shopping center. Please be aware that this wetland area is a designated
mitigation site associated with a Department of the Army authorization dated January 29, 1998
(enclosed); and is to be enhanced through stormwater recharge, via stormwater permit from
North Carolina Division of Water Quality, associated with future development in the tract behind
the shopping center. At this time, the status of this site being used, or planned to be used, for
stormwater recharge is uncertain. Also, what is unclear is who has ownership title of this parcel.
Please indicate if USPG has ownership or permission to utilize the site.
The aforementioned, requested information is essential to the expeditious processing of your
application and should be forwarded to us within two (2) weeks of your receipt of this letter.
Additionally, it is strongly recommended that you contact Mr. Stephen Rynas of North Carolina
Division of Coastal Management, at [phone], concerning the request for a Consistency
Determination for your proposal.
If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at [phone],
Wilmington Regulatory Field Office.
Sincerely,
Enclosure
Co 'es Furnished:
s. Cyndi Karoly
Division of Water Quality
N.C. Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
2321 Crabtree Boulevard
Raleigh, North Carolina 27604-2260
Mickey Sugg
Project Manager
Mr. Stephen Rynas
Division of Coastal Management
N.C. Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
400 Commerce Avenue
Morehead City, North Carolina 28557

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Ms. Joanne Steenhuis
Division of Water Quality
N.C. Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington, North Carolina 28405
Mr. Pete Benjamin
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Fish and Wildlife Enhancement
Post OfEce Box 33726
Raleigh, North Carolina 27636-3726
Mr. Ronald Mikulak, Chief
Wetlands Section -Region IV
Water Management Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Mr. Jim Jones
SWCA Environmental Consultants
Monterey Oaks Boulevard
Building 1, Suite 110
Austin, Texas 78749
Ms. Jennifer May-Brust
Wal-Mart Corporation
2001 SE 10th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-0550
Mr. Shannon Varner
Troutman Sanders LLP
Troutman Sanders Building
1001 Haxall Point
Richmond, Virginia 23218-1122