20141169 Ver 1_On Hold Response Letter_20150220

PAT L. MCCRORY
GOVERNOR
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Februaiy 11, 2015
N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Division of Water nesources
1650 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
Attention: S. Jay Zimmerman
Acting Director
Dear Sir:
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ANTHONY 1. TATA
SECRETARY
Subject: Response to On Hold Letter from the Division of Water Resources for the proposed
improvement of US 17 from south of Belgrade at SR 1330/SR 1439 to the New Bern
Bypass, in Onslow, Jones and Craven Counties. TIP No. R-2514 B, C& D.
References: NCDOT Permit application dated November 14, 2014
NCDWR On Hold letter dated January 27, 2015
NCDOT Application modification request dated February 10, 2015
The purpose of this letter is to provide additional information requested by the Division of Water
Resources (NCDWR). As you are aware, the North Carolina Department of Transportation
(NCDOT), Division of Highways, proposes to improve US 17 from SR 1330/SR 1439 south of
Belgrade to the New Bern Bypass. Permit applications for this proiect were submitted to the
regulatory agencies on November 14, 2014.
The DWR submitted a comment letter on January 27, 2015 requesting additional information and
placing the permit application on hold until the information was provided. This letter
specifically mentioned six areas in which the application was deficient. These comments and
their responses are listed below.
Comment 1: Section B— At Site 14, it appears as• if the fill impact and excavation impact
numbers are reversed; please verify if the ps�esented impacts are correct.
Response: The calculations for these impact areas have been reviewed and verified.
MAILING ADDRESS: TE�EPHONE: 919-707-6100 LOCATION:
NC DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FAX: [phone] CENTURY CENTER, BUILDING B
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 1020 BIRCH RIDGE DRIVE
1598 MAIL SERVICE CENTER WEBSITE: WWW.NCDOT.ORG RALEIGH NC 2761 O
RALEIGH NC 27699-1598

Comment 2: In the application, Table 1, R-2514B, the stated subtotal of permanent wetland
impacts (9.63 acres) do not total the sum of the impacts presented nor the impacts summary
sheet (9.59 acres). Please ver�.
Response: NCDOT has re-checked the totals and the impact summary sheet should be 9.61
acres. The remaining difference is due to rounding, and the difference in how significant iigures
were handled in the summary table versus the cover letter tables. The table entries for R-2514 C
have been changed to reflect impact revisions and to be consistent with the proposed impact data
that was provided in the R-2514 B and D sections.
Comment 3: Section C— The Stormwater Management Plan states that approximately 2/3rds of
the project are in the Neuse River Basin, which is a riparian buffer basin. However, the plan
does not include a swale summary table as does Section D. Please forward a summary table for
this area.
Response: A swale summary table for Section C was provided in the February 10, 2015
Application Modification Request.
Comment 4: Section C— There are two sets of impacts for power lines; one has impact sites 1-5
and the other has impacts sites 1-27. Please resolve this discrepancy.
Response: The permit drawings depicting utility impacts for section C have been consolidated
into a single set of drawings depicting all sites. The new drawings were provided in the February
10, 2015 Application Modification Request.
Comments 5 and 6: Section D— At Utility Site 1 there appear to be power pole/line relocations.
The amount of hand clearing requested seems to be excessive for the proposed activity. Please
explain why this amount of clearing is necessary. At Utility Site 2 the amount of hand clearing
requested seems excessive for the proposed utility relocation. Please explain why this amount of
clearing is necessary.
Responses to Comments 5& 6:
Further coordination with the utility companies has reduced the clearing impacts in this area �f
the project. However, this review revealed an error in the permit application at these impact
sites. Specifically, the summary sheet incorrectly lists the impacts at Site 1 and 2 as 0.01 and
0.60 acres respectively, and showed the total impacts as 0.61 acres in the permit application.
Utility Permit Drawings Sheet 2 correctly showed that Site 1 impacted 1.259533 acres and Site 2
0.5993 acre, a total of 1.86 acres. The Utility Permit Drawing data was incorrectly transferred to
the summary sheet.
The revised drawings provided in the February 10, 2015 Application Modification Request show
a much reduced footprint; with Sites 1 and 2 impacting 0.35 and 0.40 acre due to hand clearing.
This reduced the impacts from 1.86 acres to 0.75 acre.
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The Department requests that both the NCDWR and the US Army Corps of Engineers reinitiate
their respective permitting processes for this project. If you have any questions or need
additional information, please contact Gordon Cashin at 919-707-6107 or [e-mail].
Sincerely,
�' Richard W. Hancock, P.E., Manager
Project Development and Environmental Analysis Unit
cc:
David Wainwright, NC Division of Water Resources
Amy Chapman, NC Division of Water Resources
Tom Steffens; US Army Corps of Engineers, Washington Field Office
Dr. Cynthia VanDer Wiele, US Environmental Protection Agency
Steve Sollod, NC Division of Coastal Management