20151139 Ver 3_USACE More Info Requested_20230427

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
WILMINGTON DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS
\� 69 DARLINGTON AVENUE
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA 28403-1343
April 27, 2023
Regulatory Division
Action ID No. SAW-2021-00238
A. Sydes Construction
Mr. Tony Sydes
100 Carolina Plantations Boulevard
Jacksonville, NC 28546
Dear Mr. Sydes:
Please reference your February 22, 2023, application for the Department of the Army
(DA) authorization to discharge fill material into 0.129 acres of jurisdictional wetland, 67
linear feet of stream, and 0.4 acres of open water ditches on your property for the
purpose of constructing additional phases of the residential subdivision known as
Stateside located south of Richlands, Onslow County, North Carolina.
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, practicable
alternative; second, taking appropriate and practicable steps to reduce impacts on
waters and wetlands; and finally, compensation for remaining unavoidable impacts to
the extent appropriate and practicable. Pursuant to 40 CFR 230.3(q), "practicable" is
defined as "available and capable of being done after taking into consideration cost,
existing technology, and logistics in light of the overall project". To enable us to process
your application, in compliance with the MOA, we request 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. Please indicate all that you have done, especially regarding
development and modification of plans and proposed construction techniques, to

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minimize adverse impacts. In review of your submitted plans, there were a few items
where it appears that further minimization steps could be implemented. For example,
several open water ditches proposed to be filled flow into or out of natural wetland
areas, such as those shown on Sheet 4 and 5 of Tidewater Associates, Inc. Wetland
Map. Please provide information showing how hydrology in the wetland areas will be
maintained. Please also clarify how the remaining open water ditches not indicated as
filled will drain. The application indicates some of these may be piped but the plans
give no indication of where piping will be utilized. Additionally, some of the proposed
impacts are located on a tract directly abutting the Bachelors Delight Mitigation Bank. It
appears these impacts are, in part, occurring in the Bachelors Delight Conservation
Easement that prohibits wetland and stream alteration. In your application, you mention
there is an access easement along the existing road that allows the existing road to be
used and improved. Please provide information you have regarding permissible
improvements to this access easement. Furthermore, with your proposed development
expansion occurring within property adjoining the Bachelors Delight Mitigation Bank,
please provide any measures that will be taken to ensure that your proposal will not
have a direct and/or indirect impact on functionality and integrity of the mitigation bank.
This should include stormwater flows and detention and any possible hydrology
manipulation that could affect the wetland and stream components of the bank site.
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. For example, the
proposed impacts associated with subsurface utility installation are submitted as
temporary. If these utility easements will be maintained, please provide information
about the existing condition. If the easement maintenance corridor results in conversion
those impacts should be noted as permanent conversion. Depending on the existing
conditions within the proposed maintenance corridor, potential mitigation may be
required for the conversion.
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. Also, you should be aware that State and Federal
commenting agencies may recommend design modifications.

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If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at telephone
[phone], (email) Wilmington Regulatory Field Office.
Sincerely,
Katharine Digitally signed by
Katharine Elks
Elks Date: 2023.04.27
13:34:52-04'00'
Katharine Elks
Regulatory Specialist
Copies Furnished via email:
Ms. Sue Homewood
Division of Water Resources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Sue. [e-mail]
Ms. Holley Snider
Division of Water Resources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Holley. [e-mail]
Ms. Kathy Matthews
Fish and Wildlife Biologist
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
[e-mail]
Mr. Todd Bowers
US EPA Region 4 Oceans, Wetlands and Streams Protection Branch
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
[e-mail]
Carter Metcalf
Onslow County Planning
Carter metcalf(a)-onslowcountync.gov