20080859 Ver 1_Other Agency Comments_20080629

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® North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 0
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mickey Sugg
Wilmington District, US Army Corps of Engineers
FROM: Maria T. Dunn, Northeast Coastal Region Coordinator ?.
Habitat Conservation Program
DATE: June 19, 2008
SUBJECT: Comments on the Public Notice for Nils Ladenburg (Audubon Village), Carteret County,
North Carolina.
Corps Action ID # 2008-01521
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (Commission) reviewed the
public notice with regard to impacts of the project on fish and wildlife resources. The 226.88-acre project
site is located in the Straits Community and is bordered to the west by Crow Hill Road (SR 1333) to the
north by Goose Bay Lane and is approximately 0.2 mile north of the intersection with Straits Road (SR
1335). The tract is within the headwaters of a tributary to Whitehurst Creek on the east side and South
Leopard Creek on the west. Our comments are provided in accordance with provisions of the Fish and
Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661 et. seq.) and the Clean Water Act of
1977 (as amended).
The applicant proposes to develop the site into a mixed residential area and commercial shopping
center. The residential area will be developed on Tract 1 (205.11-acres) and the commercial center on
Tract 2 (21.77-acres). The request includes fill of approximately 5.47-acres of jurisdictional wetlands on
Tract 2 to facilitate the construction of the buildings and parking lot. The applicant is proposing to
compensate for the wetland impacts by preserving the remaining 3.95-acres of wetlands on the property
and make payment to the NC Ecosystem Enhancement Program at a l : l mitigation ration for 5.46-acres.
Whitehurst Creek and South Leopard Creek are both classified SA HQW by the Environmental
Management Commission, are both designated Primary Nursery Areas (PNA) by the NC Division of
Marine Fisheries, and are open shellfish waters.
The Commission has reviewed the public notice and is concerned with the lack of avoidance and
minimization of wetland impacts. The proposed impacts are concentrated on Tract 2, the commercial
development portion of the parcel. At this time, no construction has occurred on either Tract, therefore
design modifications may be done to minimize wetland impacts through changes within Tract 2 alone or
by incorporating some area of Tract 1 into Tract 2. In addition to our concerns with regard to avoidance
Mailing Address: Division of Inland Fisheries • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
Nils Ladenburg, Audubon Village Page 2 June 19, 2008
USACE # 2008-01521
and minimization, the proposed mitigation ratios are inadequate. The project site and proposed wetland
fill is within the headwater systems of Whitehurst Creek and South Leopard Creek. These two systems
are classified as high quality waters and are designated PNAs. Nursery areas are those areas in which for
reasons such as food, cover, bottom type, salinity, temperature, and other factors, young finfish and
crustaceans spend the major portion of their initial growing season. Primary nursery areas are those areas
in the estuarine system where initial post-larval development takes place. These are areas where
populations are uniformly early juveniles. Therefore, preservation and protection of these areas and their
watersheds are very important to fishery resources. Wetlands provide vital buffers to these areas, even
thought they have been recently logged. Therefore, we feel the design of this project should be
reevaluated to significantly reduce wetland impacts and overall minimize impacts to Whitehurst Creek
and South Leopard Creek from this development.
We appreciate the opportunity to review and comment on this public notice and look forward to
future correspondence to discuss project changes. If you have comments, questions, or concerns, please
contact me at [phone].
cc: Karoly, C. - NC Division of Water Quality
Murphey, T. - NC Division of Marine Fisheries