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Home My WebLink About20170688 Ver 1_USACE Correspondence_20170925Regulatory Division DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY WILMINGTON DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS 151 PATTON AVENUE ROOM 208 ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 28801-5006 Action ID No: SAW -2016-00330 September 25, 2017 Mr. Charles Newsome Johnson Concrete, Piedmont Black Company 106 Old Davidson Place NW Concord, North Carolina 28025 Dear Mr. Newsome: oar 0 2 2017 Reference your May 30, 2017 application for Department of the Army (DA) authorization for the impact to 0.99 acres of open water, 33 if of stream channel and 0.003 acres of wetlands resulting from the expansion of the concrete block manufacturing operation at Johnson Concrete located at 106 Old Davidson Place NW in Concord, North Carolina 28025. The purpose of this letter is to provide comments from resource agencies and the general public for rebuttal purposes as a part of the individual permit review. After review of your proposal, we have received comments from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (dated June 30, 2017), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA's NMFS) (dated June 23, 2017). Our administrative process provides you the opportunity to propose a resolution and/or rebut any and all objections before a final decision is made. In this regard, please review the enclosed comments, address as appropriate and copy this office on all of your comments/responses for our review. Additionally, on February 6, 1990, the 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 the 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, compensating for any remaining unavoidable impacts to the extent appropriate and practical. To enable us to process your application in full compliance with this MOA, we request that you provide the following additional information: The purpose of your project is to expand the existing Johnson Concrete manufacturing facility to increase inventory capacity by up to one million concrete blocks. Permits for work within wetlands or other special aquatic sites are available only if the proposed work is the least environmentally damaging, practicable alternative (LEDPA). In order to determine if your preferred alternative is the LEDPA please provide additional information on the preferred alternative and other alternative as follows: 1. On site/preferred alternative: Please indicate the minimal acreage required to accommodate the increased capacity to up to one million concrete blocks. Additionally, please provide information of the layout requirements for maintaining the inventory of the concrete blocks. Specifically indicate if the acreage must be contiguous, or if the area could be broken up to accommodate -2 - currently undeveloped areas within the project boundaries. Of particular interest as possible areas to accommodate the increased capacity include the vacant grassed areas bordering the pond, the area to the south of the pond and identified on the Overall Site Plan as "area to remain grass," the grassed area to the east and across the driveway from the pond and undeveloped areas along the property boundary. The enclosed aerial photograph highlights the areas in question in red. If there are other reasons these areas cannot be used to increase the inventory capacity, such as local ordinances or industrial standards, please provide that information and any documentation verifying the information as well. 2. Off-site alternatives: The information you provided indicates that "an adjoining property to the west and northwest is privately owned and planned for a roadway that will generally parallel the Piedmont Block property." Please provide additional information on the roadway to include if it is a state road and the proposed location of the roadway. Additionally, if the proposed road will be located along the border of the property, indicate why property north of the road couldn't be purchased and used to increase the inventory capacity. The permit application indicates that according to the Standard, "Master Specifications, Section 04810 -Unit Masonry Assemblies, Part 2 -Products, Paragraph 2.2 Concrete Masonry Units, once the blocks have been cast, they must not be moved or otherwise disturbed for 21 days." Please indicate if current operations involve the blocks to be cast in the on-site building and relocated to the storage area to cure for the required 21 days, and if so, why the blocks could not be relocated to property across from the proposed road. Additionally, please indicate how the current dam will be breached to ensure that any sediment that may have deposited above the dam is not released into downstream waters once the dam is breached. You should also provide clarification on the soils and plant information on the wetland data forms to ensure that the wetland determination can be verified. If you have any questions regarding this request please do not hesitate to contact me at telephone (828) 271-7980, ext. 4231. Sincerely, CL��L L�_ _�_ Crystal Amschler Project Manager Asheville Regulatory Field Office Enclosures cc The EI Group, Inc. Mr. Stephen Brown 201 McCullough Drive, Suite 150 Charlotte, North Carolina 28262 -3- Mr. 3- Mr. Todd Bowers Permit Review Specialist Wetlands Regulatory Section USEPA — Region 4 Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center 61 Forsyth Street, SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960 ADepartment of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources 401 and Buffer Permitting Unit Ms. Karen Higgins 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1617 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Ms. Olivia Munzer 1721 Mail Service Center Raleigh, North Carolina 27699 US Fish and Wildlife Service Asheville Ecological Services Field Office Byron Hamstead 160 Zillicoa St., Suite B Asheville, North Carolina, 28801