20090087 Ver 1_WRC Comments_20090319

?'-12 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 9
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
March 19, 2009
Mr. David Baker
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006
Ms. Cyndi Karoly
NCDENR, Division of Water Quality, 401 Unit
1628 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1628
SUBJECT: Mr. Roger Robinson Individual 404 Permit Application - After-The-Fact
Madison County
Action ID SAW-2009-00178
Dear Mr. Baker and Ms. Karoly:
Clearwater Environmental Consultants requested an Individual 404 Permit for Mr. Roger Robinson.
Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (Commission) are familiar with the
fish and wildlife resources in the region and visited the project site on February 26, 2009. Comments
from the Commission on this permit action are provided under provisions of the Clean Water Act of 1977
(33 U.S.C. 466 et. seq.) and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C.
661-667d).
Mr. Robinson placed 1,050 feet of culvert in an unnamed tributary to Big Branch (WS-II) near Mars Hill.
This constitutes nearly the entire stream channel on the 22-acre property. Proposed compensatory
mitigation includes 1,575 of riparian vegetation planting on off-site streams that drain to Crooked Creek.
The impacted stream is too small for fish. However, stonecats (Noturu flavus, NC Endangered) have
been found in Ivy Creek downstream of the project site.
Although the impacted stream may not support fish, it and its riparian areas are nonetheless important to
the productivity and water quality of Ivy Creek. Therefore, in accordance with the statutory charge to
Mailing Address: Division of Inland Fisheries • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
Robinson
Madison
Page 2 March 19, 2009
conserve the wildlife resources and inland fisheries in North Carolina (G.S. 113-132), the Commission
recommends that the following issues be either addressed or resolved, as applicable, before permitting
this project:
1. Need Avoidance and Minimization
The stated specific purpose of the project is to develop a large commercial "box" store, but there is no
retail company identified that intends to use this property. Moreover, the project's general purpose is
to provide commercial retail on the property. A smaller parking area and building/s for a smaller
stand-alone store or a "strip mall" could be constructed with much less or no stream impact to meet
this purpose.
2. No Stormwater Management
There is no information about how stormwater would be managed on the property to protect water
quality in this water supply watershed. This is particularly important since nearly all of the 22 acres
would become impervious area. The only stormwater structures that have been constructed and that
are shown on the plans appear to be drop inlets on the piped stream. The Commission requests that
stormwater not be directly discharged to streams; rather stormwater should be either diffusely routed
to streams through vegetated filters or detained and released gradually from adequately-sized basins.
3. Inadequate Compensatory Mitigation
Lost stream channel and functions would not be off-set with the proposed enhancement work. The
mitigation streams may only be ephemeral or intermittent streams, and possibly non jurisdictional,
given the lack of defined channels and subsurface flow. Fine grading to "...define undefined portions
of the stream" is described, but no details or rationale were provided for this effort The functional
"uplift" to the aquatic environment from riparian planting in this situation would be minimal, if not
negligible, because the stream channels are not eroding and surface flow is absent. Moreover,
riparian planting alone would not meet the mitigation requirements set-forth under the April 2003
Stream Mitigation Guidelines because it does not constitute enhancement level work.
Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this permit action. The Commission would
likely provide more favorable comments on the project, if solicited, provided the deficiencies are
thoroughly addressed. Please contact me at [phone] extension 24 if there are any questions
regarding these comments.
Sincerely,
,
Dave McHenry
Mountain Region Coordinator, Habitat Conservation Program
Cc: Clearwater Environmental Consultants