20041713 Ver 1_EPA Comments_20050405

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
4 s STA,-F. REGION 4
• A •
Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center
A61 Forsyth Street, S.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303 - 8960
March 30, 2005
Colonel Charles R. Alexander
District Engineer
ATTN: Mr. Mickey Sugg
U.S. Arm y Corp o of Enbnina-ers
.... J . ..
P.O. Box 1890
Wilmington, North Carolina 28402
?Ir;iJ
SUBJ: Dolphin Ridge/Royall Oaks Subdivision
Lewis Holding, Nassua Corporation (Applicant)
Action ID: 200401077
Dear Colonel Alexander:
This letter is in reference to the application by Lewis Holding described in the above
referenced Public Notice (PN) dated February 24, 2005, located in Emerald Isle, Carteret County,
North Carolina. The applicant proposes to place approximately 625 cubic yards of fill material
into 0.117 acres of jurisdictional wetlands for the development of five lots in the existing
Dolphin Ridge and Royal] Oaks Subdivisions. Proposed mitigation consists of the creation of
0.12 acres of wetland adjacent to existing wetlands in both subdivisions. We have reviewed the
project information contained in the PN and have the following concerns with the proposed
project.
According to the Public Notice, these two subdivisions were issued permits in July 1990
for 3.77 acres of wetland impact for Dolphin Ridge and for wetland fill associated with the -
development of Royall Oaks' infrastructure. A condition of these permits was for a restrictive
covenant to be recorded for the remaining wetland acreage providing for the restriction and
prohibition of any additional wetland fill in these developments. This covenant was recorded
with Carteret County Register of Deeds by Nassua Corporation. If the current proposal was
authorized, the original permit conditions would need to be modified. The original permits were
issued based partially on the knowledge that the remaining wetlands would be preserved and not
available for development. We are opposed to now overturning the original permit conditions to
allow development of the remaining wetlands. Additionally, our office wrote a comment letter
on an After-the-Fact Public Notice (July 19, 2002), by the same applicant, requesting
authorization to discharge fill into 0.18 acres of Dolphin Ridge. Our comment letter (dated
July 31, 2002) which recommended against the authorization of the After-the-Fact permit, was a
Section 404(q)(3)(a) letter and contained language stating our opinion that "the project, as
proposed, may result in substantial and unacceptable impacts to aquatic resources of national
importance".
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The applicant proposes to mitigate the impact by "creating" 0.12 acres of wetland
adjacent to onsite wetlands by removing existing contours down to benchmark wetland
elevations and allowing natural recruitment from adjacent wetland vegetation to establish the
plant community. We do not support the proposed mitigation for several reasons. First, the
proposed wetland creation is at a ratio of 1:1. Due to the difficulty in "creating" wetlands the
EPA Region 4 guidance recommends a 6:1 ratio for wetland creation. We also have concerns
with the potential impacts to the maritime ridge and swale system resulting from the proposed
wetland creation.
We have been involved for several years with the Town of Emerald Isle in their
development of plans to design a system to help alleviate the flooding and storm water treatment
problems on the western end of the island. The filling of more wetlands will only exacerbate
these flooding and water quality problems.
Due to the important functions the onsite wetlands provide to the island (nutrient
recycling, water quality improvement, flood attenuation, wildlife habitat, etc), the fact this land is
currently protected with a restrictive covenant as a condition of a previous permit and the
inadequacy of the mitigation proposal, we conclude the project, as proposed, is not approvable
at this time. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this project. If you have any
questions regarding these comments, please contact Becky Fox at [phone] or
fox.rebecca@ epa.gov.
Sincerely,
Ronald J. i ulak, Chief
Wetlands gulatory Section
cc: USFWS, Raleigh
NCDWQ, Raleigh
NMFS, Beaufort
DCM/NCDENR, Morehead City
NCWRC, Sedalia
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cc List:
cc: Ms. Cyndi Karoly
NC Division of Water Quality
1650 Mail Service Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1650
Mr. Howard Hall
US Fish and Wildlife Service
PO Box 33726
Raleigh, North Carolina 27636-3726
Mr. Ron Sechler
National Marine Fisheries Service
101 Pivers Island Road
Beaufort, North Carolina 28516
Mr. Ted Tyndall
NC Division of Coastal Management
400 Commerce Avenue
Morehead City, North Carolina 28557
Ms Shari Bryant
NC Wildlife Resources Commission
PO Box 129
Sedalia, North Carolina 27342