20181249 Ver 1_NC 540 Triangle Expressway (Complete 540)_20181116 (3)

PUBUC HEARING FOR 401 WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION FOR THE PROPOSED NC 540
i'RIANGLE EXPRESSWAY SOUTHEAST EXTENSION (COMPLETE 540) PROJECT
WAKE AND JOHNSTON COUNTIES
Ground Floor Hearing Room in the Archdale Building located at 512 N. Salisbury Street in
Raleigh, North Carolina.
Friday November 16, 2018, I:00 p.m.
Cyndi Karoly: Good afternoon. 1 would like to call this public hearing to ordec My name is Cyndi
Karoly and 1 will be the hearing o�cer this aftemoon. 1 am the Section Chief in the Water Sciences
Section of the Division of Water Resources. Firs[, 1 would like to recognize Division of Water Resources
staff members who are present. If anyone needs any help during this hearing, please contact a staff
member who will be glad to assist:
Rob Ridings, Amy Chapman, Robert Patterson, April Norton, and Kristi Lynn Carpenter from the Central
Office in Raleigh.
The purpose of this hearing is to solicit water-quality related comments from all interested parties
regarding the proposed fill of 58,270 linear feet of sheams and 68.98 acres of wetlands ro construct the 28.8
miles of new alignment for the proposed NC 540 Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension (Complete
540) project in Wake and Johnston Counties in North Carolina.
t realize that this may be an important issue for many people here this afternoon. Please realize
that as the hearing officer 1 can only consider comments that are directly related to Water Quality impacts
expected to result from this project. In order ro conduct this heazing in a fair and orderly fashion, I am
asking [hat everyone observe certain rules. The hearing's purpose is [o hear your comments related to the
issuance of this proposed 401 certification and is not a question and answer sessioa Cross examination of
any speaker will not be allowed. Before we ask for comments from the public and the applicant, 1 will ask
Rob Ridings to explain the 401 Certification process as it relates to this project.
Rob Ridings: In order to put this meeting into perspective, 1 will briefly describe the 40l Water
Quality Certification process. Any project which adds fill to waters or wetlands of the United States
requires a 404 Permit from the U.S. Artny Corps of Engineers. This application is proposing to

permanently impact 58,270 linear feet of streams and 68.98 acres of wetlands to construct the 28.8 miles of
new alignment for the proposed NC 540 Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension (Complete 540) project
in Wake and Johnston Counties. in North Carolina. The applicant currently proposes payment to the North
Carolina the Division of Mitigation Services (DMS) and some private mitigation banks to mitigate for the
proposed wetland and stream impacts.
Please note that the following important dates with regards to the Complete 540 project:
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement was published October 2015;
The Preferred Alternative Report was published Apri12016;
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (includes Indirect and Cumulative Effects Assessment.) was
published December 2017; and
The Record of Decision was issued by the Federal Highway Administration in June 2018.
This project requires an Individual Permit from the Corps of Engineers since the applicant proposes to
impact more than 500 linear feet of streams. The Corps of Engineers issued a Public Notice for this project
on September 25, 2018. According to the Clean Water Act, each federal permit (such as this 404 Permit)
must have a Section 401 Water Quality Certification from the Division of Water Resources. A 401
Certification is a Certification by the Division of Water Resources that the project will not violate any
relevant water quality standards and regulations.
According to the Clean Water Act, a Corps 404 Permit cannot be issued until a 401 Certification is issued
or waived. The basic review process is as follows. DWR must first determine whether significant existing
uses are present in the waters or wetlands and whether the project would remove or degrade those uses.
Next, DWR must determine whether 1) there is a practical alternative to the project, 2) whether the impacts
can be further minimized, 3) whether the project will result in degradation of groundwaters or surface
waters, 4) whether it results in cumulative impacts, 5) whether it provides for protection of downstream
water quality standards through stormwater controls, and finally 6) whether the wetland and stream
mitigation plans (where required) will replace the existing uses of impacted streams and wetlands.
For Individual Permits, our rules require that DWR will not duplicate the site-specific application of any
guidelines used for review by the Army Corps of Engineers. Also, our mitigation rules state that mitigation
required by the Corps will be that required by DWR as long as there is at least a 1:1 replacement of

wetlands acres and stream lengtll through restoration or creation. The provision for DWR to consider
Corps requirements during our review was adopted to reduce duplication during the permit review process
between the Corps and DWR.
Cyndi Karoly: With this background information, let me discuss the schedule for this afternoon.
We will then take written or oral statements from every individual who signed up to speak at the front
table, in the order of registration. I request that you limit your speaking time to 3 minutes in length. A
DWR staff inember will hold up signs indicating that you have one minute left to speak as well as when
your time is up in order to keep this hearing on schedule. More lengthy, detailed comments can be made in
writing to the following address:
Mr. Rob Ridings
NC Division of Water Resources
Transportation Permitting Branch
1617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC, 27699-1617
Again, please realize that as the hearing officer I can only consider comments that are directly related to
Water Quality impacts expected to result from this project. The hearing record will remain open until
December 16, 2018 for this purpose. Anyone wishing to make a written statement is welcome to do so by
that time. After that time, I will evaluate all the information and statements and make a recommendation
regarding the 401 Certification to the Interim Director, Linda Culpepper of the DWR Central Office. If she
decides to deny the Certification, NCDOT will either have to modify their plans to make them acceptable
to the Division or appeal the decision through the NC Office of Administrative Hearings. If Mrs.
Culpepper decides to issue the Certification, NCDOT will have to obtain a 404 Permit from the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers before filling wetlands or waters. Any conditions that the Division of Water Resources
includes in the Certification will become conditions of the 404 Permit as well. Finally, we will be
recording this meeting and I ask that you speak clearly into the microphone in front.
Now I will ask any elected officials that would like to make a statement to do so now after I call their
names.

i"
Now I will call on citizens who have asked to speak. I will also call the number of the next speaker and ask
that she or he be ready to speak promptly. DWR staff will assist me in keeping the speaker to 3 minutes.
Please be considerate of other speakers and keep your remarks to 3 minutes.
10'IULTIPLE SPEAKERS
Cyndi Karoly: Thank you for your respectful attention during this hearing. As I mentioned before, the
hearing record will remain open until December 16, 2018. After that time, I will make a recommendation
regarding this Certification to the Interim Director of the Division. This concludes the Public Hearing for
the 401 Water Quality Certification for the proposed Complete 540 project in Wake and Johnston Counties.