[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 26535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10263]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Notice of Availability of Supplemental Information Report for
Berryessa Creek Element, Coyote and Berryessa Creek, Flood Control
Project, Santa Clara County, CA
AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DOD.
ACTION: Public notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has prepared a
Supplemental Information Report (SIR) to update and clarify the General
Reevaluation Report/Environmental Impact Statement (GRR/EIS) for the
Berryessa Creek Element of the Coyote and Berryessa Creek, California,
Flood Control Project (Project) to account for the fact that the
Project will remove an existing exercise ``pocket park'' and paved
trail within the Project footprint and will involve in-channel work
year-round in the absence of substantial rainfall (defined as 0.5 inch
or greater precipitation forecast by the National Weather Service in
their 72-hour forecast for the Project area). The removal of the
existing exercise pocket park facilities was omitted from the original
GRR/EIS and the clarification regarding in-channel work year-round when
weather permits (i.e., in the absence of substantial rainfall) is in
response to informal comments. The USACE has determined that these
elements do not amount to substantial changes to the proposed action
and do not constitute significant new circumstances or information
bearing upon the proposed action or its impacts. Therefore, a
supplement to the GRR/EIS is not necessary.
ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the SIR send requests to Ms. Amanda
Cruz, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, 1455 Market
Street, 17th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-1398 or email:
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Cruz, (415) 503-6955.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The March 2014 Final GRR/EIS for the
Berryessa Creek Element, and its accompanying CWA Sec. 404(b)(1)
alternatives analysis, recommended an earthen trapezoidal channel
section with varying bottom width and 2H:1V side slopes that provides
protection against the one-percent annual chance exceedance flood event
from I-680 in San Jose to Calaveras Boulevard in Milpitas (hereinafter
``Project''). These environmental analyses determined the Project to be
the National Economic Development Plan (NED), the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmentally preferable alternative,
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Sec. 15126.6(e)(2)
environmentally superior alternative, and the CWA Sec. 404 Least
Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPA). The USACE
Director of Civil Works signed the Record of Decision (ROD) on May 29,
2014.
The SIR serves to update the Project description and impact
analysis in the GRR/EIS to include the removal of the pocket exercise
park facilities and clarify that in-channel construction may occur
year-round in the absence of substantial rainfall. The Project as
described in the GRR/EIS would remove an existing pocket park with
permanent outdoor exercise equipment and about 460 linear feet of paved
trail located on property owned by the Project's non-Federal sponsor,
the Santa Clara Valley Water District, in order to allow for
construction of the widened channel. The existence of these features
and the fact that they would be removed by the Project were
inadvertently omitted from the GRR-EIS. Additionally, the GRR-EIS
stated that ``construction activities would occur primarily during the
dry season from May to the end of October'' and included a mitigation
measure stating that best management practices for the Project would
include preparation and implementation of ``an Erosion and Sediment
Control Plan consistent with RWQCB policy and guidelines'' that would
require contractors to ``limit in-channel construction to the low-flow
period between April 15 and October 31 to minimize soil erosion.'' This
SIR clarifies the measure to specifically state that construction
activities may occur year-round with suspension of in-channel work and
implementation of a Project-specific Rain Event Action Plan (REAP) if
0.5 inch or greater precipitation is forecast by the National Weather
Service in their 72-hour forecast for the Project area.
The SIR evaluates the potential effects on environmental resources
of removing the exercise pocket park and allowing in-channel work year-
round in the absence of substantial rainfall. Effects on the following
environmental resources were considered: Air quality; climate change;
water resources and quality; fisheries; biological resources;
topography and soils; geology and seismicity; cultural resources; land
use and socioeconomics; traffic and circulation; noise; recreation and
public access; aesthetics and visual resources; hazardous, toxic, and
radiological waste; growth-inducing effects; and cumulative effects.
Based on this analysis, the USACE has determined that removing the
exercise pocket park and allowing in-channel work year-round in the
absence of substantial rainfall will not result in new significant
environmental impacts not already identified in the GRR/EIS.
Because removing the exercise pocket park features and allowing in-
channel work year-round in the absence of substantial rainfall will not
result in new significant environmental impacts, these elements do not
amount to substantial changes to the proposed action and do not
constitute significant new circumstances or information bearing upon
the proposed action or its impacts. Therefore, the USACE concludes that
preparation of a supplement to the GRR/EIS, as defined in section
1502.9(c) of the CEQ Regulations, is not necessary. The Project remains
the environmentally preferable alternative.
John C. Morrow,
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, District Engineer.
[FR Doc. 2016-10263 Filed 5-2-16; 8:45 am]
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