[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 125 (Wednesday, June 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42337-42338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-15310]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers
The Release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)
for the Figure Eight Island Shoreline Management Project, on Figure
Eight Island, New Hanover County, NC
AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District,
Wilmington Regulatory Field Office has received a permit application
for Department of the Army authorization, pursuant to Section 404 of
the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, from
Figure Eight Beach Homeowners' Association Inc. (HOA) to install a
terminal groin structure along Rich Inlet and to conduct a supplemental
beach nourishment on approximately 4,500 linear feet of oceanfront
beach and 1,400 linear feet of back barrier shoreline to protect
residential homes and infrastructures along the central and northern
sections of Figure Eight Island. The terminal groin structure will be
placed perpendicular on the northern tip of the island along the
shoulder of Rich Inlet; and the proposed source of the material for the
nourishment will be dredged from an area within Nixon Channel, a back
barrier channel, that has been previously used for past beach
nourishment projects. In case the quantity of material from Nixon
Channel is not sufficient, material pumped from (3) nearby upland
disposal islands will be used to supplement the nourishment needs. The
majority of the material will be disposed within the fillet area, or
down shore, of the groin. Pending storm events and shoreline changes,
proposed maintenance, or periodic nourishment, of the beach is once
every five years, or potentially 6 separate events over the 30-year
study period. Nixon Channel and the upland disposal islands are the
proposed material sources for the periodic maintenance, or
renourishment, events.
DATES: Written comments on the FEIS must be received at (see ADDRESSES
below) no later than 5 p.m. on August 1, 2016.
Next Action: No less than 30 days from the release date of the
FEIS, the COE will prepare a Record of Decision (ROD), which will
reflect an issuance or denial of the permit request for the applicant's
preferred alternative. The preferred alternative is described in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. A public notice will be
released upon completion and signature of the ROD.
ADDRESSES: Copies of comments and questions regarding the FEIS may be
addressed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District,
Regulatory Division. ATTN: File Number 2006-41158, 69 Darlington
Avenue, Wilmington, NC 28403. Copies of the FEIS can be reviewed on the
Corps homepage at, http://www.saw.usace.army.mil/Missions/RegulatoryPermitProgram/MajorProjects.aspx, under Figure Eight Island
Terminal Groin: Corps ID #SAW-2006-41158.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposed action
and FEIS and/or to requests receive a CD or written copies of the FEIS
can be directed to Mr. Mickey Sugg, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office,
telephone: (910) 251-4811 or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Project Purpose and Need. Over the past several decades, the
Figure Eight Beach HOA has taken action to address the continuing
oceanfront erosion problems associated with Rich Inlet and Nixon
Channel erosion hot-spot on the estuarine side of the island. Past
actions to protect the shorelines have provided some protection,
however they are seeking a longer term solution to handle shoreline
erosion in order to protect the island's $907,352,900 (based on the
2012 reappraisal) assessed property tax value. The HOAs stated needs of
the project continue to be the following: (1) Reduce erosion along
approximately 2.3 miles of oceanfront and 0.34 mile of back barrier
shorelines, (2) Provide reasonable short-term protection to residential
structures to any unpredicted shoreline change over the next five
years, (3) Provide long-term protection to homes and infrastructure
over the next 30 years, (4) Maintain the tax value of homes,
properties, and infrastructure, (5) Use beach compatible material, (6)
Maintain navigation conditions within Rich Inlet and Nixon Channel, (7)
Maintain recreational resources, and (8) Balance the needs of the human
environment with the protection of existing natural resources.
2. Proposed Action. Within the Town's preferred alternative, known
as Alternative 5D, the installation of the terminal groin is the main
component in the protection of the oceanfront shoreline. The proposed
structure would be located just north of the existing homes along the
southern
[[Page 42338]]
shoulder of Rich Inlet. Its total length would be approximately 1,500
feet, which approximately 505 feet would project seaward of the 2007
mean high water shoreline. The landward 995-foot anchor section would
extend across the island and terminate near the Nixon Channel
Shoreline. This section would be constructed of 14,000 to 18,000 square
feet of sheet pile with the last approximate 100 feet of the anchor
portion wrapped with rock. Although engineering design plans are not
finalized, basic construction design of the seaward 505-foot part of
the structure will be in the form of a typical rubble (rock) mound
feature supported by a 1.5-foot thick stone foundation blanket. Crest
height or elevation of this section is estimated to be +6.0 feet NAVD
for the first 400 feet and would slope to a top elevation of +3.0 feet
NAVD on the seaward end. Approximately 16,000 tons of stone would be
used to construct the terminal groin. The concept design of the
structure is intended to allow littoral sand transport to move over,
around, and through the groin once the accretion fillet has completely
filled in.
Construction of the terminal groin would be kept within a corridor
varying in width from 50 feet to 200 feet. Within this corridor, a 40-
70 foot wide trench would be excavated to a depth of -2.5 feet NAVD in
order to construct the foundation of the landward section. The
approximate 6,000 cubic yards of excavated material would be replaced
on and around the structure once it's in place. Material used to build
the groin would be barged down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway
(AIWW), through Nixon Channel, and either offloaded onto a temporary
loading dock or directly onto shore. It would then be transported, via
dump trucks, within the designated corridor to the construction site.
Material used for nourishment would be dredged, using a hydraulic
cutterhead plant, from a designated borrow site within Nixon Channel,
which has been previously used for beach fill needs. The proposed
dredging footprint in the channel area is approximately 30 acres in
size and the target depth of dredging is -11.4 feet NAVD. Approximately
294,500 cubic yards would be required for both the oceanfront (237,500
cubic yards) and the Nixon Channel shoreline (57,000 cubic yards) fill
areas under the 2006 and 2012 shoreline study conditions. Beach
compatible material from (3) upland disposal islands would serve as a
contingency sediment source.
Engineer modeling results have shown that periodic nourishment
would be required approximately once every five years to maintain the
beach and Nixon Channel shorelines. The combined 5-year estimated
maintenance needs for both areas are 320,000 cubic yards of material
under the 2006 condition and 255,000 cubic yards of material under 2012
condition, equivalent to approximately 58,000 and 45,000 cubic yards
per year respectively. This material would come from the designated
Nixon Channel borrow site and the (3) upland disposal areas.
3. Alternatives. Several alternatives have been identified and
evaluated through the scoping process, and further detailed description
of all alternatives is disclosed in Section 3.0 of the FEIS.
4. Scoping Process. To date, a public scoping meeting was held on
March 1, 2007; several Project Delivery Team (PDT) meetings have been
held, which were comprised of local, state, and federal government
officials, local residents and nonprofit organizations; the Draft EIS
was released for public comments on May 18, 2012; a Public Hearing was
conducted on June 7, 2012; a Supplemental EIS was released for public
comments on July 10, 2015; and a second Public Hearing was held on
September 2, 2015.
The COE is currently consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service Protected Resources
Division under the Endangered Species Act; with U.S. Fish and Wildlife
under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, and have concluded
consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service Habitat
Conservation Division under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Additionally, the
FEIS assesses the potential water quality impacts pursuant to Section
401 of the Clean Water Act, and is coordinated with the North Carolina
Division of Coastal Management (DCM) to insure consistency with the
Coastal Zone Management Act. The COE has coordinated closely with DCM
in the development of the FEIS to ensure the process complies with the
requirements of the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), as well as
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The FEIS has been
designed to consolidate both NEPA and SEPA processes to eliminate
duplications.
Dated: June 22, 2016.
Scott McLendon,
Regulatory Division Chief, Wilmington District.
[FR Doc. 2016-15310 Filed 6-28-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P