PN-25-28 NAB-2024-61139- M53 (Prospect Plantation West HOA, Inc/Living Shoreline and Jetties)

                                      Public Notice

                                                                               
                                                                               Applicant:
                                                                               Prospect Plantation West HOA                                                       Published: June 11, 2025
                                                                               c/o Mr. Jon Vondehal                                                                        Expires:  July 11, 2025 
                                                                                PN-25-28
                                                                               
                                                                               Baltimore District
                                                                               Permit Application No. NAB-2024-61139-M53 (Prospect Plantation West HOA, Inc/Living Shoreline and Jetties).                                        

 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has received an application for a Department of the Army permit pursuant to Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §403) and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1344). The purpose of this public notice is to solicit comments from the public regarding the work described below:

APPLICANT: Prospect Plantation West Homeowner’s Association Inc.
                       c/o Mr. Jon Vodehnal301 Prospect Bay Drive W
                       Grasonville, Maryland 21638

AGENT:         Mariner Science & Exploration, LLC
                       c/o Mr. Dave Knorr
                       64 W. Central Avenue
                       Edgewater, Maryland 21037

WATERWAY AND LOCATION: The project would affect waters of the United States and navigable waters of the United States associated with Eastern Bay. The project/review area is located near 301 Prospect Bay Drive, at Latitude 39.910270 and Longitude -76.205245: in Grasonville, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project area consists of tidal wetlands and open water in Eastern Bay.

PROJECT PURPOSE: Shoreline Erosion Control

Basic: Shoreline Erosion Control

Overall: Stabilize an eroding shoreline embankment and extend two existing jetties.

PROPOSED WORK: The applicant proposes to stabilize approximately 1,958 linear feet of eroding shoreline using a combination of living shoreline treatments and structural enhancements. The project includes the placement of approximately 1,403 linear feet of low-profile stone containment sills averaging 7 feet in width, with 10-foot-wide vents spaced every 100 feet to allow tidal exchange. Behind the sills, clean sand fill would be placed and stabilized with approximately 17,060 square feet of Spartina patens (high marsh). An additional 555 linear feet of shoreline would be stabilized without sills using clean sand fill planted with approximately 4,200 square feet of Spartina alterniflora (low marsh) and 3,100 square feet of Spartina patens. The project also includes extending two existing stone jetties by approximately 33 feet in length and 20 feet in width, extending up to 65 feet channelward of the approximate mean high-water line. All work will be conducted in accordance with plans prepared by Sustainable Science Engineering Services dated May 22, 2025.

EFFECTS ON AQUATIC RESOURCES:

AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment: The applicant proposes to avoid and minimize impacts by designing the low-profile sill structures to be the minimum channelward extent necessary (less than 10 feet) to provide reduced wave energy, protect against shoreline erosion, and to provide for coastal resiliency.

The applicant’s initial design included an approximately 44,000 square-feet (1.0-acre) of permanent impacts to SAV. The initial design was reduced and minimized in response to agency comments during a pre-application meeting held September 22, 2023. The current redesign includes approximately 21,492 square-feet (0.49-acre) of permanent impact to SAV (51% reduction).

Upon project completion, an approximately 24,360 square-foot (0.56-acre) area of marsh habitat would be established consisting of Spartina alterniflora and S. patens. Additionally, the project would preserve the headland protecting an approximately 8.0-acre area of SAV within Eastern Bay.

Further, as a best-management practice, the applicant proposes uses of temporary construction access matting in nontidal and tidal wetlands. The marsh matts would minimize impacts to existing wetland vegetation/benthic substrate, and all temporarily disturbed wetland areas are proposed to be restored to pre-existing conditions post-construction.  The Corps will work with the applicant to achieve the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative.

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant offered the following compensatory mitigation plan to offset unavoidable functional loss to the aquatic environment: off-site mitigation for the loss of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) through the establishment and deployment of 400 reef ball structures within a 3-acre area in Eastern Bay. These reef balls are designed to provide structural habitat that supports colonization by oysters, encrusting organisms, and benthic invertebrates, which in turn enhance the food web and provide shelter and foraging opportunities for juvenile and adult fish species. As a result, the project is anticipated to generate a measurable functional gain to local fisheries by improving habitat complexity, increasing fish biomass, and supporting overall ecosystem productivity in Eastern Bay

CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps evaluated the undertaking pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) utilizing its existing program-specific regulations and procedures along with 36 CFR Part 800. The Corps’ program-specific procedures include 33 CFR 325, Appendix C, and revised interim guidance issued in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The District Engineer consulted district files and records and the latest published version of the National Register of Historic Places and initially determines that: No historic properties (i.e., properties listed in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places) are present within the Corps’ permit area; therefore, there will be no historic properties affected. The Corps subsequently requests concurrence from the SHPO and/or THPO.

The District Engineer’s final eligibility and effect determination will be based upon coordination with the SHPO and/or THPO, as appropriate and required, and with full consideration given to the proposed undertaking’s potential direct and indirect effects on historic properties within the Corps-identified permit area.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: The Corps has performed an initial review of the application, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC), to determine if any threatened, endangered, proposed, or candidate species, as well as the proposed and final designated critical habitat may occur within the boundary of the proposed project. Based on this initial review, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the proposed project may affect species and critical habitat listed in Table 1. No other ESA-listed species or critical habitat will be affected by the proposed action.

Table 1: ESA-listed species and/or critical habitat potentially present in the action area.

Pursuant to Section 7 ESA, any required consultation with the Service(s) will be conducted in accordance with 50 CFR part 402. The Corps is the lead Federal agency for ESA consultation for the proposed action. Any required consultation will be completed by the Corps.

This notice serves as request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for any additional information on whether any listed or proposed to be listed endangered or threatened species or critical habitat may be present in the area which would be affected by the proposed activity.

NAVIGATION: The proposed structure or activity is not located in the vicinity of a federal navigation channel.

SECTION 408: The applicant will not require permission under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 USC 408) because the activity, in whole or in part, would not alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.

WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION: Water Quality Certification may be required from the Maryland Department of the Environment.

NOTE: This public notice is being issued based on information furnished by the applicant. This information has not been verified or evaluated to ensure compliance with laws and regulation governing the regulatory program. The geographic extent of aquatic resources within the proposed project area that either are, or are presumed to be, within the Corps jurisdiction has not been verified by Corps personnel.

EVALUATION: The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact including cumulative impacts of the proposed activity on the public interest. That decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefits, which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the proposal, must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors which may be relevant to the proposal will be considered including cumulative impacts thereof; among these are conservation, economics, esthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historical properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food, and fiber production, mineral needs, considerations of property ownership, and in general, the needs and welfare of the people. Evaluation of the impact of the activity on the public interest will also include application of the guidelines promulgated by the Administrator, EPA, under authority of Section 404(b) of the Clean Water Act or the criteria established under authority of Section 102(a) of the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. A permit will be granted unless its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest.

COMMENTS: The Corps is soliciting comments from the public; Federal, State, and local agencies and officials; Indian Tribes; and other Interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of this proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps to determine whether to issue, modify, condition, or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this determination, comments are used to assess impacts to endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.

The Baltimore District will receive written comments on the proposed work, as outlined above, until July 11, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Ms. Jaclyn Kelleher at jaclyn.k.kelleher@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attention: Ms. Jaclyn Kelleher, 218 Washington Street Suite 304 Easton, Maryland 21601. Please refer to the permit application number in your comments.

Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider the application. Requests for public hearings shall state, with particularity, the reasons for holding a public hearing. Requests for a public hearing will be granted, unless the District Engineer determines that the issues raised are insubstantial or there is otherwise no valid interest to be served by a hearing.