Public Notice
Applicant: Published: October 24, 2025
Mr. Gregory Lodge Expires: November 23, 2025
United States Coast Guard
PN-25-35
Baltimore District
Permit Application No. NAB-2015-61057-M56
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 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §1344) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. §403). The purpose of this public notice is to solicit comments from the public regarding the work described below:
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The project is located at an existing United States Coast Guard (USCG) Station with a bulkhead, a floating wooden pier, a fixed wooden pier, and a parking lot. There are tidal wetlands along the shoreline west of the project, outside of the limit-of-disturbance. There is no mapped submerged aquatic vegetation within the last five (5) years within in the project area. Existing depths in the project area range from -3 feet to -10 feet below mean low water (MLW). The project is located in the Coastal Plain physiographic province of Maryland.
PROJECT PURPOSE:
Basic: To construct a boat ramp and dredge for vessel access.
Overall: To construct a boat ramp with sheet pile walls and mechanically dredge an area to a maximum depth of -10 feet below MLW, at the USCG Station in Annapolis.
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 project originally proposed a 135-foot-long boat ramp; this has been reduced to 120 feet. A turbidity curtain will be used during installation of the steel sheet pile walls to minimize impacts to water quality. Dredging will then occur within the dewatered area between the walls before installation of the concrete boat ramp. The concrete will fully cure in the dry.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: No compensatory mitigation is required because this is a reauthorization of a previously approved project. Additionally, proposed permanent impacts are minimal (less than 200 linear feet and less than 5,000 square feet). No wetlands or submerged aquatic vegetation will be permanently impacted as a result of the project.
CULTURAL RESOURCES: The Corps is evaluating the undertaking for effects to historic properties as required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This public notice serves to inform the public of the proposed undertaking and invites comments including those from local, state, and federal government Agencies with respect to historic resources. Our final determination relative to historic resource impacts may be subject to additional coordination with the State Historic Preservation Officer, federally recognized tribes and other interested parties. 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 State Historic Preservation Office and/or Tribal Historic Preservation Office.
The District Engineer’s final eligibility and effect determination will be based upon coordination with the State Historic Preservation Office and/or Tribal Historic Preservation Office, 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 Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC), National Marine Fisheries Service Section 7 Mapper, and the National Marine Fisheries Service Critical Habitat Mapper 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 but is not likely to adversely 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.
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Species Common Name and/or Critical Habitat Name
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Scientific Name
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Federal Status
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Atlantic Sturgeon
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Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus
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Endangered
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Shortnose Sturgeon
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Acipenser brevirostrum
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Endangered
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Green Sea Turtle
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Chelonia mydas
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Threatened
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Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle
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Lepidochelys kempii
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Endangered
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
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Caretta caretta
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Threatened
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Leatherback Sea Turtle
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Dermochelys coriacea
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Endangered
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Pursuant to Section 7 ESA, any required consultation with the Service(s) will be conducted in accordance with 50 CFR part 402.
This notice serves as request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries 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.
ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT: Pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 1996, the Corps reviewed the project area, examined information provided by the applicant, and consulted available species information. This notice initiates the Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) consultation requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Our initial determination is that the proposed action is not likely to have a substantial effect on EFH and/or fisheries managed by Fishery Management Councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Implementation of the proposed project would directly impact approximately 6,960 square feet of open water bottom habitat. The effects of the project are determined to be minimal, and both temporary (4,800 square feet) and permanent (2,160 square feet). These habitat(s) are utilized by the following species and their various life stages:
Table 2: Species managed for EFH potentially present in the project area.
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Species/Management Unit
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Life Stages
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Red Hake
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Adult, Eggs, Larvae, Juvenile
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Scup
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Adult, Juvenile
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Summer Flounder
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Adult, Juvenile, Larvae
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Windowpane Flounder
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Adult, Juvenile
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Atlantic Butterfish
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Adult, Eggs, Larvae
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Atlantic Herring
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Adult, Juvenile
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Black Sea Bass
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Adult, Juvenile
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Bluefish
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Adult, Juvenile
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Clearnose Skate
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Adult, Juvenile
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Our final determination relative to project impacts and the need for mitigation measures is subject to review by and coordination with the National Marine Fisheries Service.
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 is 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, Environmental Protection Agency, 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 and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. 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 November 23, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Ms. Rachel Rosenberg at rachel.r.rosenberg@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attention: Ms. Rachel Rosenberg, 2 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. 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.