PN-25-37 NAB-2024-60574-M46 (AA DPW/ Broadwater Creek/South County Coastal Resiliency)

                                                                                                                                                           PUBLIC NOTICE
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                    Applicant:                                           Published:  November 4, 2025
                                                                                                                                    Ms. Melissa Harlinski                           Expires:  December 4, 2025
                                                                                                                                    Anne Arundel County DPW
                                                                                                                                    PN-25-37                 
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                    Baltimore District
                                                                                                                                    Permit Application No. NAB-2024-60574-M46
 

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/or 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:

APPLICANT:    Ms. Melissa Harlinski
                          Anne Arundel County DPW
                          2662 Riva Road
                          Annapolis, Maryland 21401

AGENT:            Mr. Jason Traband
                          BayLand Consultants and Designers, Inc.
                          7455 New Ridge Road
                          Suite T
                          Hanover, Maryland 21076

WATERWAY AND LOCATION:  The project would affect waters of the United States and navigable waters of the United States associated with Chesapeake Bay.  The project/review area is located adjacent to Venetian Way; at Latitude 38.797350 and Longitude -76.522061; in Churchton, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

EXISTING CONDITIONS:  The site is part of the Deale-Shady Side Peninsula which is a low laying peninsula fronting the Chesapeake Bay with numerous tidal tributaries and interconnected wetland systems.  The site itself is a large tidal and nontidal wetland complex boarded by single family residential building and maintained lawn areas.  The adjacent shorelines are hardened by a bulkhead to the south and a stone revetment to the north.

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic:  The project purpose is to provide shoreline stabilization and coastal resiliency.

Overall:  The overall project purpose is to provide coastal resiliency through the creation and enhancement of tidal and nontidal marsh to reducing flooding risks and protect existing marsh habitat areas from further erosion within the Deale-Shady Side Peninsula.

PROPOSED WORK:  The applicant requests authorization to restore marsh habitat loss due to erosion by constructing a segmented breakwater, backfilling with material dredged from the nearby Broadwater Creek dredging project, and to enhance the existing marsh area by removing phragmites and restoring with native vegetation.  The project impacts are identified below in Table 1.

Table # 1 Tidal Waters and Wetland Impacts

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 has designed the project to avoid, minimize, and offset impacts to the existing wetlands and support the long-term stability of the tidal and nontidal marsh habitats.  The applicant designed specific runnels to help minimize tidal flooding concerns and degradation of marsh habitat improving natural drainage and new tidal influence.  The applicant designed microtopographic features providing variation in habitat while maintaining native marsh vegetation.  The thin layer placement of material will help increase the wetlands elevation while maintain vegetation and functions.  The breakwater heigh has been designed to maximize wave attenuation while reducing the overall fill footprint balancing resilience objectives and protection of existing wetlands.

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION:  The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required:  The applicant is not proposing mitigation due to the proposed habitat restoration and enhancements as well as providing stabilized shoreline and flood protection.  The project will restore/enhance approximately 5.05 acres of tidal and nontidal wetlands, create habitat diversity, and wetland function.  The project will not cause the loss of submerged aquatic vegetation or loss of wetlands.

CULTURAL RESOURCES:  The Corps evaluated the undertaking pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 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 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 United States Fish and Wildlife Service Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC), National Marine Fisheries Service Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office 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 in the vicinity 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 below in Table #2.  No other Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed species or critical habitat will be affected by the proposed action.

Table 2:  ESA Listed Species and potential effect

Key:  NE- No Affect; MA-NLAA- May affect not likely to adversely effect

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.

This notice serves as request to the United States 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.

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 may adversely affect EFH and/or fisheries managed by Fishery Management Councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service.  Implementation of the proposed project would directly impact approximately 1.73 acres of open water and tidal wetlands.  The effects of the project are determined to be minimal and permanent.  These habitat(s) are utilized by the following species and their various life stages:

Table #3 EFH Species and complexes at the project site.

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 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 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 December 4, 2025.  Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Ms. Erica Schmidt at erica.schmidt@usace.army.mil.  Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attention:  Ms. Erica Schmidt, 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.