PN-25-42 NAB-2025-60152 (Town of Queenstown Harbor/Channel Dredging & Beneficial Reuse)

                              Applicant:                         Published: November 20, 2025
                              Amy Moore                          Expires: December 20, 2025
                              Town of Queenstown
                              PN-25-42

                              Baltimore District

                                                                                                                       Permit Application No. NAB-2025-60152

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 (DA) 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:

APPLICANT: Amy Moore
                     Town of Queenstown
                     P.O. Box 4
                     Queenstown, MD 21658

AGENT:         Ryan  Drabick
                     Bayland Consultants & Designers, Inc.
                     7455 New Ridge Road
                     Suite T
                     Hanover, MD 21076

WATERWAY AND LOCATION:  The project would affect waters of the United States and navigable waters of the United States associated within Queenstown Harbor and the Chester River.  The dredging project review area is located in the Queenstown Harbor federal navigation channel at Latitude 39.0018 and Longitude -76.1701, in Queenstown, Queen Anne's County, Maryland; the beneficial reuse disposal and living shoreline project review area is located on the western shore of the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge at Latitude: 39.039710 and Longitude: -76.240562, in Kent County, Maryland.

EXISTING CONDITIONS:  The Queenstown Harbor navigation channel is a waterway consistently used by 13 residential and commercial waterfront properties; the channel has experienced various amounts of sedimentation and requires dredging to restore navigable access within the proposed project extent.  The shoreline placement area for the dredged material along the western shoreline of the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge was approved under previous Corps dredging/beneficial reuse authorizations, most recently under DA tracking number NAB-2018-60541 from dredging of the Kent Narrows navigation channel.         

PROJECT PURPOSE:

Basic:  To dredge and maintain navigable access to Queenstown Harbor.

Overall:  To drede and maintian navigable access to Queenstown Harbor, inhibit erosion of the dredge material placement site, and enhance intertidal and shallow water habitat for marine life at Eastern Neck Wildlife Reguge. 

PROPOSED WORK:  The applicant requests authorization to mechanically or hydraulically maintenance dredge a 2,575-foot long by 100-foot wide section, approximately 294,148 square feet (SF), of the Queenstown Harbor federal navigation channel to a depth of -7.0 feet at mean low water (MLW) and to deposit the approximately 14,600 cubic yards (CY) of dredged material at a previously approved beneficial reuse disposal site for dredged material located on the western shore of the Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and to provide for periodic maintenance dredging of the channel segment for six years; the Queenstown Harbor federal channel has been previously dredged by the Corps to a maximum of -7.0 feet, this current proposal is within the same footprint of the previously dredged area.

The approximate 14,600 CY of dredged material would be placed at the beneficial reuse site at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge for pocket beach renourishment, where the applicant additionally proposes to extend nine of the existing breakwater extensions and two stone vents resulting in 10,526 SF impact to tidal open water; to emplace approximately 38,932 SF of beneficial reuse material, stabilized with high marsh plantings, to protect and enhance 1,830 linear feet (LF) of living shoreline; to emplace 800 reef balls totaling 3,920 SF to function as oyster and benthic recruitment habitat; and to emplace 10 obstruction signs totaling approximately 8 SF; resulting in a total impact area of 53,386 SF and all to extend no more than 239 feet channelward of the mean high water (MHW) shoreline of the western shore of the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge.

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 has been designed to avoid and minimize impacts to the waters of the United States to the maximum extent practicable.

COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: Compensatory mitigation is not being proposed by the applicant for impacts to open water and no wetland impacts are proposed. The proposed living shoreline component of the project would result in a net increase of 38,932 SF of tidal wetland, and the proposed reef balls would provide intertidal benthic recruitment habitat along the shoreline of the Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge.

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 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Protected Resources Division (NMFS-PRD) Section 7 Mapper and 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 listed in Table 1. No other Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed species or critical habitat would 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.  This notice serves as request to the 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.  The Corps intends to initiate Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) consultation separately from this public notice. A separate EFH consultation package will be sent to the NMFS.  The Corps will not make a permit decision until the consultation process is complete.

NAVIGATION:  Based on the GPS coordinates provided by the applicant, the proposed dredging is within the footprint extent of the Queenstown Harbor federal channel in the Chester River.  This project will require review from the Corps Navigation Section.

SECTION 408:  The applicant will 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 alter, occupy, or use a Corps Civil Works project.

WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION:  A Water Quality Certification, 25-WQC-0030, has been requested from the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE).

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 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (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 December 20, 2025. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Meghan Fullam at meghan.e.fullam@usace.army.mil.  Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attention:  Meghan Fullam, 2 Hopkins Plaza Baltimore, MD 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.