Public Notice
Applicant: Published: December 19, 2025
John Moran Expires: January 18, 2026 Martins Point Farm, LLC
PN-25-48
Baltimore District
Permit Application No. NAB-2023-60893-M51
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:
EXISTING CONDITIONS: The privately owned waterfront property, located on the Choptank River and La Trappe Creek, contains mostly agricultural land with some forested areas, riparian forest buffer, lawn and other upland grasses. The shoreline is unprotected and eroding with 10+ foot tall banks.
Basic: To stabilize an eroding shoreline.
Overall: To implement shoreline stabilization measures to reduce erosion to protect the applicant’s property along the Choptank River and La Trappe Creek in Talbot County, Maryland.
PROPOSED WORK: The applicant requests authorization to construct a 16-foot (ft) wide by 4,000-ft long stone revetment within an approximately 11,290 square foot impact area extending a maximum of 5 ft channelward of the approximate mean high water shoreline. All work is proposed in accordance with the attached plans as prepared by Lane Engineering, Incorporated dated August 16, 2023. Please refer to Table 1 below for a summary of aquatic resource impacts.
EFFECTS ON AQUATIC RESOURCES:
Table 1: Aquatic Resource Impacts
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Regulated Activity
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Tidal Open Water
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Authority
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Stone Fill
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11,290 square foot
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10/404
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AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION: The applicant has provided the following information in support of efforts to avoid and/or minimize impacts to the aquatic environment: As part of the planning process for the proposed project, steps were taken to ensure avoidance and minimization of impacts to aquatic resources to the maximum extent practicable based on the existing site and projected future site conditions, minimizing the project footprint by not exceeding a channelward encroachment of 5 ft from the approximate mean high water shoreline.
COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: The applicant has provided the following explanation why compensatory mitigation should not be required: No mitigation is proposed because the project includes a minimal channelward encroachment. Compensatory mitigation should only be required to offset more than minimal, unavoidable adverse aquatic resource impacts that remain after all avoidance and minimization have been achieved.
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 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 and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Greater Atlantic Region Section 7 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 would have no affect or be not likely to adversely affect NMFS and United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed species and/or critical habitat present in the action area as listed in Table 2.
Table 2: ESA-listed species potentially present in the action area.
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Species Common 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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Northern Long-eared Bat
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Myotis septentrionalis
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Endangered
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The Corps received concurrence on this determination from NMFS Protected Resources Division on September 3, 2023. The Corps determined through Information for Planning and Consultation that the project would have no effect on Northern Long-eared bat.
This notice serves as request to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and 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 has initiated Essential Fish Habitat consultation separately from this public notice. A separate Essential Fish Habitat consultation package was sent to the NMFS. The Corps will not make a permit decision until the consultation process is complete.
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 was received from the Maryland Department of the Environment on December 10, 2025 (25-WQC-0025).
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 January 18, 2026. Comments should be submitted electronically via the Regulatory Request System (RRS) at https://rrs.usace.army.mil/rrs or to Ms. Megan Spindler at megan.l.spindler@usace.army.mil. Alternatively, you may submit comments in writing to the Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Attention: Megan Spindler, 218 N Washington Street, Suite 304, Easton, MD 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.