Interested parties are hereby notified that the Walla Walla District has received an application for a Department of the Army permit for certain work in Waters of the United States, including wetlands, as described below in the attached documents:
APPLICANT: Mr. Joe Yochum, Assistant Superintendent, West Ada School District/Joint School District No. 2.
AGENT: Mr. Brandon Weholt, Design West Architects, P.A.
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS PROJECT MANAGER: Mr. Eric M. Gerke, 208-433-4462, eric.m.gerke@usace.army.mil
PURPOSE: To construct a new high school and its attendant features. Proposed work includes piping portions of Sky Pilot Drain, Eightmile Lateral and McFadden Drain, as well as backfilling and relocating two unnamed ditches (a.k.a. southwest and northwest ditch).
WATERWAY: Sky Pilot Drain, Eightmile Lateral, McFadden Drain, Southwest ditch, and Northwest ditch.
LOCATION: The proposed project would be located alongside of West Ustick Road, within Section 32, Township 4 North, Range 1 West, near latitude 43º 33’35.86 ”N and longitude –116º 33’58.49” W, in the community of Meridian, Ada County, Idaho.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS: Take I-84 west towards Nampa, take Exit 42 North, turn left on West Ustick Road. Travel west about 1.40 miles to the site on the right side of the road.
AUTHORITY: This permit will be issued or denied under the authority of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344). A Department of the Army permit is required for the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands.
WORK: The proposed work consists of the estimated total discharge of 1,505 cubic yards of native dirt fill material below the ordinary high water mark of Sky Pilot Drain, Eightmile Lateral, and McFadden Drain, and two unnamed ditches (a.k.a. Northwest and Southwest ditches). Proposed work entails:
Aquatic Resource
|
Emergent Wetland Impacts
(Acres / CY)
|
Open Channel Impacts
(Acres / CY)
|
Linear Length of Drain/Ditch Impact
|
Sky Pilot Drain (a.k.a. Sky Pilot Slough)
|
0.19 / 270
|
0.09 / 315
|
1,212
|
McFadden Drain
|
0.06 / 125
|
0.02 / 115
|
220
|
Eightmile Lateral (Ditch)
|
0.18 / 80
|
0.06 / 180
|
2,092
|
Unnamed Ditch (Southwest Ditch)
|
0.10 / 240
|
0.00
|
1,200
|
Unnamed Ditch (Northwest Ditch)
|
0.05 / 30
|
0.05 / 150
|
712
|
TOTAL
|
0.58 acre/ 745 cy
|
0.22 acre/ 760 cy
|
5,436 lf
|
In-channel activities include:
- Sky Pilot Drain: 1,212 linear feet would be piped with 36-inch Class III, non-gasketed round concrete pipe to facilitate the construction of the parking lot and baseball field.
- McFadden Drain: 220 linear feet would be piped with 36-inch Class III non-gasketed round concrete pipe to extend the collector road north.
- Eightmile Creek: 2,092 linear feet would be piped with 36-inch PVC round plastic pipe to facilitate the construction of the track and field recreational area and a parking lot, as well as to accommodate a collector road.
- Southwest Ditch: 1,200 linear feet would be relocated 30 feet to the west to maintain irrigation delivery from agricultural fields south of Ustick Road to the Sky Pilot Drain and to accommodate a collector road running along the entire west property boundary.
- Northwest Ditch: 712 linear feet would be backfilled to accommodate a collector road running along the entire west property boundary. The ditch will be relocated in a pipe to the west of the property boundary.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: The project area encompasses about 92 acres. The northern portion of the project area consists of agricultural land. The southern portion of the site is a dairy farm (decommissioned) and a residential complex with a house and a few outbuildings. An estimated 1.62 acres of waters of the United States (WOTUS) were identified on the property.
The proposed high school building is about 246,000 square feet divided between one-story and two story levels. Student activities and a variety of athletics (track and field, football, tennis, soccer, lacrosse, baseball/softball, and rugby) are supported on approximately 35 acres of the site. Approximately 1,233 parking spaces will be constructed, 284 of which are associated with a future phase.
West Ada School District/Joint School District No. 2 long-term plans include constructing an elementary school to the north of the proposed high school within the 92-acre parcel of land. This large educational complex will serve the needs of the communities of Kuna, Meridian, and Eagle.
CONSTRUCTION PERIOD: Applicant proposes to start construction October 15, 2019 to March 9, 2020. The permit would authorize construction for a period of 3 years.
PROPOSED MITIGATION: The applicant proposes the following mitigation measures to avoid, minimize, and compensate for impacts to WOTUS from activities involving discharges of dredged or fill material:
To compensate for the loss of 0.58 acres of emergent wetlands and 0.22 acres of open channel impacted from the construction of the high school, the Applicant proposes to do off-site, out-of-kind wetland and open channel creation within the City of Boise. Specifically, the applicant proposes to participate in the planned Cottonwood Creek daylighting project located at Julia Davis Park, near the intersection of Broadway Avenue and Park Center Boulevard. Julia Davis Park is a public park managed by the City of Boise, and Cottonwood Creek discharges directly into the Boise River. Cottonwood Creek is currently confined in a concrete box culvert, buried several feet below the current ground-surface elevation. The Cottonwood Creek project, as proposed, would remove the current concrete box culvert and “daylight” the existing stream. It is estimated that the project would provide an estimated 0.34 acres of reopened channel/wetlands of a future creek alignment.
The Conceptual Wetland Mitigation Plan, Owyhee High School, Meridian, Idaho, dated April 2019, prepared by Ecosystem Sciences, is available upon request.
OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS AND DA PERMITS ISSUED TO APPLICANT: None.
WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION: This notice will also serve as a Public Notice that the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) is evaluating whether to certify that the discharge of dredge and/or fill material proposed for this project will not violate existing water quality standards. A Department of the Army permit will not be issued until water quality certification has been issued or waived by the IDEQ, as required by Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. If water quality certification is not issued, waived or denied within sixty (60) days of this public notice date, and an extension of this period is not requested by and granted to the IDEQ, certification will be considered waived. Additionally, within thirty (30) days of this Public Notice, any person may provide written comments to IDEQ as request in writing that IDEQ provide them notice of their preliminary 401 Certification decision. Comments concerning Water Quality Certification for this project should be mailed to:
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
Boise Regional Office
1445 North Orchard Street
Boise, Idaho 83706
AQUATIC RESOURCE DESCRIPTION: The project area is located above the Boise River floodplain in what were traditionally uplands with intermittent streams scattered throughout the landscape; the area was likely sagebrush steppe habitat prior to irrigation coming to the Treasure Valley around 150 years ago. The major gravity irrigation features on-site include: Sky Pilot Drain, Eightmile Lateral, and McFadden Drain. Historical records indicate that Sky Pilot Drain was known as Sky Pilot Slough prior to 1914. Sky Pilot Slough was a natural stream channel. After 1914, the Bureau of Reclamation straightened and deepened the channel to facilitate agricultural production in the area. Eightmile Lateral, McFadden Drain, and the two unnamed ditches that parallel the western boundary of the parcel of land were likely man-made features constructed in uplands after 1914. A waterway north of the property (not to be affected by the proposed project) is labeled Ninemile Creek, Fivemile Creek, and Fivemile Drain in different resources and appears to receive the waters that leave the parcel of land.
Gravity-fed irrigation water is delivered by the Eightmile Lateral, which is thought to originate off-site at the Ridenbaugh Canal. The Eightmile Lateral appears to split into two at the western edge of the parcel of property. The northern branch appears to enter a diversion off of Ninemile Creek north of the property, while the western branch appears to spill into the Sky Pilot Drain west of the property.
In general the irrigation facilities mentioned are “V”-shaped with small open-water widths (4-feet to 10 feet). Emergent wetlands are narrowly defined at the bottom of the “V”-shaped ditches and generally consist of reed canary grass, curly dock, common mullein, knotweed, and cattail. The open channel portion of the ditches are heavily sediment laden water from agricultural and urban runoff.
ANTICIPATED IMPACTS ON AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT: An estimated 0.22 acres of open channel and 0.58 acres of emergent wetlands will be filled. Approximately 5,436 linear feet of drain/ditch would be piped or relocated.
OTHER AUTHORIZATIONS: The proposed project requires a Section 401 Individual Water Quality Certification from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
CULTURAL RESOURCES: Coordination is currently being conducted with the office of the Idaho State Historic Preservation Officer to determine if this activity will affect a site that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, or a site that may be eligible for listing on the Register. We are also coordinating with the appropriate Tribal entity or the Tribal Historic Preservation Offices for the Shoshone Bannock Tribe and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, to determine if there are any tribal historic or cultural interests within the project area.
TRIBAL TREATY RIGHTS AND INTERESTS: Federal agencies acknowledge the federal trust responsibility arising from treaties, statues, executive orders and the historical relations between the United States and American Indian Tribes. The federal government has a unique trust relationship with federally recognized American Indian Tribes, including the Shoshone Bannock Tribe and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes. The Corps has a responsibility and obligation to consider and consult on potential effects to Tribal rights, uses and interests. The Corps further recognizes there may be a need for additional and on-going consultation.
ENDANGERED SPECIES: No listed threatened or endangered species or designated critical habitats are known to exist in the project area. Coordination is currently being conducted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS/NOAA Fisheries Service) to determine if the activity will have any effect on species designated as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, or their critical habitat, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 844).
ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, as amended by the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 1996, requires all Federal agencies to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service on all actions or proposed actions, permitted, funded or undertaken by the agency that may adversely affect Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). No EFH species or EFH species are known to use the project area. Preliminarily, we have determined the described activity would have no effect EFH.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT: Preliminary review indicates the proposed activities will not require preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement. Comments provided will be considered in preparation of an Environmental Assessment.
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. This decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefit 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 the cumulative effects thereof; among those are conservation, economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historic 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, consideration of property ownership and in general, the needs and welfare of the people. In addition, our evaluation will include application of the EPA Guidelines (40 CFR 230) as required by Section 404(b)(1) of the Clean Water Act.
CONSIDERATION OF PUBLIC COMMENTS: The Corps of Engineers is soliciting comments from the general public; local, state and federal agencies and officials, Tribal entities 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 of Engineers to determine whether to issue, modify, condition or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this decision, comments are used to assess impacts on 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.
PUBLIC HEARING: Any person may request in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this proposed activity. Requests for a public hearing shall state specific reasons for holding a public hearing. A request may be denied if substantive reasons for holding a hearing are not provided or if there is otherwise no valid interest to be served.
COMMENT & REVIEW PERIOD: Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the proposed activity, which will become a part of the record and will be considered in the final decision.
Please mail all comments to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Walla Walla District
Boise Regulatory Office
ATTN: Eric M. Gerke
720 Park Boulevard, Suite 245
Boise, Idaho 83712-7757
eric.m.gerke@usace.army.mil
Comments should be received no later than the comment due date of July 14, 2019, as indicated on this notice, to receive consideration.
Kelly J. Urbanek
Chief, Regulatory Division
Walla Walla District