[Federal Register: January 29, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 19)]
[Notices]               
[Page 4791-4793]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29ja10-39]                         

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers

 
Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) 
for the Relocation of New River Inlet Ebb Tide Channel Between North 
Topsail Beach and Onslow Beach, and the Placement of the Dredged 
Material Along the Ocean Shoreline of North Topsail Beach in Onslow 
County, NC

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) 
Wilmington District, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office announces the 
availability of a Regulatory Program Final EIS for the North Topsail 
Beach Shoreline Protection Project. The applicant, The Town of North 
Topsail Beach, is requesting Department of the Army authorization, 
pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the 
Rivers and Harbor Act, to protect residential homes and town 
infrastructures by nourishing approximately 11.1 miles of beachfront 
via repositioning the New River Inlet channel, implementing an inlet 
management plan to control the positioning of the new inlet channel, 
and utilizing an offshore borrow area. The new channel will be 
centrally located and the proposal will be to maintain that position, 
which essentially will be located perpendicular to the adjacent 
shorelines of North Topsail Beach and Onslow Beach. The proposed 
sources of the material for the beach nourishment will come from the 
repositioning of the inlet and an identified offshore borrow area. The 
projected amount of material needed to initially nourish the oceanfront 
shoreline is approximately 3.11 million cubic yards. The placement of 
beach fill along the Town's shoreline would result in the initial 
widening of the beach by 50 to 100 feet. The widened beach would be 
maintained through a program of periodic beach nourishment events with 
the material extracted from the maintenance of the newly relocated 
channel. All work will be accomplished using a hydraulic cutterhead 
dredge. The proposed project construction will be conducted in a five 
phase approach to correspond with the Town's anticipated annual 
generation of funds.
    The ocean shoreline of the Town of North Topsail Beach encompasses 
approximately 11.1 miles along the northern end of Topsail Island. Of 
the 11.1 miles, approximately 7.25-miles of the shoreline in the 
project area, with the exception of two small areas, is located within 
the Coastal Barrier Resource System (CBRS), which prohibits the 
expenditure of Federal funds that would encourage development.
    The channel through New River Inlet has been maintained by the COE 
for commercial and recreational boating interest for over 55 years. The 
COE is authorized to maintain the channel in the inlet to a depth of 6 
feet mean low water (mlw) over a width of 90 feet, following the 
channel thalweg.

DATES: The Public commenting period on the FEIS will end on March 1, 
2010. Written comments must be received at the address listed below no 
later than 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: Copies of comments and questions regarding the FEIS may be 
addressed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District, 
Regulatory Division, ATTN: File Number 2005-0344, 69 Darlington Avenue, 
Wilmington, NC 28403.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposed action 
and the FEIS can be directed to Mr. Mickey Sugg, Wilmington Regulatory 
Field Office, telephone: (910) 251-4811, facsimile (910) 251-4025, or 
e-mail at mickey.t.sugg@saw02.usace.army.mil.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Town of North Topsail Beach, located 
along the north-northeast 11.1 miles of Topsail Island in North 
Carolina, is proposing to nourish the oceanfront shoreline and 
reposition New River Inlet channel as a means to address a severe 
erosion problem in order to preserve the Town's tax base, protect its 
infrastructure, and maintain its tourist oriented economy. The entire 
stretch of the Town's shoreline has experienced a considerable amount 
of erosion over the last 20 years due primarily to the impact of 
numerous tropical storms and hurricanes during the mid to late 1990's 
and due to impacts of the uncontrolled movement of the main ebb channel 
in New River Inlet. The Town has stated that the shoreline erosion and 
residual effects of the storms have left North Topsail Beach in an 
extremely vulnerable position with regard to its ocean front 
development and infrastructure. They have estimated that over $250 
million in property tax value as well as roads, water and sewer lines, 
and other utilities are at risk. The stated overall goals and 
objectives of the project are the following: (1) Long-term 
stabilization of the oceanfront shoreline located immediately south of 
New River Inlet, (2) Provide short-term protection to the 31 imminently 
threatened residential structures over the next zero to five years, (3) 
Provide long-term protection to Town infrastructure and approximately 
1,200 homes, (4) Reduce or mitigate for property damage associated with 
shoreline erosion along 11.1 miles of oceanfront shoreline of North 
Topsail Beach, (5) Improve recreational opportunities along the Town's 
oceanfront shoreline, (6) Ensure material utilized for shore protection 
is beach compatible, (7) Maintain the Town's tax base by protecting 
existing development and infrastructure on the oceanfront shoreline of 
North Topsail Beach, and (8) Balance the needs of the human environment 
by minimizing and

[[Page 4792]]

avoiding negative effects to natural resources.
    The project is divided into three sections; North, Central, and 
South. The North Section starts from the inlet shoulder and runs 
approximately 21,000 linear feet along the ocean shoreline. The Central 
Section is located both north and south of NC Hwy 210/55 Bridge and is 
approximately 16,500 linear feet, while the South Section, which is 
outside of the CBRS designation, includes approximately 20,320 linear 
feet of shoreline. The Town is proposing to undertake the nourishment 
along the 11.1 miles of oceanfront in a five phase approach within a 
dredging window between November 16 and March 31 of any year. The first 
phase will include the relocation of the inlet channel with the dredged 
material being used to nourish approximately 9,000 linear feet of 
shoreline in the North Section. Construction timeline for Phase One 
will be within the 2010-2011 dredging window. Phase Two would take 
place during the 2012-2013 dredging window using the offshore borrow 
source, and will nourish approximately 10,120 linear feet in the North 
Section. The third phase will include an inlet channel maintenance 
event and the use of the offshore borrow material to place material 
along approximately 11,500 linear feet within the southern part of the 
Central Section. This phase is proposed during the 2014-2015 dredging 
window. For Phase Four, offshore material will be used to nourish 6,880 
linear feet of shoreline in the north part of the Central Section and 
part of the southern tip of the North Section. This construction will 
take place in the 2016-2017 dredging window. The final phase of 
nourishment will encompass the entire South Section, using the offshore 
borrow site and material from an inlet channel maintenance event, and 
will be conducted in the 2018-2019 dredging window.
    Within the Town's preferred alternative, the relocation of the 
inlet channel is a main component in the protection of the North 
Section of the project area. The inlet management plan includes the 
repositioning the main ocean bar channel to a more southerly alignment 
along an approximate 150 degree azimuth and maintaining that position 
and alignment approximately every four years. Maintenance events will 
be initiated only when established thresholds have been triggered. 
These maintenance thresholds include the shoaling of 85% of the new 
channel and/or when the thalweg migrates outside of the constructed 
500-foot wide corridor. Initial construction of the new channel and 
subsequent maintenance events will result in a channel width of 500 
feet at -18 foot NAVD depth. The new channel will start within the 
inlet gorge and will extend approximately 3,500 linear feet southeast 
breaching through the ocean bar. The amount of material to be extracted 
during the realignment of the channel is approximately 635,800 cubic 
yards. The composite mean grain size of the dredged material is 
approximately 0.32mm, compared to the native beach material at 0.23mm. 
During additional investigations, it was discovered that an estimated 
91,400 cubic yards of the total extracted material is not beach 
compatible, consisting of clay and shell. This incompatible material 
will be relocated during the dredging operation to an existing dredge 
disposal island located at the intersection of the New River and the 
Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, approximately 3.0 miles north of the 
project site.
    To supplement the initial beach nourishment construction, material 
will be dredged from an offshore borrow area. The borrow area is 
located directly off of the Central Section, and just southwest of the 
NC Highway 210 bridge. Due to the presence of nearby hardbottom areas, 
the site is irregularly shaped, with its closest point to the shoreline 
at approximately 0.4 miles and its furthest offshore point at 1.6 
miles. The site is approximately 482 acres in size and is divided into 
16 cuts to separate coarse and fine materials. The division of the 
borrow site into coarser and finer materials resulted in the use of the 
Point of Intercept Concept or ``perched beached'' for the placement of 
material in areas where nearshore hard bottom communities were present. 
For nourishment in areas within close proximity to nearshore hard 
bottoms, the beach profiles were designed to use coarser material in 
order to reduce the fill toe of equilibrium.
    The FEIS examines potential impacts to Essential Fish Habitat 
(EFH), Threatened and Endangered Species, and includes a comprehensive 
mitigation and monitoring plan and the implementation of specific 
design measures to minimize potential impacts and to evaluate 
unforeseen effects of the projects. Several components in the plan 
include incorporating the Point of Intercept design to reduce the 
equilibrium beach profile for areas where hardbottom habitats are in 
close proximity of the shoreline, incorporation of a monitoring plan to 
verify the Point of Intercept design to ensure its effectiveness, 
compliance to North Carolina Sediment Criteria Rule for sand 
compatibility, winter construction period to occur during lower 
biological activities and to avoid nesting turtle season, use of 
hydraulic cutterhead dredge and selected pipeline corridors (which will 
be GPS) to avoid impacts to hardbottom features, monitoring protocol 
during the placement of dredge material onto the beach to comply with 
sand compatibility requirements, implementation of a bird and sea 
turtle monitoring plan, funding of a research initiative for infaunal 
communities conducted by Carteret County Community College, 
implementation of an aerial habitat mapping effort for New River Inlet 
to survey any short- and long-term effects, and the execution of a 
hardbottom monitoring plan which consists of a geophysical survey using 
sidescan sonar, underwater investigations that includes habitat 
characterization and documentation, and sediment monitoring.
    Several alternatives have been identified and evaluated through the 
scoping process, and further detailed description of all alternatives 
is disclosed in Section 3.0 of the Draft EIS. The applicant's preferred 
alternative is to relocate the main ocean bar channel to a southerly 
alignment, implement an inlet management plan, nourish approximately 
11.1 miles of ocean shoreline, and to construct the work in a five 
phase approach.
    The COE has initiated consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service under the Endangered Species Act and the Fish and Wildlife 
Coordination Act, and with the National Marine Fisheries Service under 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act and Endangered Species Act. Additionally, the 
EIS assesses the potential water quality impacts pursuant to Section 
401 of the Clean Water Act, and is coordinated with the North Carolina 
Division of Coastal Management (DCM) to insure the projects consistency 
with the Coastal Zone Management Act. The COE has coordinated closely 
with DCM in the development of the EIS to ensure the process complies 
with State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requirements, as well as the 
NEPA requirements. The Final EIS has been designed to consolidate both 
NEPA and SEPA processes to eliminate duplications.
    Copies of the Final EIS will also be available on our regulatory 
homepage at http://www.saw.usace.army.mil/WETLANDS/. Locate North 
Topsail Beach Shoreline Protection Project under heading ``News from 
the Regulatory Program'', and click on ftp.coastalplanning.net. Type 
the

[[Page 4793]]

username: ntb and password: ftp4me to pull up the document.

Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-1819 Filed 1-28-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P