Public Notice (PN) Date: October 27, 2023 PN Reference Number: POA-2019-00066-M3 v2.0
PN Expiration Date: November 27, 2023 Waterway: Gastineau Channel
Any applicant for a federal license or permit to conduct an activity that might result in a discharge into navigable waters, in accordance with Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1977 (PL95-217), also must apply for and obtain certification from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that the discharge will comply with the CWA, the Alaska Water Quality Standards, and other applicable State laws.
Notice is hereby given that a request for a CWA §401 Water Quality Certification of a Department of the Army Permit application, Corps of Engineers’ PN Reference Number indicated above has been received for the discharge of dredged and/or fill materials into waters of the United States (WOUS), including wetlands, as described below, and shown on the project figures/drawings. The public notice and related project figures/drawings are accessible from the DEC website at https://dec.alaska.gov/water/wastewater/.
To comment on the project or request for a public hearing with respect to water quality, submit comments electronically via the DEC public notice site at https://water.alaskadec.commentinput.com?id=5GKegi9BM on or before the public notice expiration date listed above.
Applicant: Chilkat Vistas LLC, Michael Heumann, po box 34024 Juneau, AK 99803; (971) 261-8014; chilkatvistas@gmail.com.
Project Name: Gastineau Channel Heumann Chilkat Vistas Residential Subdivision
Location: The proposed activity is located within Section 8, T. 41 S, R. 67 E; Copper River Meridian; in Juneau, Alaska. Project Site (Latitude, Longitude): 58.34540, -134.49000. With potential discharge location into forested wetlands -134.489499, 58.345860.
Purpose: The purpose of this proposed project is to develop a tract of land that was subdivided as part of phase two of the project. The project is designed to allow for multi-family residential development, up to 35 standard units, to help meet the current need for housing.
Project Description: The proposed project will extend a driveway from Hooter Lane through Chilkat Vistas Tract-A3 and construct parking and a building pad for 45 apartment units. The overall project footprint is roughly 1.25 acres with ~33,000 ft^2 of previously impacted wetlands to be cleared and 18,700 ft^2 of those previously impacted wetlands to be filled with rock for a future building and driveway/parking. The rest of the cleared wetlands will be regraded with native materials. The applicant’s intention is to create a berm, where possible, in order to provide visual and noise separation between this project and the existing neighborhood (as per CBJ Comprehensive Plan Development Guideline 10.4-DG1 (B)). The berm will be vegetated to ensure soil remains stabilized. There is an existing pile of organics (mostly stumps/logs) from prior clearing of the property that took place several decades ago that is ~1450 CY in volume. The applicant expects to enlarge the berm with up to 1,100 additional CY of stumps/logs/soil excavated during construction of the building and parking pads.
The project is on a sloping hillside and has been designed as a series of slopes and pads, the berm will be uphill of the parking and driveway pad, then a slope between that pad and the building pad. The exact widths and heights of the slopes and pads will vary based on the existing topography. Construction of the parking area and housing units will require placement of imported fill. The parking and building pad will use rock fill as a base course. The driveway and parking spaces are the minimum width allowable, 24’ of driveway and 18’ deep for parking space. The housing units and walkways will generally require a combination of rock and gravel fill depending on the soil conditions and topography of the lots. Additionally, buried utilities such as water, sewer, electrical and storm drain systems will all be bedded in sandy material. Materials will be excavated and placed with heavy equipment and outside materials will be hauled in by truck. The rock and gravel will be sourced from Stabler Point Quarry or Hidden Valley.
The area to be developed is drained by sheet flow and a man-made ditch that originally dates from several decades ago. Drawings attached in this application show the current ditch and its planned future status. Generally, the ditch will be moved uphill and the parking lot placed into storm drain as needed. In addition to this drainage configuration work, there will also be care taken to manage storm water during construction. A Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) will be created/updated by our civil engineers prior to beginning construction activities. That plan will detail the range of potential methods we will use to manage construction activities to prevent discharges of pollutants into wetlands and other waters of the U.S.
The project proposes to discharge 1,384 cubic yards of shot rock, 1,069 cubic yards of organics/soils into 0.76 acres of wetlands to construct additional residential housing Specifically the work would include:
- 0.43 acres of wetlands to be filled with rock for the housing development and associated structures.
- 0.32 acres of wetlands to be regraded with native soils to construct a berm for privacy.
Applicant Proposed Mitigation: The applicant proposes the following mitigation measures to avoid, minimize, and compensate for impacts to waters of the United States from activities involving discharges of dredged or fill material.
- Avoidance: The primary method of avoidance took place during selection of this phase's concept and location. The project is located on a large, gently sloping tract of land that was subdivided as part of Chilkat Vistas Phase 2. The tract contains wetlands on its eastern and western edges, but has a strip of uplands down the middle. They have designed the project to be a dense development centered upon this strip of uplands to avoid impacting wetlands as much as possible.
- Minimization: The applicant has minimized impacts through several methods. The primary one is through the project layout. Tract-A3 is over two acres in size but they have minimized the footprint of this project so that it will disturb less than one acre of wetlands, with 18,700' being filled with rock, all while developing the lot to its maximum zoned density. The lot contains wetlands on its east and west sides, the applicant has sited the development to be centered on the strip of uplands that occupies the middle of the lot. The project makes use of two and three story construction to minimize the building footprint. The project also has parking on both sides of the driveway to minimize the length of driveway necessary to serve the parking area. The rest of the impacts will involve clearing wetlands to manage drainage and then regrading those cleared wetlands with onsite materials.
Aside from minimizing the project footprint, impacts are minimized through site selection. Chilkat Vistas Subdivision is located within the Vanderbilt Watershed, but it does not drain into Vanderbilt Creek. The natural drainage of the site is through several culverts under Glacier Highway to the north-east portion of Twin Lakes. The streams that exist on the property are not anadromous (verified by Alaska Department of Fishing Game in 2018) and are largely comprised as a series of man-made ditches as the result of clear cutting and fill placement operations. While there are other developable wetlands in this watershed, Chilkat Vistas Subdivision is highly desirable for development due to its gentle topography and generally lower value wetlands than the surrounding more pristine forest, low-lying estuaries and meadows. Further, this tract already has road access to the site, reducing the impact from construction of new roads and utilities that other areas in the watershed would need. When accounting for these factors, as well as the high-density zoning (15 units/acre) found on the tract, Chilkat Vistas represented the best opportunity to deliver a substantial amount of housing for the Southern Juneau market while limiting the amount of high value wetlands disturbed.
Impacts to waters of the U.S. will also be minimized through usage of a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). The use of a SWPPP means that off-site impacts to wetlands will be minimized through a variety of best management practices that minimize sediment and other pollutants leaving our site. The SWPPP will be prepared by the engineering firm who designs the rest of our civil construction work and the applicant will consult with engineers during the project regarding storm water issues throughout the project when necessary.
- Compensatory Mitigation: The applicant does not propose compensation for unavoidable impacts to the waters of the U.S. Through both our site selection and project design process, they have made great effort to create the maximum amount of benefit for the minimum amount of loss in wetland functionality. Juneau has a known shortage of buildable land and several studies have concluded that without substantially more housing being created, Juneau residents will continue to suffer from an unhealthy housing market. The applicant intends to partially solve that problem through this project. This permit would allow for development of 35 multi-family units. Generally, the applicant notes that it's difficult to create more housing in Juneau without impacting wetlands. The wetlands found on our site are of a lower quality than many other wetlands found in the Vanderbuilt Creek Watershed area due to more recent disturbance and topography.
After reviewing the application, the Department may certify there is reasonable assurance the activity, and any discharge that might result, will comply with the CWA, the Alaska Water Quality Standards, and other applicable State laws. The Department also may deny or waive certification.
The permit application and associated documents are available for review. For inquires or to request copies of the documents, contact dec-401cert@alaska.gov, or call 907-269-6285.
Disability Reasonable Accommodation Notice
The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. If you are a person with a disability who may need special accommodation in order to participate in this public process, please contact ADA Coordinator Megan Kohler at 907-269-4198 or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 prior to the expiration date of this public notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.