Notice of Application for State Water Quality Certification

Public Notice (PN) Date: March 21, 2025       PN Reference Number: POA-2024-00628 v1.0
PN Expiration Date: April 21, 2025                                              Waterway: Pederson Creek

Any applicant for a federal license or permit to conduct an activity that might result in a discharge into waters of the United States, in accordance with Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), must also apply for and obtain certification from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation that the discharge will comply with the CWA and the Alaska Water Quality Standards (18 AAC 70). The scope of certification is limited to the water quality-related impacts of the activity subject to the Federal license or permit (40 CFR 121.3, 18 AAC 15.180).

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[1] for the discharge of dredged and/or fill materials into waters of the United States (WOTUS), 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 a public hearing with respect to water quality, submit comments via (preferred method) DEC website https://dec.alaska.gov/commish/public-notices/ or email to the DEC email address: DEC-401Cert@alaska.gov with the subject line referencing Public Notice Reference Number: POA-2024-00628 v1.0 or on or before the public notice expiration date listed above.

Applicant: RH Development, LLC, Richard Harris, PO Box 32403, Juneau, AK 99803, (907) 723-4791; rharris@rhdalaska.net

Agent: proHNS, LLC, Christopher Bydlon, PO Box 33322 Juneau, AK 99803; (907) 780-4004; chris@prohns.com.

Project Name: USS 2386 Development

Dates of the proposed activity is planned to begin and end: 07/01/2025 to 12/31/2026

Location: The proposed activity is located within Section 26, T. 40S, R. 65E, Copper River Meridian, in the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska—Project Site (Latitude, Longitude): 58.375808, -134.62590.

Purpose: This project's purpose is to create high-density housing in the City and Borough of Juneau. The overall development will provide approximately 30 residential dwelling units, as well as a common/shared driveway, shared guest parking, and utilities (water, sewer & power) to support the residential development.

Description of Proposed Work: This project would fill 2.35 acres of wetlands with 7,203 cubic yards of shot rock/gravel and 379 cubic yards of asphalt to create fill pads for constructing 30 residential dwelling units, including driveways, utilities, and related infrastructure. Additional work would include rerouting 3,145 linear feet of existing stream through 1,134 linear feet of open ditching and 86 linear feet of culvert pipe.

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.

1. Avoidance: This project has avoided wetlands, to the maximum extent possible first by site selection. The developer has searched for quality buildable land available in the Juneau area, which has the least amount or a lower grade of wetlands. In Juneau, there is little to no land available that is not encompassed with wetlands. There are less expensive properties that entail much more valuable wetlands than the site we have chosen. Secondly the access point (driveway) location was selected on the southeast portion of the lot where the site has previously been disturbed to construct the driveway to 10635 Glacier Hwy. and where the most significant area of mapped uplands exists. Thirdly the design of the building pad has been configured as such to prevent filling of the most significant stream that runs adjacent to Glacier Hwy. on the northeast side of the lot.
2. Minimization: Our project team has minimized unavoidable impacts on wetlands through a long process of searching for a viable building site. Our proposed project will allow for high-density housing with more units to be created on less wetlands and acreage. Several other Juneau area housing projects such as single-family homes are utilizing much more acreage of land to develop fewer housing units. Our project will provide up to 38 housing units (33 shown on the conceptual plan that is attached) on only 2.35 acres of wetlands, minimizing the impacts to wetlands and the environment area-wide. The building pad and development layout have been designed to minimum CBJ setback, parking, and driveway standards. The layout has been optimized to be as efficient as possible with little to no wetland-fill area not being used for a specific purpose as part of the development. To minimize the impacts on the minor streams that will be disturbed by the proposed fill the design includes rerouting those channels through new drainage channels on the property and connecting them back into their receiving channel as quickly as possible.
3. Mitigation: As you will see on our attached “Plan View” we have avoided the wetlands and the larger more valuable stream bed as much as possible, while still meeting the access and drainage requirements for the City and Borough of Juneau. We hope our efforts to minimize and avoid adverse impacts on the ecosystem combined with the lower functioning value of the wetlands affected by our project will require no compensatory mitigation.

After reviewing the application, the Department will evaluate whether the activity will comply with applicable water quality requirements (any limitation, standard, or other requirement under sections 301, 302, 306, and 307 of the CWA, any Federal and state laws or regulations implementing those sections, and any other water quality-related requirement of state law). The Department may certify (or certify with conditions) with reasonable assurance the activity and any discharge that might result will comply with water quality requirements. The Department also may deny or waive certification.

The permit application and associated documents are available for review. To inquire about or 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 Mike Kruzinski at 907-334-0884, Mike.Kruzinski@alaska.gov or TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711 at least 3 days prior to the expiration/closure date of this public notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.