Gastineau Channel Heumann Chilkat Vistas Residential Subdivision, Notice of Application for State Water Quality Certification

Notice of Application for State Water Quality CertificationPN Reference Number: POA-2019-00066-M2 v2.0 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=Rt7jF9raD 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 S5, T41S, R67E; Copper River Meridian in Juneau, Alaska. Project Site (Latitude, Longitude): 58.3454, -134.4900. With potential discharge location into forested wetlands at -134.489499, 58.345860. Purpose: The applicant’s stated purpose is to extend an existing subdivision to allow for nineteen additional single-family residences. Juneau suffers from a severe housing shortage and recent housing needs studies performed by the city have identified need for 100’s of new housing units to create a healthy housing market. Ultimately, this project will be used by the citizens of Juneau to shelter themselves in modern, energy efficient housing. Construction of roadways and utilities are planned to commence during early 2024, with construction of housing to follow later in 2024 through 2027. Aside from the general need for housing in Juneau, the specific layout of this phase of the project is designed to satisfy requirements of the city to provide for a secondary access to the Mountainside Estates Neighborhood. This layout was set out in the settlement agreement attached with this application. The specific need for a secondary access comes from the International Fire Code Appendix D, D106.2, which states that residential projects with more than 200 units require two fire access roads. Mountainside Estates already has over 160 units on a single access and after this phase it would be possible for the unit count to exceed 200. By completing the loop of Mountainside Drive we will also loop the local water system. The current municipal water system that serves the upper reaches of the neighborhood does not meet current fire code requirements for hydrant flow rates. By adding this loop, additional flows will be possible that will greatly increase available hydrant flow rates in the event of a fire. Project Description: The Project proposes to discharge 2,078 cubic yards of shot rock, 403 cubic yards of 2-inch rock, and 113 cubic yards of asphalt into 0.73 acres of wetlands to extend a road by 550 feet for additional residential housing. Several seasonal streams would also be rerouted into storm drains. Phase 3 of the project will extend Mountainside Drive roughly 550’ in length from the intersection at Hillcrest Avenue to where it currently dead ends just past its’ intersection with Robbie Road. Decades ago, a gravel road was roughed in past the current dead-end of Mountainside Drive and drainage was routed either around or under that roadway with culverts. This project would take that drainage and route it into the storm drain system constructed during Phase 2. The purpose of extending Mountainside Drive is to provide frontage to 19 single-family lots. There will also be frontage created for Tract A4. The single family lots will be graded and then building pads and driveways will be created. The exact sizes of the building pads will vary depending on the lot size, topography, and market conditions at time of construction. In general, there are little wetlands found on lots, other than lots 45 and 46. For lots 45 and 46 we propose that we permit clearing the entire site so that we can reinforce any potential sources of erosion with rock during site prep. These lots have been laid out at near the minimum lot size for this zoning district (5200 and 5700 ft^2 vs 5000 minimum) to maximize the amount of housing created relative to wetlands fill. The layout is designed to maximize the use of existing infrastructure in the area as well as comply with the existing sketch plat and subdivision related settlement with the Juneau Planning Commission and Mountainside Estates Neighborhood Association. Wetlands fill associated with the roadway cover 1/3 of an acre. The incremental wetlands fill associated with road building cover roughly 9450 sq ft. Construction of the roadways and housing units will require placement of imported fill. The roads are required to use rock as a base. The roadways will be constructed a 60’ ROW and will include a paved roadway surface, sidewalk on one side, storm drain system and ditching where necessary. The housing units 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 used for roadways will be sourced from Stabler Point Quarry or Hidden Valley. The gravel material used in the right of way will come from the city pit located near Lemon Creek, other sandy material used on private lots will be hauled in from local gravel pits or be used from gravel found on site as available. The area to be developed is drained by a series of seasonal streams which are intersected by a system of man-made ditches that originally date from several decades ago. Drawings attached in this application show the current stream configurations and their planned future status. Generally, the streams will be rerouted into storm drains or ditches when they intersect a roadway. Streams found on building lots will be rerouted and left in open ditches routed between or uphill of houses to ensure that erosion doesn’t damage newly placed materials. 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. 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. a. Avoidance: Given the nature of Southeast Alaska and the temperate rainforest of Juneau, Alaska, it would be difficult to altogether avoid new construction in wetlands. In 2020, the applicant had a wetland delineation conducted for the entire property and discovered significant areas of uplands. The current application for Phase 3 of the property is laid out in a way that places many housing lots entirely on those uplands. As this is an infill, hillside development, many elements of the project design are dictated by topography and existing infrastructure, but where possible the applicant seeks to fully utilize uplands while also making full use of land fronting the roadway that must be constructed to develop any units at all. The primary method of avoidance took place during selection of this phase’s concept and location. After permitting Phase 2, the applicant looked over the property and determined that if they constructed the Mountainside Drive loop, they could create nineteen lots and disturb less than an acre of forested wetlands. b. Minimization: The applicant has minimized impacts through several methods. The first is through site selection of lands that have been previously disturbed and/or have been previously partially developed. 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 Fish and Game in 2018) and are largely comprised as a series of man-made ditches as the result of clear cutting and fill placement operations. The primary type of wetlands found on the tract are previously disturbed second-growth palustrine forested wetlands. When viewed from the highway or by aerial photography, the entire tract was clear cut by previous landowners much more recently than the surrounding areas. During this process, large amounts of the ground were disturbed as evident by the topography and vegetation found in the area. While there are other developable wetlands in this watershed, Richland Manor 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, Richland Manor 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. The applicant has also minimized impacts through their development design. The D-15 zoning of our tract allows for smaller lots than those typically developed in recent Juneau subdivisions. These smaller lots inevitably have shorter driveways, and smaller building pads than what is commonly developed. The single-family building pad and driveway fill areas average just under 2,700 square feet. This is far less than what is typical. Other recent permits in Juneau have included house and driveway related fills that are substantially larger, sometimes over 10,000 square feet for a single home. In addition to the smaller than average footprints for the houses, the small lots also allow for housing to be spaced closer together which results in a greater number of housing units to be constructed per area of roadway constructed. Impacts to waters of the United States 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 the civil construction work, and they will consult with engineers during the project regarding storm water issues throughout the project when necessary. c. Compensatory Mitigation: The applicant does not propose compensation for unavoidable impacts to the waters of the United States. Through both our site selection and project design process, we 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. We intend to partially solve that problem through the subdivision of Chilkat Vistas. This permit would allow for development of 19 single family units. Generally, they note 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. The applicant will provide a variety of housing options to address a broad swath of housing needs and do so in a space-efficient manner. 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 NoticeThe 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.