[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 240 (Friday, December 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71125-71126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-24247]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of Engineers


The Release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and the 
Announcement of a Public Hearing for the North Topsail Beach Shoreline 
Protection Project, in North Topsail Beach, Onslow County, NC

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District, 
Wilmington Regulatory Field Office has received a request for 
Department of the Army authorization, pursuant to Section 404 of the 
Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, from the 
Town of North Topsail Beach to nourish approximately 11.1 miles of 
beachfront to protect residential homes and town infrastructures, to 
reposition the New River Inlet channel, and to implement an inlet 
management plan to control the positioning of the new inlet channel, 
and to conduct periodic renourishment events. 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 source 
of the material for the nourishment will be dredged from an offshore 
borrow area and from the repositioning of the inlet. The projected 
amount of material needed to nourish the oceanfront shoreline is 
approximately 3.21 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 New River Inlet; and if necessary, supplemental 
materials from the offshore borrow area. All work will be accomplished 
using a hydraulic 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.

DATES: The Public Hearing will be held at the North Topsail Beach Town 
Hall, located at 2008 Loggerhead Court, off NC Hwy 210, on January 9, 
2007 at 6:30 p.m. Written comments on the Draft EIS will be received 
until January 29, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Copies of comments and questions regarding the Draft EIS may 
be addressed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District, 
Regulatory Division. ATTN: File Number 2005-344-067, P.O. Box 1890, 
Wilmington, NC 28402-1890. Copies of the Draft EIS can be reviewed on 
the Coastal Planning & Engineering homepage at, http://www.coastalplanning.net/projects/temp/ntopsail.html, or contact Ms. 
Gwen Dye, at (910) 251-4494, to receive written or CD copies of the 
Draft EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposed action 
and DEIS can be directed to Mr. Mickey Sugg, Wilmington Regulatory 
Field Office, telephone: (910) 251-4811.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 1. Project Description. 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 that is threatening development and town 
infrastructure. 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 goals and objectives of the project are the following: (1) 
Stabilize 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 over the next thirty years, (4) Reduce or mitigate for 
historic shoreline erosion along 11.1 miles of oceanfront shoreline, 
(5) Improve recreational opportunities, (6) Use beach compatible 
material, (7) Maintain the Town's tax base, and (8) Balance the needs 
of the human environment with the protection of existing natural 
resources.
    The project is divided into three sections; North, South, and 
Central. 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 
inlet material being used to nourish approximately 14,000 linear feet 
of shoreline in the North Section. Construction timeline for Phase One 
will be within the 2008-2009 dredging window. Phase Two would take 
place during the 2010-2011 dredging window using the offshore borrow 
source, and will nourish approximately 5,140 linear feet in the North 
Section. The third phase will place offshore borrow material along 
approximately 11,500 linear feet within the southern part of the 
Central Section, and is proposed during the 2012-2013 dredging window. 
For Phase Four, offshore

[[Page 71126]]

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 2014-2015 
dredging window. The final phase of nourishment will encompass the 
entire South Section, using the offshore borrow site, and will be 
conducted in the 2016-2017 dredging window.
    2. Proposed Action. 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. 
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.
    For the remaining phases, all the material used to nourish the 
beaches will be dredged from an offshore borrow area. The borrow area 
is located approximately 1.5 miles offshore within the Central Section, 
and just southwest of the NC 210 bridge. The site is approximately 482 
acres in size and is divided into two sections: (1) A 459-acre area 
with finer grain size (composite mean grain size of 0.21mm) containing 
approximately 6.19 million cubic yards and (2) a 23-acre area with 
coarser material at a composite mean grain size of 0.33mm encompassing 
approximately 357,000 cubic yards. 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.
    3. Alternatives. 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.
    4. Scoping Process. A public scoping meeting was held on June 5, 
2005 and a Project Delivery Team (PDT) was developed to provide input 
in the preparation of the EIS. The PDT comprised of local, state, and 
federal government officials, local residents and nonprofit 
organizations.
    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 is coordinating 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 Draft EIS has been designed to consolidate both 
NEPA and SEPA processes to eliminate duplications.

    Dated: December 6, 2007.
John E. Pulliam, Jr.,
Colonel, U.S. Army, District Commander.
 [FR Doc. E7-24247 Filed 12-13-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3710-GN-P