[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Page 26535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10263]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers


Notice of Availability of Supplemental Information Report for 
Berryessa Creek Element, Coyote and Berryessa Creek, Flood Control 
Project, Santa Clara County, CA

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

ACTION: Public notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has prepared a 
Supplemental Information Report (SIR) to update and clarify the General 
Reevaluation Report/Environmental Impact Statement (GRR/EIS) for the 
Berryessa Creek Element of the Coyote and Berryessa Creek, California, 
Flood Control Project (Project) to account for the fact that the 
Project will remove an existing exercise ``pocket park'' and paved 
trail within the Project footprint and will involve in-channel work 
year-round in the absence of substantial rainfall (defined as 0.5 inch 
or greater precipitation forecast by the National Weather Service in 
their 72-hour forecast for the Project area). The removal of the 
existing exercise pocket park facilities was omitted from the original 
GRR/EIS and the clarification regarding in-channel work year-round when 
weather permits (i.e., in the absence of substantial rainfall) is in 
response to informal comments. The USACE has determined that these 
elements do not amount to substantial changes to the proposed action 
and do not constitute significant new circumstances or information 
bearing upon the proposed action or its impacts. Therefore, a 
supplement to the GRR/EIS is not necessary.

ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the SIR send requests to Ms. Amanda 
Cruz, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, 1455 Market 
Street, 17th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-1398 or email: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Cruz, (415) 503-6955.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The March 2014 Final GRR/EIS for the 
Berryessa Creek Element, and its accompanying CWA Sec.  404(b)(1) 
alternatives analysis, recommended an earthen trapezoidal channel 
section with varying bottom width and 2H:1V side slopes that provides 
protection against the one-percent annual chance exceedance flood event 
from I-680 in San Jose to Calaveras Boulevard in Milpitas (hereinafter 
``Project''). These environmental analyses determined the Project to be 
the National Economic Development Plan (NED), the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmentally preferable alternative, 
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Sec.  15126.6(e)(2) 
environmentally superior alternative, and the CWA Sec.  404 Least 
Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPA). The USACE 
Director of Civil Works signed the Record of Decision (ROD) on May 29, 
2014.
    The SIR serves to update the Project description and impact 
analysis in the GRR/EIS to include the removal of the pocket exercise 
park facilities and clarify that in-channel construction may occur 
year-round in the absence of substantial rainfall. The Project as 
described in the GRR/EIS would remove an existing pocket park with 
permanent outdoor exercise equipment and about 460 linear feet of paved 
trail located on property owned by the Project's non-Federal sponsor, 
the Santa Clara Valley Water District, in order to allow for 
construction of the widened channel. The existence of these features 
and the fact that they would be removed by the Project were 
inadvertently omitted from the GRR-EIS. Additionally, the GRR-EIS 
stated that ``construction activities would occur primarily during the 
dry season from May to the end of October'' and included a mitigation 
measure stating that best management practices for the Project would 
include preparation and implementation of ``an Erosion and Sediment 
Control Plan consistent with RWQCB policy and guidelines'' that would 
require contractors to ``limit in-channel construction to the low-flow 
period between April 15 and October 31 to minimize soil erosion.'' This 
SIR clarifies the measure to specifically state that construction 
activities may occur year-round with suspension of in-channel work and 
implementation of a Project-specific Rain Event Action Plan (REAP) if 
0.5 inch or greater precipitation is forecast by the National Weather 
Service in their 72-hour forecast for the Project area.
    The SIR evaluates the potential effects on environmental resources 
of removing the exercise pocket park and allowing in-channel work year-
round in the absence of substantial rainfall. Effects on the following 
environmental resources were considered: Air quality; climate change; 
water resources and quality; fisheries; biological resources; 
topography and soils; geology and seismicity; cultural resources; land 
use and socioeconomics; traffic and circulation; noise; recreation and 
public access; aesthetics and visual resources; hazardous, toxic, and 
radiological waste; growth-inducing effects; and cumulative effects. 
Based on this analysis, the USACE has determined that removing the 
exercise pocket park and allowing in-channel work year-round in the 
absence of substantial rainfall will not result in new significant 
environmental impacts not already identified in the GRR/EIS.
    Because removing the exercise pocket park features and allowing in-
channel work year-round in the absence of substantial rainfall will not 
result in new significant environmental impacts, these elements do not 
amount to substantial changes to the proposed action and do not 
constitute significant new circumstances or information bearing upon 
the proposed action or its impacts. Therefore, the USACE concludes that 
preparation of a supplement to the GRR/EIS, as defined in section 
1502.9(c) of the CEQ Regulations, is not necessary. The Project remains 
the environmentally preferable alternative.

John C. Morrow,
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, District Engineer.
[FR Doc. 2016-10263 Filed 5-2-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3720-58-P