PUBLIC NOTICE
Application for Permit
Issue Date: November 13, 2024
Expiration Date: December 13, 2024
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers No: NWP-2000-320
30-Day Notice
Interested parties are hereby notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District (Corps) has received an application for a Department of the Army permit for certain work in waters of the United States, as described below and shown on the attached drawings. The Corps is soliciting comments on the proposed work.
Applicant: Timberhill Partners, LLC
Attention: Robert Wood
P.O. Box 13969
Salem, Oregon 97309
Email: rob@centurybuilds.com
Telephone: (503) 589-9797
Applicant’s Agent: Pacific Habitat Services
Attention: John van Staveren
9450 SW Commerce Circle #180
Wilsonville, Oregon 97070
Email: jvs@pacifichabitat.com
Telephone: (503) 570-0800
Location: The project is located North of 2600 NW Century Drive, in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon. The site is in Section 22C of Township 11 South, Range 5 West.
Latitude and Longitude: 44.596207° North, 123.282622° West.
Waterway: A total of 2.56 acres of wetlands and 80 linear feet of a stream tributary have been delineated on the project site. The project would occur in Wetland T, Wetland U, and Channel 1.
Project Purpose: The applicant’s stated purpose is to provide medium to high density residential development within the City of Corvallis.
Project Description: The proposed project is the Timberhill Meadows Apartments, a 126-unit multi-family housing development. The project would consist of seven (7) apartment buildings with an associated clubhouse building, parking areas, and stormwater facilities with two stormwater outfall pipes. An approximate 1,000 linear foot road extension of NW Shooting Star Drive and associated water crossing would also be constructed for housing access and ingress/egress route safety.
The applicant would permanently discharge up to 1,313 cubic yards (cy) of fill material for a roadway within an approximate 0.48-acre area of Wetland T. The applicant would also permanently discharge up to 3,342 cy of fill material for a roadway and apartment buildings within an approximate 1.19-acre area of Wetland U. Finally, the applicant would permanently discharge up to 16 cy of fill material within a 0.01-acre area below the ordinary high water mark (OHWM) in Channel 1 to construct a new water crossing for the extension of NW Shooting Star Drive. The water crossing structure would be a four-sided concrete box culvert measuring 55-feet long, 18-feet wide, and 10-feet tall.
Construction access would occur from NW Century Drive and would not extend beyond the limits of construction to extend NW Shooting Star Drive. Equipment staging would be located in the southwestern portion of the proposed project area which would be in uplands outside of Wetlands T and U and greater than 150 feet from Channel 1. Typical construction equipment to be used would include an excavator, backhoe, loader, dump truck, bulldozer, grader, compactor, and paving equipment.
Mitigation: The applicant proposes to avoid and minimize impacts to Wetland T from the project by constructing proprietary stormwater detention facilities beneath the roadway instead of the originally proposed surface detention facility, which avoids approximately 0.3-acre of impact to Wetland T. The applicant has reduced the number of housing units from 138 to 126 housing units to minimize impacts to Wetland T. The applicant would install 6-inch pipes under the proposed roadway through Wetland T to maintain a surface hydrology connection between the remaining portions of the wetland.
The applicant has provided a proposed compensatory mitigation plan to offset losses of waters of the United States that may result from the proposed project. The applicant proposes to purchase mitigation bank credits from an approved wetland mitigation bank in the watershed to offset losses of waters of the United States that may result from the proposed project. The Corps will determine the type and amount of compensatory mitigation necessary to offset environmental losses from the proposed project.
Drawings: Eight (8) drawings are attached and labeled Corps No. NWP-2000-320-6.
Additional Information: The Corps previously issued a public notice for the proposed project on December 20, 2022 (NWP-2000-320-5). On December 7, 2023, the Corps withdrew the applicant’s application for a Department of the Army (DA) permit due to the lack of sufficient information to continue evaluating the proposed project for a DA permit. The proposed project has not changed from the project as described in the December 20, 2022 public notice; however, the Corps determined it was appropriate to reissue a public notice because more than six months have passed since the Corps withdrew the project. The applicant has submitted the additional information requested by the Corps to continue processing their application for a DA permit.
Authority: The proposed project will be evaluated under Section 404, Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344), for discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States.
Clean Water Act Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines: The described discharge will be evaluated for compliance with guidelines promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under authority of Section 404(b)(1) of the Clean Water Act. The 404(b)(1) Guidelines are the substantive criteria used in evaluating discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States. The source of the fill material would be soils generated from onsite grading activities and locally sourced, clean aggregate imported to the site from regional rock quarries.
Water Quality Certification: Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1341) requires applicants to obtain a water quality certification for proposed discharges into waters of the United States. The applicant has obtained a water quality certification for the proposed discharge from the certifying authority as required by Section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act.
Endangered Species: Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1536) requires federal agencies to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and/or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on all actions that may affect a species listed (or proposed for listing) under the ESA as threatened or endangered or that may adversely modify designated critical habitat. The Corps’ preliminary review indicates the described activity may affect an endangered or threatened species or designated critical habitat. The Corps has completed the required consultation under Section 7 of the ESA.
Essential Fish Habitat: Section 305(b)(2) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) as amended (16 U.S.C. 1855), requires Federal agencies to consult with the NMFS on all actions, or proposed actions, permitted, funded, or undertaken by the agency, that may adversely affect Essential Fish Habitat (EFH). The Corps’ preliminary review indicates the described activity would adversely affect EFH at the project location or in the vicinity. The Corps has completed the required consultation under Section 305(b)(2) of the MSA.
Historic Properties/Cultural Resources: Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 U.S.C. 306108), requires Federal agencies to consult with the appropriate State and/or Tribal Historic Preservation Officer to take into account the effects of actions they undertake or permit on historic properties listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The Corps’ preliminary review indicates that intensive archaeological investigations were conducted in 2015 and 2021, and no historic properties were found with the Corps’ permit area. The Corps determined the proposed undertaking would result in no effect/no historic properties affected pursuant to 33 CFR Part 325, Appendix C (7)(b) and 36 CFR § 800.4(d)(1).
This notice has been provided to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, interested Native American Tribes, and other interested parties. If you have information pertaining to cultural resources within the permit area, please provide this information to the Corps’ project manager identified at the end of this notice to assist in a complete evaluation of potential effects.
State and Local Authorizations: The applicant has obtained development approvals from Benton County and the City of Corvallis and a Removal-Fill Permit from the Department of State Lands (DSL) (DSL No. 61334-RF Renewal).
Public Hearing: Any person may request in writing within the comment period specified in this notice that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state with particularity the reasons for holding a public hearing.
Evaluation: The decision whether to issue a permit will be based on an evaluation of the probable impact, including cumulative impacts, of the described activity on the public interest. That decision will reflect the national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources. The benefit, which reasonably may be expected to accrue from the described activity, must be balanced against its reasonably foreseeable detriments. All factors, which may be relevant to the proposal will be considered including the cumulative effects thereof; among those are conservation, economics, aesthetics, general environmental concerns, wetlands, historic properties, fish and wildlife values, flood hazards, floodplain values, land use, navigation, shoreline erosion and accretion, recreation, water supply and conservation, water quality, energy needs, safety, food and fiber production, mineral needs, consideration of property ownership and, in general, the needs and welfare of the people.
The Corps is soliciting comments from the public; Federal, state, and local agencies and officials; Native American Tribes; and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of the proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the Corps to determine whether to issue, modify, condition or deny a permit for this proposal. To make this decision, comments are used to assess impacts on endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and the other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. Comments are also used to determine the need for a public hearing and to determine the overall public interest of the proposed activity.
Submitting Comments: Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the proposed project. Comments may be submitted by conventional mail or email. All comments received will be considered in determining whether authorizing the work would be contrary to the public interest.
Either conventional mail or e-mail comments must include the Corps reference number as shown on page 1 and include the commenter’s name and address. In order to be accepted, e-mail comments must originate from the author’s e-mail account and must include on the subject line of the e-mail message the Corps reference number. All comments received will become part of the administrative record and are subject to public release under the Freedom of Information Act including any personally identifiable information such as names, phone numbers, and addresses.
Additional information about the proposed project may be obtained from the Corps Project Manager listed below. All comments, whether by conventional mail or email, must be received no later than the expiration date of this public notice to ensure consideration. Comments should be submitted to the following mailing address or email address:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Regulatory Branch
Michael Neal, Regulatory Project Manager
P.O. Box 2946
Portland, Oregon 97208-2946
Email: michael.t.neal@usace.army.mil
Telephone: (503) 808-4380