Agenda Item Name:
Title
Wetland mitigation and monitoring plan for the Deerhaven Natural Gas Pipeline project
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Presenter:
Stephen Hofstetter, 352-264-6811, Mark Brown, 352-264-6815
Description:
Wetland mitigation and monitoring plan for the construction of a 12-inch natural gas pipeline within an existing pipeline easement in unincorporated Alachua County to service the Deerhaven GRU facilities.
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the Mitigation and Monitoring Plan for the Deerhaven Natural Gas Pipeline project including $48,319 fee-in-lieu mitigation to Alachua County for permanent wetland conversion and wetland buffer impacts.
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Prior Board Motions:
No prior action
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
Revenues of $48,319 are expected into fund 261; this is the fund where timber sales revenue is budgeted. These funds will be incorporated into the FY23 budget.
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Strategic Guide:
Environment
Background:
The Florida Gas Transmission Company LLC (FGT) is constructing a 12-inch natural gas pipeline for a distance of 5.63 miles within its existing Inglis lateral pipeline easement located in northern Alachua County to serve GRU.
The new pipeline is proposed to be installed 15 ft. east of the existing line, so the construction will require extending 25 ft. of additional clearance, which in some areas include forested wetland areas. As a result, 2.9 acres of forested wetland will be cleared for construction; the 2.1 acres located furthest from the pipeline will be allowed to regenerate tree canopy and 0.8 acre closer to the pipeline will be converted and perpetually maintained as non-forested wetland habitat.
The proposed pipeline project has been reviewed by several federal and state regulatory agencies including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), U.S. Fish & Wildlife (USFWS), four divisions of the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Florida Dept. of Historical Resources (FDHR), St. John’s River Water Management District (SJRWMD), and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC). With last year’s USACOE federal wetland delegation combined with the responsibility of reviewing power/energy-related project applications, the FDEP has been the lead state agency conducting the evaluations for proposed wetland impacts and associated mitigation determination and permit authorization for the project. FDEP issued the federal permit on March 23rd and state permit on March 28th, 2022.
Alachua County’s wetland regulatory review and permitting associated with projects located within the unincorporated areas are based on the regulations and criteria stated within the County’s Unified Land Development Code (ULDC, Section 406, Article VI) and Chapter 77 - Water Quality Standards and Management Practices. However, due to a broad and expansive regulatory framework from the federal government, including approval of pipeline siting and construction standards, the County is preempted from requiring additional avoidance and minimization measures of wetland impacts. Since mitigation requirements do not affect the siting of the pipeline, FGT is still required to mitigate for its impacts on wetlands and wetland buffers located within Alachua County.
Mitigation will be required for both the temporal loss of the canopy component of the 2.1 acres of cleared forested wetland habitat allowed to regenerate, and the permanent conversion of 0.8 acre of forested to non-forested wetland habitat. And under Federal and State law, this mitigation will be accomplished through the purchase of 0.96 freshwater forested wetland mitigation credits from the Blackwater Creek Mitigation Bank (in the Wekiva River Watershed).
The county is preempted under Federal law from requiring further avoidance and minimization of wetland impacts. However, wetland buffer encroachments are not required to be directly quantified and mitigated per the State or Federal criteria. Therefore, county staff are recommending fee-in-lieu mitigation for the 1.7 acres of wetland buffer encroachments in the total of $41,137 and $7,182 for the 0.4 acres of permanent forested wetland conversion for a total of $48,319 to Alachua County.
Per Section 77.22 Countywide Wetland Code, an applicant must submit mitigation proposals to the Alachua County BOCC in the form of a Mitigation and Monitoring Plan and final BOCC approval of the Plan must be secured prior to any development activity within wetlands or wetland buffers.