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City of Lebanon seeks Corps of Engineers permit to impact wetlands at Lebanon Municipal Airport

Published Sept. 23, 2014

CONCORD, Mass. – The city of Lebanon is seeking a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District to conduct work in waters of the U.S. in conjunction with work proposed at the Lebanon Municipal Airport in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The purpose of the proposed work is to remove obstructions, to improve safety and to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements at the airport located at 55 Airpark Road in Lebanon. The proposed work involves the direct impact to 16,713 square feet of wetlands to construct a service road, install hazard beacons and replace a drainage structure.

 

In addition, the city of Lebanon proposes secondary impacts totaling 8.0 acres to remove trees in forested uplands near intermittent stream channels and to convert 6.49 acres of forested wetland to scrub shrub and emergent wetland for the purpose of removing existing obstructions to navigable airspace.

 

In developing plans for the Lebanon Airport obstruction removal project, the city of Lebanon considered ways to avoid and minimize impacts to U.S. waters, including wetlands. Steps to avoid and minimize impacts that were implemented were the use of a minimal impact articulated concrete block system versus traditional culverts at stream crossing locations for the service road and negotiations with the FAA to only remove above-the-ground obstructions which significantly reduced environmental impacts.

 

Mitigation for the unavoidable impacts is proposed and consists of the preservation of a 34-acre parcel of land in the city of Lebanon to protect vernal pools and other wildlife habitat.

 

The public notice, with more specifics on the proposed work, can be viewed on the Corps website at:  http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx. The application for the federal permit was filed with the Corps of Engineers in compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge or fill of material in U.S. waters, including wetlands. 

 

Public comments on this work proposed by the city of Lebanon (file # NAE-2014-01503) should be forwarded no later than Oct. 23, 2014 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division (ATTN: Michael Hicks), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751. Additional information is available from Permit Project Manager Michael Hicks at 978-318-8157 or toll free 800-343-4789 or 800-362-4367 (if calling from within Massachusetts) or by email to: michael.c.hicks@usace.army.mil.


Contact
Tim Dugan
978-318-8264
cenae-pa@usace.army.mil

Release no. 2014-118