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Berlin Mall LLC seeks Corps of Engineers permit to place fill to construct department store in Berlin

Published Dec. 9, 2014

CONCORD, Mass. The Berlin Mall LLC 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 constructing a department store in Berlin, Vermont.

 

The Berlin Mall LLC proposes to place fill material in a total of 9,474 square feet (0.22 acre) of wetlands adjacent to an unnamed tributary to Stevens Branch in conjunction with the construction of a 55,502-square- foot department store, parking and appurtenant facilities at the Berlin Mall south of Fisher Road in Berlin. Approximately 0.92 acre of wetland was previously filled for the construction of the mall. Total impacts of the Berlin Mall will be 1.14 acres.

 

The purpose of the project is to construct a new department store within the Berlin Mall commercial complex. The project will re-occupy the footprint of fill for a grocery store that was proposed in the mid-1980s but later abandoned. Fills for the proposed/abandoned grocery store impacted about 0.92 acre of wetland. The wetland proposed to be impacted is situated within the footprint of this fill pad. The wetland to be impacted is very low value depressional wet meadow. In that the project is within a previously impacted portion of an existing commercial development, and given the nature of the resources to be impacted, it is extremely unlikely that any alternative site would have a lesser environmental impact.

 

To compensate for unavoidable impacts to waters of the U.S. of the proposed project, the applicant proposes to make a payment to the Vermont In-Lieu Fee Program.  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.

 

The public notice, with more detailed information, can be viewed on the Corps website at

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx.

             

Public comments on this project proposed by the Berlin Mall LLC (File # NAE-2013-2592) should be forwarded no later than Jan. 8, 2015 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Vermont Project Office (ATTN: Marty Abair), 11 Lincoln Street, Room 210, Essex Junction, Vermont 05452. Additional information is available from Permit Project Manager Marty Abair at 802-872-2893 or by email to martha.a.abair@usace.army.mil.


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

Release no. 2014-148