CONCORD, Mass. – Gregory Kulpinski of VVK Realty, 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 maintaining and repairing a pier, adding floating docks and moorings and doing other work in Buzzards Bay at 1494 E. Rodney French Boulevard in New Bedford, Mass.

The project is designed to improve access between navigable waters of Buzzards Bay and additionally provide public access through the creation of a contiguous shoreline access between the subject property and adjacent properties. The purpose of the project is to maintain existing waterfront infrastructure, improve access to the site for transient boaters through moorings and floating docks, and to renovate and restore the business on site. Floating docks would serve as the only transient docking from Clark’s Point to the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier to be safely accessible throughout the entirety of the tide cycle.

The work involves maintenance and rehabilitation activities to a previously permitted 140-foot by 10-foot pier within the footprint of the existing structure. The pilings will be replaced as well as timber structural members, decking and railings. These repairs will be made from shore or by work barge. In order to allow for access and safe passage for recreational boaters at all tides, the applicant is proposing to add 3,400 square feet of floating docks with a reconfiguration zone, two 175 square feet of gangway systems north and south of the existing pier, and installing 12 moorings with helical anchors. Further work to structures, parking areas, and public access are located outside of Corps jurisdiction.

The project will establish a reconfiguration zone that may impact up to 0.8 acre of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and a mooring field that will occupy approximately 5.5 acres of EFH for various species and life stages. The project area consists of hard bottom substrate with adjacent eelgrass outside of the immediate project area. Loss of this habitat may adversely affect these species. However, the Corps has made a preliminary determination that the site-specific adverse effect will not be substantial. Further consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding EFH conservation recommendations is being conducted and will be concluded prior to the final permit decision.

The public notice, with more specifics on the work proposed by Gregory Kulpinski of VVK Realty, LLC, can be viewed on the Corps website at  www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx. The application for the federal permit was filed with the Corps in compliance with Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which provides for federal regulation of any work in, or affecting navigable waters of the U.S.

Public comments on this work proposed by VVK Realty, LLC, (file # NAE-2015-02173) should be forwarded no later than June 8, 2016 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Regulatory Division (ATTN: Joshua Helms), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA 01742-2751. Additional information is available from Permit Project Manager Joshua Helms at 978-318-8221 or toll free 800-343-4789 or 800-362-4367 (if calling from within Massachusetts) or by email to: joshua.m.helms@usace.army.mil.