Public Notice: Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification for Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians 50 Oaks Community Golf Project, El Dorado County, CA
Summary
Opportunity to comment on Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Water Quality Certification for Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians 50 Oaks Community Golf Project, El Dorado County, California.
Details
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 9, received a Section 401 Water Quality Certification request from the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians for the proposed 50 Oaks Golf Project in El Dorado County, California. The applicant proposes to develop a comprehensive golf and entertainment complex comprising a nine-hole golf course, a driving range, a miniature golf facility, and a 16,000-square-foot clubhouse containing a lobby, restaurant, lounge, and retail space. Supporting infrastructure includes a parking lot and a primary entrance road.
The project involves several key hydrologic modifications to facilitate site access, which include: an existing road widening, the replacement of a legacy pipe culvert at Tennessee Creek with two concrete box culverts. Additionally, the project includes the realignment of approximately 1,100 linear feet of an ephemeral tributary to Tennessee Creek. Currently artificially channelized, this feature will be reconstructed into a stable, 1,130-foot reach designed to improve ecological function and bank stability. To enhance site hydrology and mitigate impacts, the applicant proposes the removal of an abandoned, breached earthen dam within the Tennessee Creek floodplain to restore 0.084 acres of wetland habitat.
As the water quality certifying authority for this request, EPA will analyze the discharge from the proposed permit activities to determine if the activity will comply with sections of the Clean Water Act. Then EPA will decide whether to (1) certify as proposed; (2) certify with conditions; (3) deny or (4) waive certification.
Location
The 42.3-acre property is located at 3936 Shingle Springs Drive in the southeast corner of the intersection of Shingle Springs Drive and Interstate 50 at Latitude 38.678247°, Longitude -120.912741°, Shingle Springs, El Dorado County, California.
For Further Information Contact
Fadwa Bouhedda, Wetlands and Oceans Section (WTR-2-2), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105; (415) 972-3787; bouhedda.fadwa@epa.gov.
Supplemental Information
The project involves the discharge of approximately 36 cubic feet of fill material, consisting of pre-cast concrete box culverts and clean soil. This activity represents a one-for-one replacement of the existing pipe culvert and associated legacy fill; therefore, it does not constitute a new or expanded discharge footprint.
Because the proposed box culvert adheres to the existing structure's dimensions, the project will result in no permanent loss of Waters of the U.S. or permanent impacts to Tennessee Creek. To mitigate the 0.008 acre of anticipated temporary impacts, the Tribe will implement upstream stream and wetland restoration. Furthermore, all construction activities will be strictly scheduled to occur while the channel is dry to avoid water quality degradation.