Engineers Corps May 19, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice of intent (NOI) for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA)Louisiana, Caminada Headland and Shell Island Restoration Feasibility Study (LCA Caminada-Shell Island Study) supersedes the notices of intent for the Barrier Shoreline Restoration in Lafourche, Jefferson, and Plaquemines Parishes, Louisiana, a Component of the Louisiana Coastal Area, LouisianaEcosystem Restoration, Barrier Island Restoration, Marsh Creation, and River Diversion, Barataria Basin Feasibility Study (Barrier Shoreline Restoration Study); and the Wetland Restoration and/or Creation in the Barataria Basin, Louisiana, a Component of the Louisiana Coastal Area, LouisianaEcosystem Restoration, Barrier Island Restoration, Marsh Creation, and River Diversion, Barataria Basin Feasibility Study (LCA Wetland Restoration Study). This notice of intent addresses the Caminada Headland and Shell Island reaches of the Barataria barrier shoreline that is presently addressed in the NOI for the Barrier Shoreline Restoration Study and also addresses the Chenier Unit marsh creation feature that is presently addressed in the NOI for the Wetland Restoration Study.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Wilmington District, Wilmington Regulatory Field Office has received a request for Department of the Army authorization, pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbor Act, from the Town of North Topsail Beach to nourish approximately 7.25 miles of beachfront to protect residential homes and town infrastructures, and to implement an inlet management plan with the New River Inlet to control the positioning of the inlet channel. The new channel will be centrally located perpendicular to the adjacent shorelines of North Topsail Beach and Onslow Beach. The proposed source of the material for the nourishment will be dredged from offshore borrow area(s) and from the repositioning of the inlet. The placement of beach fill along the Town's shoreline would result in the initial widening of the beach by 50 to 100 feet. The widened beach would be maintained through a program of undefined periodic beach nourishment events with the material extracted primarily from the New River Inlet. The ocean shoreline in the Town of North Topsail Beach encompasses approximately 11.1 miles along the northern end of Topsail Island. Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is developing a Federal shoreline protection plan for parts of North Topsail Beach. This Federal plan will only cover 3.85 miles of the southern part of the beach. The remaining 7.25-miles of North Topsail Beach, with the exception of two small areas, is located within the Coastal Barrier Resource System (CBRS), which prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds that would encourage development. Therefore, the Town is pursuing to develop this non-Federal shoreline protection plan that will preserve existing development and infrastructure along the 7.25 miles of shoreline. The channel through New River Inlet has been maintained by the COE for commercial and recreational boating interest for over 55 years. The COE is authorized to maintain the channel in the inlet to a depth of 6 feet mean low water (mlw) over a width of 90 feet.