Public Notice 2021-11-23 (401 Program)

November 23, 2021

TO:             DEQ-DWR-Wetlands-Public Listserv

FROM:        Paul Wojoski, N.C. Division of Water Resources, 401 and Buffer Permitting Branch

RE:             Clarification of USGS National Map and Clarification of “necessary infrastructure” as cited in the Goose Creek (15A NCAC 02B .0607), Neuse (15A NCAC 02B .0714), Randleman (15A NCAC 02B .0724) and Tar-Pamlico (15A NCAC 02B .0734) Buffer Rules

The purpose of this Public Notice is outlined below. This notice is available electronically at http://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/water-resources-permi….

I.    Clarification of the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Map as used in the above referenced buffer rules:

The above cited buffer rules state that “A surface water shall be subject to this Rule if the feature is approximately shown on any of the following references:  The United States Geologic Survey’s (USGS) National Map available online at http://www.usgs.gov/core-science-sytems/national-geospatial-program/national-map; or”

At the time the rules were adopted by the Environmental Management Commission they referenced the USGS National Map and website which included the National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution data at 1:24,000 scale.  However, at this time the USGS National Map and website cited in the rules includes additional scales and hydrography data. The Division is issuing this Notice to clarify the data that shall be used for implementation of the above referenced rules is the National Hydrography Dataset High Resolution data at 1:24,000 scale.  When using the National Map viewer found online at the updated website: https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ the Hydrography Dataset High Resolution data at 1:24,000 scale is available at Zoom levels 12 through 15.  Maps above or below these zoom levels should not be used for implementation of the buffer rules referenced above.  

II.    Clarification of “necessary infrastructure” as used in the above referenced buffer rules:

The above cited buffer rules use the term “necessary infrastructure” within the Residential Properties category listed within the Table of Uses.  The term “necessary infrastructure” means any utilities to the house, a driveway, a garage and porch access to the front of house.  Decks may be determined to be necessary if the back of the house is high enough that a deck with stairs is required to access the backyard, provided that the deck and stairs “are designed to minimize encroachment into the riparian buffer”.