Signet Maritime Corporation has filed an application for a Permit with the Department of Marine Resources requesting permission to conduct regulated activities under the provision of the Coastal Wetlands Protection Law Act.
The applicant is proposing to maintenance dredge a portion of the Pascagoula River and an existing boat slip near 3802 Port River Road in Pascagoula, Jackson County. The proposed channel dredging is 580 feet in length and an average of 60 feet in width from a current depth of 8 feet below Mean Low Water to a final depth of 20 feet below Mean Low Water.
The proposed boat slip dredging is 120 feet in length and 100 feet in width from a current depth ranging from 1.5 feet to 17 feet below Mean Low Water to a final depth of 20 feet below Mean Low Water. A total of 43,435 cubic yards of material is proposed for removal. The applicant has proposed that the dredged material be taken to a Mississippi Beneficial Use Site. The applicant is also proposing to replace 950 feet of bulkhead and construct 150 feet of new bulkhead. Approximately 0.051 acre of non-vegetated state owned waterbottoms will be filled landward of the new and proposed bulkheads.
As mitigation for these impacts, the applicant has proposed widening an existing on-site keyhole boat slip by excavating 12 feet of uplands to create 0.082 acre of new waterbottoms which will be deeded to the State. The applicant has requested two variances to the Guidelines for Regulated Activities in the Mississippi Coastal Program and plans to justify those variances in accordance with Chapter 8, Section 2, Part I.E.2.c.iv.
The first variance is from Chapter 8, Section 2, Part III.D.3, which reads: “ Vertical face structures shall be aligned no further waterward than mean high tide, and constructed so that reflective wave energy does not destroy adjacent wetlands habitat.”
The second variance is from Chapter 8, Section 2, Part III.O.1, which reads: “ Permanent filling of coastal wetlands because of potential adverse and cumulative environmental impacts is discouraged.”
A public hearing for the proposed project will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, September 9, 2013, at the Bolton State Building located at 1141 Bayview Avenue in Biloxi, MS. The public hearing will not be a question and answer session, but will be a medium for concerned parties to make comments about the proposed project for the public record.
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Press Release, August 26, 2013