05-29-2003 Bayport Expansion Review Committee Meeting

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. . . e e Location: The project is located adjacent to the Bayport Ship Channel and Galveston Bay, approximately 30 miles southeast of downtown Houston, in the City of Pasadena, between the cities of Shoreacres and Seabrook, in Harris County, Texas. The project can be located on the U.S.G.S. quadrangle maps entitled "League City, Texas" and "Bacliff, Texas". Approximate UTM coordinates: Zone 15; Easting: 305000; Northing: 3277000. The proposed compensatory mitigation site, the Memorial Tract, is a 173.5-acre tract of land located approximately 0.25 mile southeast of the inter~ection of Red Bluff Road and Bay Area Boulevard, north of Taylor Lake Village and adjacent to Taylor Bayou and Armand Bayou Nature Center, in Harris County, Texas. The proposed compens,atory mitigation area can be located on the U.S.G.S. quadrangle map entitled "League City, Texas". Approximate UTM coordinates: Zone 15; Easting 30"1000; Northing: 3275500. Project Description: The applicant proposes to develop a container/cruise terminal on approximately 1,043 acres in the vicinity of and adjacent to the Bayport Ship Channel. This development would include facilities for docking, loading ,and unloading container and cruise ships, container storage areas, an intermodal yard, warehousing facilities, and properties available for light-industrial development. The container terminal complex would require the construction of approximately 7,000 linear feet of new wharves and berths, container yards, gate facilities, intermodal yards, container freight stations, ancillary and support facilities, and an industrial cq-development area. The cruise terminal complex would require approximately 3,200 linear feet of new wharves and berths, parking areas, a cruise co-development area, and the dredging of a channel access area and a new 1 ,600-foot-diameter cruise ship turning basin. Construction 'of the proposed container and cruise berths to a depth of -40 feet mean low tide with 2 feet of advanced maintenance and overdepth would generate approximately 7,801,000 cubic yards of dredged material. Dredging would be accomplished during four phases over 15 to 20 years. Dredged material would be utilized for berm construction, as fill for facilities construction, and for beneficial use to construct an intertidal marsh. A USACE-approved delineation has verified that the project site contains approximately 19.7 acres of jurisdictional wetlands, 126.7 acres of non-jurisdictional wetlands, and 1.56 acres of intertidal mudflats. The applicant proposes to avoid impacts to a 0.43-acre jurisdictional wetland north of the Bayport Ship Channel. As compensatory mitigation for project impacts to aquatic resources, the applicant proposes to create approximately 66.8 acres of emergent wetlands, enhance approximately 12.0 acres of existing wetlands, preserve approximately 23.7 acres of forested/shrub uplands, and enhance approximately 71.0 acres of coastal prairie within the Memorial Tract, and to place the tract under a conservation easement. The applicant's plans are enclosed in 30 sheets and the applicant's proposed mitigation features plan is enclosed as an attachment of 34 sheets. Other Agency Authorizations: Texas Coastal Zone consistency certification is required. The applicant has stated that the project is consistent with the Texas Coastal Management Program goals' and policies and will be conducted in a manner consistent with said Program. 3