The building and financing of Little Otter Creek near Hamilton, a project which has been in the works for over a decade, is finally entering its final stages. A public meeting will be held May 2 for comment regarding permitting, environmental impact, and the need for additional water sources in the area.
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The permitting for the Little Otter Creek Lake has been submitted to the Corps of Engineers (COE) and printed in the National Register.
“We would appreciate any ‘positive comments’ from the public concerning the Little Otter Creek Lake to present to the Corps of Engineers during this public comment period,” noted Bud Motsinger, Presiding Commissioner of Caldwell County.
The Caldwell County Commission, in cooperation with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), will hold a public information open house from 3-8 p.m. next Thursday afternoon, May 2, at the Church of the Nazarene in Kingston. NRCS representatives will be present to answer questions and receive comments concerning the Little Otter Creek Lake Project in Caldwell County.
The major permitting requirements for the Corps of Engineers have been submitted and the public comment open house is one of the final requirements needed for approval. This includes the 404 permit as part of the Clean Water Act and the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and the 401 state permit as well as the water management plan, endangered species and biological assessments, mitigation plan, and the funding projections for the lake.
Public comments on the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement will be received by NRCS through May 14. The original Environmental Impact Statement was submitted and approved over ten years ago, but the COE requested additional regulatory environmental studies and alternatives to be completed before they would issue a permit. This supplement addresses changes since NRCS prepared the Little Otter Creek Watershed Plan and Environmental Impact Statement in 2003. The supplement updates the original Environmental Impact Statement by providing more recent relevant environmental information and expanded alternatives analysis. The supplement analyzes a range of reasonable and practicable alternatives and their expected environmental impacts.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Little Otter Creek Watershed Plan. The plan involves construction of a proposed multipurpose reservoir in Caldwell County. Additional environmental studies, endangered species and biological assessments, ecological flow taskforce reports and other data are included in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
The primary purpose of the Little Otter Creek Lake is to provide a source of drinking water to communities in Caldwell County, with the secondary purpose of providing flood control and recreational opportunities. The federal government has committed over nine million dollars and the state and local over four million toward the lake project. Some additional funding may still be required. If all goes as planned with the final approval by the COE, the construction of the lake could be put out for bid in the fall of 2019 with construction to begin the following spring. It is estimated that clearing and construction will take approximately two years. Based on average rainfall, it may take up to two years for the lake to fill.
Public comments on the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement will be received by NRCS through May 14. Submit comments to Chris Hamilton, Assistant State Conservationist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Parkade Center Suite 250, 601 Business Loop 70 West, Columbia, Missouri 65203-2585 or to [email protected].
The draft supplement is available for viewing at http://tiny.cc/1fd33y