(1) A general
permit is granted to the Florida Department of Transportation, counties, and
municipalities to conduct the activities described below.
(a) The extension of existing culverts and
crossing approaches that are authorized under a separate permit or exemption
under Part IV of Chapter 373, F.S., as applicable, to accommodate widening of
the roadway where excavation or deposition of material shall not exceed 1, 000
cubic yards in wetlands and other surface waters and the area from which
material is excavated or to which material is deposited shall not exceed a
total of 0.25 acre at any one culverted crossing. The 1, 000 cubic yardage
limitation shall be separately applied to excavation and deposition of
material.
(b) Relocation,
recontouring, widening, or reconstruction of existing highway drainage ditches
through uplands provided the floor elevation of the ditch is not deepened below
the original design elevation and provided that the work does not cause a
change in the hydrology of any wetlands which are connected to or which are
adjacent to the ditch.
(c) Culvert
placement, replacement, and maintenance associated with existing roadways,
provided that construction does not cause scour in the downstream waters or
increase the velocity of the water downstream, does not reduce existing flood
conveyance of the stream for the 100-year flood flow and does not reduce
existing flood storage within the 10-year flood plain. The material excavated
or deposited as fill shall not exceed 1, 000 cubic yards in wetlands and other
surface waters. The cross sectional area of the culvert shall not be reduced,
unless the reduced cross section provides an equal or greater discharge
capability. In the case of a culvert replacement as a wildlife crossing, the
cross sectional area shall not be reduced.
(d) Construction of temporary bypass lanes
and stream channel diversions necessary to complete projects detailed in
paragraph (c), above, provided the area used for the temporary bypass lanes and
temporary diversion is restored to its previous contours and
elevations.
(e) Channel clearing
and shaping, not to exceed a combined total of 0.5 acre of dredging and filling
in wetlands and other surface waters, to facilitate maximum hydraulic
efficiency of structures authorized by paragraph (c), above, where the spoil
material is used on an upland portion of the project or is deposited on a
self-contained, upland spoil site. Escape of spoil material and return water
from the spoil deposition area into wetlands or other surface waters is
prohibited.
(f) Ditch or canal bank
and bottom stabilization necessary to repair erosion damage to restore
previously existing ditch configurations. Authorized repair methods are
placement of riprap, sand cement toe walls, clean fill material, poured
concrete, geotechnical textiles and other similar stabilization materials. The
placement of riprap or other lining materials shall be limited to a length of
500 feet along the axis of the ditch or canal. This general permit shall not be
applicable within one-quarter mile along the length of an area, within the same
ditch, which has been stabilized under this general permit within a three-year
period.
(g) Roadway safety
activities, such as installation of shoulders, sidewalks, guard rails, signs,
poles, and mast arms within an existing right-of-way that incur no more
dredging or filling than 500 square feet per activity, provided the total
impact to wetlands or other surface waters does not involve more than 0.5
acre.
(2) This general
permit shall be subject to the following specific conditions:
(a) The permittee shall limit stream channel
relocation to streams which have an average discharge of 10 cubic feet per
second or less. The length of relocated channels or those significantly altered
shall be limited to 200 feet per stream. A stream channel shall be altered only
when such a measure will reduce the long term adverse water quality impacts and
will maintain or restore the stream's natural hydraulic capability;
and
(b) This general permit shall
not apply to ditch construction in Class I or Class II surface waters,
Outstanding National Resource Waters or waters designated as Outstanding
Florida Waters.
(c) Activities
under this general permit must not diminish existing stormwater treatment,
attenuation, or conveyance capacity.
(d) This general permit does not authorize
the construction of additional traffic lanes. Activities that require
additional traffic lanes must first obtain an individual environmental resource
permit under this chapter, as applicable, before the start of
construction.