Aug. 10, 2005:  Dorothy,

      Congratulations on getting so many people out for the public hearing and getting all those excellent comments!   Not too many regular citizens (not any, right?) clamoring for an expensive new road thru Silver Lake, which was great.

      I came from work yesterday so I am just now reading that letter--thank you for passing it on.  It is a well written letter meant to quell any environmental qualms about building a road thru this natural area.  Harsh analysis may tell you that the standards they are meeting and exceeding for water quality and quantity and tree replacement are not that high.  They are not high enough that a 40' (to 80' in non-wetlands?) wide intrusion into the natural area with an almost solid barrier that has polluting and deadly (roadkill) cars on it is a good thing.  Don't lose heart.  They try to cover themselves with engineer talk and Best Management Practices (BMP) lingo.  One of their sources they cite for detention pond design is from 1987--that is 18 years old in 2005 (“Controlling Urban Runoff: A Practical Manual for Planning and Designing Urban BMP’s,” by Schueler, in 1987 for the Department of Environmental Programs).   

      I was concerned that your own public comment seemed to me to sound like you accepted they would build the road.  Hopefully you can write a strong letter of written comment asking for permit denial as well and maybe get it in the newspaper.  You just might avert a permit, and more letters with good comments make it more likely.  I'll write my letter today or tomorrow and send it to you.  We kept the Corps of Engineers from approving a Lake County Park permit application for an excavated boat launch and asphalt trail in an an ecologically degraded forested wetland with a lot of letters. 

     I suppose Jon Costas could try to pull strings with IDEM's director Tom Easterly due to his republican status with Gov. McDaniels.  I don't know how that would go, but raising the possibility in public might help.  Charlotte Read could probably best advise you on that.

    Sandy O.      

The city's proposal is to make another east-west through route.  I quote a recent e-mail from Mayor Costas:   "We are pursuing the project becaue Vale Park is planned to be our major east/west corridor extending from Rt. 49 eventually to Rt. 130.  The extension from Valpariso Street to Campbell will allow for a much better traffic flow to the high school and has significant safety reponse implications.  We are affecting less than one tenth of an acre of wetland and have even moved the road to avoid destorying some large trees.  Our plan inlcudes constructing a pathway along the road and actually improving the surrouding wetlands which are currently of low quality.  We are bulidng few new roads and do so only when threr is strong justification for one.  We believe that is the case here."

Thank you for your interest.  Peter Wilkin, Associate Professor, Biology, Purdue Univ. North Central, 219-785-5227
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July 5, 2005

Mr. Marty Maupin, IDEM, Section 401 Water Quality Certification Program, P.O. Box 6015, Indianapolis, IN 46206-6015

Project:  2005-236-64-MTM-A Valparaiso Redevelopment Commission, applicant; DLZ Indiana, LLC, agent

          Vale Park Way roadway and boardwalk construction through wetlands adjacent to Silver Lake,  Valparaiso, Porter County

Dear Mr. Maupin:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has reviewed the above referenced Public Notice for Section 401 Water Quality Certification, dated June 14, 2005. 

These comments have been prepared under the authority of the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. 661 et seq.) and are consistent with the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Mitigation Policy.

The applicant and their agent propose to place fill material into 0.077 acres of wetlands at 4 locations on the south side of Silver Lake to facilitate the construction of 2,835 linear feet of roadway.  The road will consist of 2 12-foot lanes with open roadside drainage ditches.  They also propose to place fill material into 0.0007 acres of wetlands at 3 sites for boardwalks as part of trail construction adjacent to the roadway.  The boardwalk/trail will be 10 feet wide.

A biologist from our Northern Indiana Sub office visited the proposed project site on June 24, 2005.  The wetlands that would be impacted by the proposed roadway and boardwalk are primarily forested, although the part of Wetland 2 that would be impacted by the boardwalk is emergent/aquatic bed.  Pin oak is a dominant tree in the forested wetlands.  These wetlands and the adjacent upland woodlands are of good quality, supporting a diversity of native species and few invasives. 

According to botanist Sandy O’Brien, who visited the site several times in 2004 and developed a plant list, the woodland/wetland complex is an example of the historic landscape of oak woodlands and mixed wetlands once common in the Valparaiso area.  She determined that the native floristic quality index (FQI) is 37.00; areas with an FQI lower than 35 are not considered natural areas (Swink, Floyd and Gerould

Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region. 4^th Ed. Indianapolis: Indiana Academy of Sciences).  Therefore, this woodland/wetland complex is sufficiently natural to be restorable to a higher quality site.  Mrs. O’Brien’s report and plant list are available at

The project as proposed would separate most of Wetland 1, a 1.9 acre Palustrine forested wetland, from contiguous wetlands along Silver Lake, leaving only 2 small culverts at crossings #2 and #3 to regulate water movements.  A lesser section of Wetland 2 would be left south of the proposed roadway, but the project drawing (sheet 3A) does not show a culvert at this site.  Based upon our review of the area, we do not believe that these small culverts will adequately allow the current water regime to continue.  Although no elevations are provided in the drawings included in the PN, our observations indicate that there is very little difference in elevations between Wetlands 1 and 2 and adjacent upland in many areas, with slight changes in vegetation being the demarcation between wetland and upland.  If the existing 2,433 square feet of wetland at crossings #2 and #3 are reduced to 2 small culverts, the sizes of which are not provided in the PN, and no culvert is provided at crossing #1, water could be backed up beyond the current recognized boundary of the wetlands.  The small culverts would also greatly restrict the movements of wildlife, particularly reptiles and amphibians, that currently move freely within the wetlands and between Silver Lake and the outer reaches of the wetlands. 

The impact of the roadway on wetlands and Silver Lake would extend much beyond the immediate footprint of the proposed fill.  Of particular concern to us is the use of roadside ditches for drainage.  The PN does not provide any information on the depths or discharge points of these ditches, whether into a water retention basin for some treatment, directly into the adjacent wetlands and Silver Lake, or into the city storm water system.  These ditches could discharge storm water containing sediments, oil and grease, and other roadway pollutants into the wetlands and ultimately Silver Lake.  They could also facilitate either the drainage of the wetlands or surges of additional water into the wetlands, thus affecting their water quality and hydrology.  Additional information is needed from the applicant and agent concerning these roadside ditches and their impacts on wetland and Silver Lake water quality.

Aquatic biologist Dr. Robin Scibailo surveyed Silver Lake in 2004 and indicated that it has a high density of fingernail clams, which “is unusual and is an indicator of good water quality” (report of December 9, 2004, available at ..  He also found 1 Indiana endangered, 2 threatened, and 1 rare plant species within the lake, with the endangered species, threadleaf pondweed, being a new find in Indiana.  We are very concerned about what impact the roadway construction and operation will have on this very high water quality lake and the plants and wildlife it supports.  During our short site visit we observed great blue heron, Canada goose, belted kingfisher, and several songbirds at the lake, which was very low with little open water and was dominated by spatterdock.  We expect that several species of waterfowl, including Canada goose, mallard and wood duck, nest at the lake and adjacent wetlands, and that others utilize the lake during migration.  Rare species of amphibians may also be present, but we have no information on these species.  We recommend that you contact Alan Resetar at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History for information on reptiles and amphibians at Silver Lake and other Valparaiso lakes and wetlands, at .

We are also concerned about possible flooding impacts on residents adjacent to the proposed roadway and those downstream in the Heinold-Listenberger Drain, which enters the south end of Flint Lake.  Silver Lake has a stop-log water control structure a few hundred feet west of Valparaiso Street, just north of the proposed roadway alignment.  It discharges from a narrow stream extending east from the southeast portion of the lake into an underground pipe, which in turn discharges into the Heinold Ditch between existing Vale Park Road and Bullseye Lake Road.  The City of Valparaiso owns the land around the control structure and apparently

controls the lake level through manipulation of the stop-logs.  There have been significant flooding problems in residential areas south of Flint Lake for a number of years.  Silver Lake may be holding water for slow release downstream to Flint Lake; however, if the proposed roadway is constructed along the south side of Silver Lake, the City may wish to keep water levels lower in order to not undermine the new roadway.  We understand that there are concerns about the soils over which the roadway would be constructed and the need to monitor water levels and their affects on the soils/roadway (see Weaver Boos consultants Geotechnical Exploration report). 

Although newspaper articles about the roadway construction and anecdotal information provided by local Valparaiso residents indicate that mitigation has been proposed for the proposed project, no mitigation information is provided with the PN and attached project plans.  We understand that trees have been planted on adjacent park lands, however this is to replace lost shade trees as required by a City ordinance and is not mitigation for the loss of the forested wetlands. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes that every effort has not been made to lessen adverse impacts to wetlands by the proposed project.  Bridges over the wetlands would greatly reduce wetland fill and would allow for movements of reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals under the roadway.  Other project designs to facilitate the use of the bridge areas by these species to prevent them from crossing the roadway pavement would also be necessary (please see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/wildlifecrossings/amphibin.htm for information).

Alternatives to open roadside ditches are also necessary, and roadway drainage facility designs must guarantee that the wetlands will not be drained by them.  Storm water must not be discharged into either the wetlands or Silver Lake and means of addressing the quality of the storm water discharged to any body of water must be addressed.  The effects of a roadway on water levels in Silver Lake and adjacent wetlands, and effects downstream along Heinold-Listenberger Drain and Flint Lake, must be addressed, including an analysis of possible flooding or excessive drainage of properties south of the proposed roadway between Valparaiso and Campbell Streets and possible increased flooding in the Flint Lake area.  Mitigation of any remaining adverse impacts to wetlands will be necessary.

We have no objections to the construction of the trail and boardwalks; in fact, we believe that the trail should be constructed in lieu of the proposed roadway.

We recommend denial of a permit for the project as currently proposed because it does not adequately address water quality, water quantity, or wildlife impacts, because of the use of fill and culverts rather than bridges for the wetland crossings, because of the use of open roadside ditches, and because of the lack of mitigation for adverse impacts.

ENDANGERED SPECIES

The proposed project is within the range of the Federally endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis), the threatened bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Pitcher’s thistle (Cirsium pitcheri), and the candidate eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus)..  However, there is no known habitat for any of these species in the proposed project area; therefore the proposed project is not likely to adversely affect these endangered, threatened and candidate species.

This precludes the need for further consultation on this project as required under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of l973, as amended.  However, should new information arise pertaining to project plans or a revised species list be published, it will be necessary for the Federal agency to reinitiate consultation.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this Public Notice.  Please keep us informed of actions taken on this matter.  For further discussion, please contact Elizabeth McCloskey at (219) 983-9753 or .

                       Sincerely,

                                         /s/ Elizabeth S. McCloskey

                        acting for Scott E. Pruitt, Supervisor

cc:  U.S. EPA Region V, Watersheds & NPS Programs Branch, WW-16J, Chicago, IL
      Christie Kiefer, Environmental Coordinator, Div. of Water, Indianapolis, IN
      Don Reinke, USCOE, Detroit District, Detroit, MI
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