Lake Gaston and Roanoke Rapids
Construction and Use Procedures
Shoreline Management Plan
These Construction and Use Procedures have been developed
by Dominion and representatives from local, state and federal governmental authorities
and the surrounding communities. The objectives of the procedures are to protect
environmental resources around the lakes and to permit use of the company's
property by the public.
While these procedures are designed to complement and incorporate
the requirements of federal and state laws and regulations, they also incorporate
the company's policies in reference to its property. As such, these procedures
are administered at the sole discretion and authority of Dominion.
Procedures and Agreements
It is important for the property owner near Lake Gaston and
Roanoke Rapids Lake to remember that Dominion owns property between the lake
and privately owned property. Dominion has developed the procedures and plans
referenced below to allow private and public access to the lake across and on
its property. However, before any work or modifications can be made to Dominion’s
property, permission must be obtained in the form of a Construction and Use
License Agreement.
In regulating the company's property, the company may allow
an adjacent property owner to construct upon or use the company's property,
provided the owner enters into a Construction and Use License Agreement with
company and complies with these procedures.
Please Note: This information is presented for
your information only. To obtain a Construction & Use Agreement application
package, please contact Dominion North Carolina Power (refer to contact information
in the procedures).
Dominion consulted with representatives from local, state
and federal governmental authorities and the surrounding communities to develop
the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). The intent of the plan is to give guidance
to Dominion for managing all aspects of Lake Gaston and Roanoke Rapids Lake
shorelines.
The Construction and Use Procedures are actually an appendix
to the SMP. The SMP is the guiding document for shoreline classification, management
practices as well as a document that identifies plant and animal life within
the lake management area. View the SMP and related maps using the following
links:
Shoreline Management Plan for the Roanoke Rapids and Gaston
Hydropower Project, revised 3/25/05 (select: MS
Word Document or PDF
file)
Special management areas are addressed specifically in the
Shoreline Management Plan and the Construction and Use procedures. Please refer
to those sections above for regulations concerning development in areas classified
as such. Please note that the special management area maps that are available
below denote specific areas determined by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission
and Dominion in 1997. Dominion may in the future classify areas not platted
and recorded prior to 1998 as special management areas and therefore may not
be represented on the maps. The following is an excerpt from the Shoreline Management
Plan, Section 5:
"Special Management Areas are shorelines
that have high ecological or cultural resource values. They comprise 40 percent
of the project boundary at Lake Gaston and 69 percent at Roanoke Rapids Lake
(Table 5-1). The locations of these Special Management Areas were based upon
the Ecologically Sensitive Areas that were identified in the field by Dominion
and NCWRC biologists. The Ecologically Sensitive Areas are described in Appendix
D and in Section 3.6. The resource values that occur in the Special Management
Areas are attributed to the Ecologically Sensitive Areas. The Special Management
Areas include fish spawning areas, shoreline with overhanging vegetation,
shoreline and underwater (stumps, etc) structures that provide fish habitat,
beach areas that are used by striped bass, wetlands, shallow areas, water
willow beds, and upland areas that provide large buffers and wildlife habitat
between adjacent property owners and the lakes. Shorelines that have high
cultural resource values occur on both lakes. They are less common than areas
with high ecological values and have not been identified specifically as cultural
resource areas in order to protect the resources.
"Special Management Areas have been further divided
into three sub-classifications, Limited Use Areas, Sensitive
Areas and Undevelopable Areas. Limited Use
Areas are Special Management Areas that are adjacent to lands that
were platted by the surrounding five counties as of May 31, 1998. These shorelines
are platted but were identified in the field during 1996 and 1997 as still
having high ecological or cultural resource values. Sensitive Areas
are located adjacent to upland areas (beyond Dominion shoreline property)
that could potentially be developed in the future, but are not currently developed.
"Undevelopable Areas are Sensitive
Areas that are located adjacent to upland areas where it is very unlikely
development would occur due to factors such as steep topography, shallow water
(at the ends of creeks) or conservation-oriented adjacent land uses. It is
assumed that in the future there will be little or no demand for shoreline
development from upland property owners adjacent to Undevelopable
Areas.
"Of the 187 miles of project boundary at Lake Gaston
that have been classified as Special Management Area, 22 miles (12 percent)
have been designated as Limited Use Area, 63 miles (33 percent) as Sensitive
Area, and 103 miles (55 percent) as Undevelopable. At Roanoke Rapids Lake,
6 miles (25 percent) of the Special Management Area shoreline (23 miles total)
has been identified as Limited Use Area and 18 miles (75 percent) as Sensitive
Shoreline Area. No Undevelopable Areas were identified."
Select a map below: (large PDF
and/or JPG files, allow for download)
