Determination of No Adverse Effect on Archaeological Sites 9CK1110 and 9CK1144 Resulting from the Pulte Homes Corporation, Hendrix Tract Development, Cherokee County, Georgia

Pulte Homes Corporation proposes to develop an approximately 540-acre (c. 219 ha) tract in Cherokee County along the Little River as single-family detached and single-family attached (duplex?) residential housing. Associated facilities will include a swimming pool, tennis courts, roads, sidewalks, utilities, and storm water drainage facilities. The project tract is located in southern Cherokee County, in north-central Georgia. The tract is essentially an irregularly shaped polygon, though roughly rectangular in shape, located primarily in moderately sloped uplands, in the Central Uplands District of the Upland Georgia Subsection of the Piedmont Physiographic Province, according to Clark and Zisa's 1976 physiographic classification of Georgia (Georgia DNR 1976).

The northern boundary of the project tract is the southern (left) bank of the westward flowing Little River. The southern boundary is Georgia Highway 92 (East Alabama Road). Recent subdivision housing developments border the eastern and west/southwestern boundaries of the tract. On the north side of the Little River another recent housing development has been built, facing across the valley towards the project tract (USGS 7.5-minute Mountain Park quadrangle; DeLorme Topo Quads 2000). A small, permanent stream runs northward through the tract, joining the Little River at the northern boundary of the tract. The proposed development tract is 3.0 km northwest of the community of Mountain Park, and 6.4 km west of the town of Woodstock.

The proposed project involves activities that require permitting under the authority of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which section is the responsibility of the US Army Corps of Engineers to oversee. Under the regulations given the USACE for the processing and issuance of permits under Section 404, the US ACE is required to consider the effects of their issuance of such permits on a variety of factors, including historic properties, and to consider its responsibilities with regard to other related laws, in this instance, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHP A), specifically.

The Area of Potential Effect for the undertaking is circumscribed by the legal boundaries of the project tract, because modern residential development borders the west, south, and east boundaries of the tract, and thick vegetation along the Little River buffers visual effects along the river, and from development on the north side of the river. A 50-foot visual buffer is included in the overall development plan, also (Travis Pruitt & Associates, Inc. Waters/Wetlands Impact Map, "Highway 92 Site," rev. 4 September 2001).