Thank you ddvlost. This is the single best answer for this question I have seen! Not only does this solve the problem but explains the reasoning!
Is there a list anywhere that mentions what objects are recommended or required in the persistent world vs the sublevels?
As a side note. I noticed while playing around that it seem to work if the navmesh volumes are in sublevels so long as the recast actor is in the p-world? Is this expected?