Will County committee approves $4.3 million purchase of wetland credits to support future highway projects

The Will County Public Works and Transportation Committee approved an agreement to buy wetland banking credits for $4,324,550 from V3 Wetland Restoration LLC to meet mitigation requirements for future county highway and bridge projects.

Design Manager Eric Wessel told the committee that projects adjacent to waterways often trigger wetland mitigation requirements set by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. "Typically, it's a 1.5 to 1 ratio," Wessel said, describing the common mitigation ratios and the county's option to buy credits from certified wetland banks.

Wessel said the Will County Forest Preserve District is creating a wetland bank (Thorn Creek) and that V3 is managing the wetland site on behalf of the district. "These credits are hard to come by, so what we as a county are buying is a block of credit so that in the future as projects come online and we realize we need wetland credits, we don't have to come frequently to the board asking for the credits," he said.

County staff and committee members discussed the management arrangement. When asked whether the county's money would go directly to V3 or to the Forest Preserve District, Jeff Ronaldson said he did not know the detailed contractual arrangement between the forest preserve and V3 and suggested questions about that arrangement could be raised at the Forest Preserve District meeting.

Member Van Dine and others said they supported using the Forest Preserve's bank to secure scarce credits. The committee approved the purchase by voice vote.