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County approves $208,010 wetland restoration contract for Marquette Greenway Trail
Summary
Porter County authorized a five-year contract with Soil Solutions Inc. for $208,010 to install wetland plugs and provide five years of maintenance as part of Marquette Greenway Trail design changes that restored about 11.7 acres and avoided purchasing costly wetland credits.
Stormwater staff presented changes to the Marquette Greenway Trail alignment and asked the board to approve a contract to restore wetlands rather than buy mitigation credits.
Mike Jabo told commissioners that design work with the National Park Service changed the alignment and, rather than purchasing roughly four acres of mitigation credits (which he said could cost about $195,000 per acre), the county would pursue restoration: "we did restoration of about 11.7 acre of property" and Soil Solutions proposed a five-year contract totaling "$208,010." Jabo said that, had the county purchased credits for four acres, costs would have been "upwards of, what, almost $800,000," and that the restoration approach was a more cost-effective path.
The board discussed funding and grant matches; staff said initial project dollars from the council would be used and the county captured full local match for the Next Level Trails grant, though other Next Level Trail funds had been exhausted. Commissioner (S3) moved to approve the five-year contract with Soil Solutions and the motion carried by voice vote.
The contract includes installation and a five-year maintenance period to demonstrate wetland survival and functionality to regulators; staff said annual maintenance thereafter would be comparatively small. The board approved the procurement to advance the trail project while deferring later construction phases and remaining costs to future budget actions.
