HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006.07.24 - Mitigation Options for Filling Wetland A, Phoenix AdditionRe:
Wiltermood
Associates,lnc.
July 24,2006
Peter Goughnour
9234 NW Hopedale Ct.
Portland, OR97229
Mitigation options for fill of Wetland A (3,884 square feet) for the Phoenix
Addition in Port Townsend, Washington.
Dear Peter,
This letter has been prepared as to inform you of the mitigation compensation that will be
appropriate f,or the filling of Wetland A on the above referenced property. As we spoke
about when we walked the potential on site and off site mitigation areas, it appears that
on site mitigation is not possible within the Phoenix Addition or within the Colombia
Park subdivisions. We also made the site visit to discuss and investigate the potential for
possible mitigation off site and to the west adjacent to a large wetland system. We were
unatle to identifu mitigation sites adjacent to the off-sitewelland, because there does not
appear to be adequate hydrology available within the wetland to support additional
wetland. Plus, intact upland buffer would have to be destroyed to create wetland adjacent
to the larger wetland. Also we noted that many of the possible locations adjacent to the
large wetland to the west contain other road easements or are on private property.
As no mitigation areas could be found and you meet with the City regardipg this subject,
a plan has been proposed in which Wiltermood Associates will recomrnend an
appropriate rnonetary value to the loss of Wetland A that will be endowed to the City to
be used for future mitigation in a mitigation banking site that the City of Port Townsend
plans on setting up. We are also recommending that the City be able to use the funds
however they see fit in either acquiring land for the future banking site, restoring the
appropriate amount of wetland in the future mitigation site, using the money for stream
restoration or setting up/improving a wetland educational feature,-1a lo:al ea{.
i \i,r L7 t. j'|:\ r
l0l5 S.\fl Harper Road, Port Orchard, Washington 98367 (360) 876-2403 Fax (360) 876-2053
tDst
Goughnour
Ju|y24,200:6
Page2
Wiltermood Associates has had twenty years of experience with wetland restoration,
mitigation design, wetland enhancement and mitigation banking consulting experience.
We have worked alongside with Kitsap County on their mitigation bank site and have
been involved with several private land owners who have bought into the bank
It has been determined through this process that ahealthy functioning wetland that is
monitored to ensure success costs $100,000 per acre to create. Wetland A is.3884 square
feet and meets the requirements of a Category III wetland. The City of Port TownSend
requires that all Category III wetlands be mitigated for at a ratio of 2:1. In other words,
for every one square foot of wetland that is filled, two squarg feet of wetland must be
created as mitigation. ,Using this ratio it we have determined that7768 square feet of
wetland would need to be created to mitigate for the loss of Wetland A, which turns out
to be approximately seventeen percent of one acre. At this rate we estimate that it would
cost $17,000 to mitigaG for the loss of Wetland A and this is the amount we suggest be
endowed to the City.
Again we would like to reiterate that this fund not bg restricted solely to the creation of
7768 square feet of wetland, but that in order to maximize the City's ability to improve
the quality of a degraded environment or to provide a needed educational resource.
Again if direct re-creation of wetland is not possible at this time, the fund could be used
as part of the process of starting a mitigation banking system for the City, to
enhance/restore a largeramount of degraded wetland within the City and/or to improve
an environmental education feature within the City.
"4
Goughnour
July 24,2006
Page 3
If y.ou woulg like to discuss this letter, please fee! free to call me at
l-360-876-2403.
Sincerely,
Ivludra Bergan
Biologist