NRCB Item - Megan Hedstrom, Stormwater Coordinator
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Title
Wetland Credit Sale Update
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Background
On July 27, 2021, the city received 12.744 wetland credits for the Site 7 wetland bank. These credits are awarded to the city when the monitoring of the Blaine Wetland Sanctuary proves that we have met pre-determined vegetation standards in the wetland area. This brings the total credits restored to date on the Site 7 bank to 39.735 out of a potential 81 credits.
We had quite a few potential buyers interested in purchasing the credits from the city. Based on feedback from the NCRB and the City Council, the city set the price on these credits moving forward as $2.50/SF, or $108,900 per credit. This will be reviewed over the winter as other banks come online for comparison, it may be feasible to raise this price even higher in the future. At the October 4th Council meeting 5 purchase agreements were approved, 2 more purchase agreements are scheduled for approval at the 10/18 Council meeting, and a final purchase agreement is on the Council agenda at the 11/1 meeting. Projects include industrial buildings in Lino Lakes, Hugo, and Dayton, housing developments in Blaine (Lexington Waters), Ramsey, Victoria, and Maple Grove, and a street project in Delano.
In total to date, the open space fund has received payment for 18.6264 wetland credits for a total of $1,835,523.62. As of 10/18, an additional 17.4441 credits have been signed into purchase agreements, and an additional 3.5 acres, if approved, will be signed into purchase agreements 11/1. This totals a future projected payment amount $2,280,812.49, which brings the total amount projected to be paid into the open space fund by wetland credit sales from the Site 7 wetland bank to $4,116,336.11.
Moving forward, the city will continue to monitor and make improvements to the Site 7 wetland bank. We are on track to meet Interim 1 Vegetation Performance standards in the wet meadow in 2022 which would trigger the release of another 5.2725 credits. Then, once invasive species have been managed in this area and the city can meet the Interim 2 Vegetation goals another 15.8175 credits would be released. This would likely be in 2023 or 2024.