City to seek credit

This may be the year Portland is done mitigating the wetland at the former site of XPLEX Extreme Competition Park.

Portland Board of Works was in agreement at its meeting Thursday that the city should pursue purchasing mitigation credit rather than trying to create 0.525 acre of artificial wetland, the last bit of land needed to satisfy mandates by Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

“It’s just a pain in the butt,” said Portland Mayor John Boggs, who is the city’s third mayor since CHA Consulting Inc. was first contracted in 2008 to help recover and mitigate the wetland damaged by the park’s construction. “I just want to get it over with.”

The mayor may get his wish as Summer Elmore, Portland’s new adviser at CHA Consulting, suggested the mitigation credit to Boggs as a way of satisfying IDEM. She estimated mitigation credit would cost the city $41,000 whereas actually creating the required amount of wetland would cost around $70,000 and wouldn’t be finished for another three years, Boggs said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is inspecting the area on an annual basis to make sure all requirements are being met, and they must to deliver a report to CHA Consulting in the spring before it can provide a firm cost for the mitigation credit.

Mitigation is the process of replacing damaged land. In Portland’s case, every acre of wetland that was unrecoverable has to replaced at a four-to-one ratio, meaning for every acre destroyed the city is responsible for creating four new wetland acres.

CHA Consulting’s Simon Davies said in December 2019 that 85% of the damaged wetland was able to be recovered. Boggs said the city has recovered or created about 20 acres of wetland near the former site of the park on county road 100 North between U.S. 27 and county road 100 East.

XPLEX, first announced in May 2004, was a planned 207-acre sports park by local entrepreneur Glynn Barber. Financial difficulties put the project on hold before it was finally scrapped and Portland was left responsible for the acres of wetland destroyed during the park’s construction.

IDEM and the Army Corps of Engineers allows cities to purchase mitigation credit in lieu of creating wetland to satisfy mandates, a process which is costly and time consuming.

Portland took advantage of this program in March when it paid IDEM $266,400 for mitigation credit it needed for the enclosure of 555 feet of Alexander Ditch. That credit, which was later fully reimbursed by the Federal Aviation Administration, was a needed step in Portland Municipal Airport’s plan to extend its runway from 4,000 feet to 5,500 feet.

In other business, board members Jerry Leonhard, Steve McIntosh and Boggs:

•Signed a $750 contract with Laux Plumbing & Heating Inc. for regular inspection and upkeep of city hall’s heating and cooling system.

•Gave its blessing to five new parking spots for police vehicles in the lot behind city hall owned by Dru Halls Properties LLC. Boggs said new gravel was being laid on the lot Thursday.

•Approved a new water tap at 809 N. Franklin St.