The Will County Public Works and Transportation Committee has approved an agreement to purchase wetland banking site credits for $4,324,550 from V3 Wetland Restoration LLC to support future county highway improvement projects.

Design Manager Eric Wessel explained that the credits are necessary for road and bridge projects adjacent to classified wetlands. “As we do road projects and bridge projects that are adjacent to waterways that have been classified with wetlands either by the Army Corps or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, we’re required to replace them or restore them at a certain ratio,” Wessel said.

The typical replacement ratio is 1.5 to 1, though it can be higher depending on the quality of the affected wetland. The credits are being purchased as a block to streamline future projects.

“These credits are hard to come by,” Wessel told the committee. “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.”

The wetland bank is managed by V3 on behalf of the Will County Forest Preserve District at Thorn Creek. When the county needs to mitigate wetland impacts for a specific project, V3 will provide a certificate allocating the appropriate amount of credits.

Committee members questioned whether the money goes to V3 or the Forest Preserve District. While officials couldn’t immediately clarify the contractual arrangement between V3 and the district, they noted that V3 assisted the Forest Preserve in developing the wetland bank site.

Member Raquel Mitchell asked about collaboration between county departments, suggesting a potential ordinance requiring the DOT to work with the Forest Preserve District. Ronaldson confirmed that while wetland credits are relatively new, the departments already collaborate on bike path planning and other initiatives.

“The Forest Preserve’s bikeway plan was incorporated into the 2040 plan itself, and they were consulted in the development of the 2050 plan,” Ronaldson said. “They’re ongoing partners.”