Document text
Parks master plan contains mistake Monday Aug 21, 2017 at 12:01 AM Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune A parks master plan prepared for the city of Phoenix at a cost of $47,000 contains an erroneous claim that the city of Roseburg operates a wetland mitigation bank, something Phoenix is looking at as a way to raise money for future parkland purchases and park costs. The University of Oregon’s Community Service Center, which prepared the report, suggests that Phoenix could consider establishing a wetland mitigation bank to raise money. Sale of wetland credits by Roseburg, portrayed as ongoing, bring in up to $110,000 per acre, according to the report. Roseburg Public Works Director Nicki Mesenger told the Mail Tribune, however, that the city does not operate a wetland, but noted there is a privately run wetland mitigation bank west of the city that no longer makes sales. Wetland mitigation banking provides conservation lands for governments or developers needing to obtain offset mitigation for projects affecting riparian areas. The banks can be established either by the private sector or government agencies. The Operations and Funding Chapter of the master plans states, “According to the city of Roseburg, which currently uses wetland mitigation banking, there is a potential for the initiative to be profitable once it enters the maintenance phase. An established 15-acre wetland area under Roseburg’s jurisdiction costs the city roughly $5,000 to maintain annually ... .” The information is credited to an interview conducted by Jen Self with former Roseburg Parks Superintendent Tracy Pope. Self is not listed as a member of the project team for the master plan. Self was a project manager and on the research faculty at UO's Community Service Center in 2014. Robert Parker, director of the CSC, said the interview information may have been taken from another report produced by the center. “We take accuracy of our reports seriously,” said Parker. “I’m not quite sure where that came from. We may have included information in the report that we didn’t completely vet. It’s a reminder about accuracy of other reports.” Parker said he typically reviews information in reports. Also, Project Manager Aniko Drlik-Muehleck, as the primary faculty person involved, would have reviewed the information. Students in the Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management do much of the work on the plans. “Obviously, the city reviewed this, but they wouldn't be checking facts on issues like this,” said Parker. Adoption of the parks master plan, which will become part of the comprehensive plan, will be considered by Phoenix City Council at its 6:30 p.m. meeting Monday, Aug. 21, where a public hearing on it will be held. A $35,000 state parks grant was awarded to the city to update the plan. The city put up $15,000 as a match for the grant. “I don’t know enough about it to comment knowledgeably,” said interim Phoenix City Manager Dave Kanner. “It looks to me like someone was misinformed.” Dana Field, mitigation specialist for Oregon’s Division of State Lands, said that the private Cow Hollow wetland mitigation bank five miles west of Roseburg in the Lookingglass Creek area no longer has wetland credits for sale. Prices for credit purchases in the CSC report, presumably from Cow Hollow, were correct, she said. They ranged from $85,000 to $110,000 per acre. The city of Eugene operates a wetland mitigation bank, but generation of revenues there does not appear to match that of the earlier Roseburg sales. An undated Portland State University report, which contains information from 2012, says that 130.32 wetland credit units were generated from a total of 259 acres in the mitigation bank that was established. In 2014, the city of Eugene held a surplus sale of 6.98 mitigation units with a minimum bid of $41,000 per unit. Bids could be for as little as .01 credits. Field said the Rogue Valley could use a wetland mitigation bank that would allow offset purchases for small projects. The Oregon Department of Transportation has established an 80-acre wetland bank near the Table Rocks, which it uses to provide mitigation for road projects that impact wetlands. “It would be great if the city of Medford or Jackson County wanted to be engaged in wetland mitigation,” said Field. “There’s still a need for more garden-variety wetlands. Development will be impacting stuff along the Rogue Valley streams.” — Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].