As executives consider sites for expansion, should they dismiss locations that contain wetlands?
"The presence of wetlands at a prospective site need not nix development necessarily," said Tim Schmidt, vice president of industrial recruitment for the Tri-City Industrial Development Council in Kennewick, Wash.
However, Schmidt cautioned that "wetlands certainly would be a factor in developing a parcel — you'd want to incorporate that into your decision-making and timing."
One report to Congress ranks Florida, Louisiana, Maine and South Carolina as the top states in wetlands acreage. In each of these states, wetlands make up more than 20 percent of the surface area, according to data from “Wetlands, Losses in the United States, 1780's to 1980's.”
Brian Chapman, who is economist/manager at the Louisiana Economic Development Department, also believes sites with wetlands can work.
"Wetlands can be developed,” he pointed out. “It will add some costs and perhaps some additional time to the development of the project. If the property has some overriding attributes that warrant the additional costs and time, then it becomes a classic cost/benefit situation."
Chapman has had some experience showing potential industrial sites that contain wetlands along the lower Mississippi River.
Consider All Cost Factors
The total cost of a project needs to be considered, said Wayne E. Flowers, an attorney with the firm of Lewis, Longman & Walker in Jacksonville, Fla.
"As much as anything, it is always an economic decision (cost of developing and mitigating a wet site vs. the cost of purchasing a dry site),” he said. “While a completely dry site will not typically involve as many regulatory hurdles as a site containing wetlands, a site with wetlands may not cost as much as the dry site, even considering permitting and mitigation costs. The reality, in Florida at least, is that it is hard to find acreage of any size that does not have some percentage of wetlands on it."
For executives in the market for a new plant location, Andy McMillan, wetlands manager for the Department of Ecology in Washington's state government, has this advice: "Know if you've got wetlands on the site as early as you can, and get good biological, environmental and engineering consulting help. The experts will know what the federal, state and local regulations are, and they'll be the ones in the best position to say, 'Run away from this site as fast as you can,' or 'No, this site is quite developable, but you need to factor in a certain amount of cost to do that.'"
Readers who hope to develop new facilities at a site with wetlands will work with a variety of government agencies, such as the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Other levels of government also get involved.
"In Florida, there are county, regional, state and federal permitting requirements for [the] development of wetland areas and associated endangered species issues," said Michelle Diffenderfer, a lawyer with Lewis, Longman and Walker of West Palm Beach, Fla. Readers can turn to a variety of sources to find experts who can assist in the permitting process, including:
* The American Academy of Environmental Engineers offers an annual directory that lists consulting firms that employ board-certified environmental engineers. Go to http://www.aaee.net/newlook/selecton_guide.htm for an online copy.
* The National Registry of Environmental Professionals maintains registration programs for Registered Environmental Manager and other environmental certifications. Go to http://www.nrep.org/profs.htm for a list of credentialed professionals.
Wetlands experts and land-use counsel can identify regulatory hurdles to developing or improving a proposed construction parcel, said R.J. Comer, an attorney with the firm of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory LLP in Los Angeles.
"The game plan is to know what you've got and the regulatory issues it presents before committing to an expansion project that may impact an on-site wetlands," Comer said.
As attorney Flowers noted, "It's safe to say that the more wetlands that exist on the general landscape of a state (Florida being a good example), the more likely it is that a purchaser of real property in that state will have to address wetland issues through the regulatory process."
Readers may use the adjacent chart as a guide in their site selection process.
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