Wetland Mitigation Project: Crab Creek, Montgomery County, Va.

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

In 2021, Montgomery County was approached with a proposal to create a wetland mitigation bank project. This mitigation bank would be the first such project in the New River Watershed. Unfortunately, this use was not defined in the County’s Zoning Ordinance. Staff began to perform substantial research on how other localities throughout Virginia regulated wetland mitigation bank projects. Eventually, an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance allowing mitigation bank use in the County was presented to the local governing body. Following the amendment approval in the spring of 2021, staff began working with an applicant on a wetland mitigation project in 2022. The request was to expand an existing mitigation bank to include an additional five acres and to restore 4,000 linear feet of Crab Creek. In doing so, an increased number of tax credits would be available for sale throughout the watershed and the area would be protected in perpetuity. Not only did this particular applicant benefit from an approved application, future developers and businesses have the potential to also benefit from available tax credits should their application be approved. These credits are vital to area developers as Montgomery County is one of the fastest growing localities in Virginia.