What may seem to some to be commercially useless wetlands property might provide a source of revenue for the Fayette County Board of Education.

Board members Monday heard a report from consultant Integrated Science & Engineering on the potential for the future sale of wetlands mitigation credits on 49.5 acres of unbuildable property at the Goza Road complex. Such a sale would bring substantially more than the appraised value of the property.

ISE’s Ron Feldner presented a follow-up to the direction given by the board in the fall that would establish the wetlands boundaries, restrictions, easements and allowable uses.

ISE was also tasked with determining a future market for the property through the establishment of a mitigation bank and identification of an entity to purchase the mitigation credits. Additionally, ISE was asked to determine the market value of the 49.5-acre area of land that is situated inside the much larger Goza Road/Kiwanis property.

Feldner said, as of March 5, the 49.5-acre tract has a raw land market value of $250,000, or $5,005 per acre. A vote sometime later this year to surplus the property would enable mitigation credits to be sold, he said.

Due to the number of variables involved, ISE could offer only a general example of the amount of revenue the future sale of mitigation credits might bring.

Citing such an example, Feldner said the mitigation credits might bring nearly $850,000, or 3.5 times the appraised value. Feldner stressed that at this point in the process the figures used in the example were subject to change.

Feldner said the potential market for the credits includes Fayette County, Georgia Dept. of Transportation, Georgia Power and private mitigation banks.

The number of private sector users has diminished over the past two or three years, he said, though entities such as Fayette County might make use of the credits for SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) road projects.

Though no vote on the measure would be taken until further into the process, the board was generally favorable to the idea of surplusing the property, adding that the process should be handled in a manner that would thoroughly address all aspects of the issue.

Also at the meeting, biologist Dennis Chase suggested, and board members agreed, that if the property were surplused and mitigation credits were sold the board should consider negotiating to retain 5-10 percent of the credits in case they were needed at a later date.

Designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, mitigation credits are used to mitigate or lessen the environmental impact to a wetlands area to be developed, such as a roadway, utility right-of-way or a commercial development, by that entity by purchasing land in another wetlands area. The credits are sold per unit, such as per acre.

ISE will report back to the board on March 31.

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