County shocked by $375K wetlands fee it faces

Ozaukee County will have to pay $375,000 to purchase wetlands mitigation credits to replace 2.2 acres of wetlands it is destroying in the reconstruction of Highway W in Saukville, even though it is restoring more than nine acres of wetlands as part of the same project.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t see them as part of the same project.

The $3 million highway project seeks to alleviate the frequent flooding of Highway W by raising the roadway, moving it slightly to the east and adding two large culverts under it.

The culverts will allow the Milwaukee River to flow under the road when it rises into the historic oxbow east of it and then flow back out, helping keep the highway open to traffic during rainy weather.

In decades past, work on Highway W removed the oxbow, forcing the river to flow over the road, often closing it to traffic.

The project will create a 67-acre park, including nine acres of wetlands in the oxbow that will include land donated by the Village of Saukville as well as ancient native archaeological sites.

The state Department of Natural Resources originally considered the highway and oxbow as two parts of the same project and ruled the county exempt from having to buy the mitigation credits, which are purchased to “replace” wetlands when they’re filled as part of a construction project.

But the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t agree.

“They won’t count (the nine acres) because they see this as a transportation project,” Matt Aho, a program manager in the county Planning and Parks Department, told members of the county Public Works Committee last week.

Aho said the going price for a one acre mitigation credit is $148,600.

Not getting credit for creating nine acres to replace two acres befuddled committee members.

“I don’t understand it,” Supr. Justin Strom said. “In the Catholic Church we call that a mystery.”

Reconstruction of the highway, from Highway 33 north to Schowalter Street, is expected to begin this year. Work has already started on the Oxbow Nature Preserve.

The majority of construction costs are covered by state Department of Transportation grants.

Aho said the credits will be purchased from a wetlands “bank,” Barnes Prairie, near Kenosha.

Since the Corps of Engineers requires a 1.1 acre credit to be purchased for each acre lost, the total number of credits to be purchased totals 2.42, Aho said.

Fortunately, construction and engineering costs for this year have come in under budget for 2026, leaving room to pay for the credits from already budgeted funds, County Administrator Jason Dzwinel said.

In a related matter, the committee approved awarding the highway construction contract to Manitowoc-based Vinton Construction for $2 million.