Bartholomew County officials say concerns about a wetland on the future site of the county’s new highway garage are more a “nuisance” than a “problem.”
More than a month ago, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) issued a warning regarding the future site of the Bartholomew County Highway Garage near Petersville.
On June 3, officials announced the groundbreaking could be delayed at least two months after an IDEM inspector said part of the 11.25-acre property off East 25th Street, east of the Clay Township Fire Department, might contain wetlands.
But it turns out that if there is a wetland problem, it’s likely a very small one. That’s what project engineer and consultant Charlie Day told the Bartholomew County Commissioners Monday.
After working with IDEM, the area of concern was determined to be no larger than a tenth of an acre in a shallow ditch just west of the construction site, said Day, who works for DLZ Indiana, Inc. Now state environmentalists want to ensure that if efforts are made to fix wetlands problems in one area, it doesn’t pop up in another area, Day said.
The area of concern is so small “it’s more of a nuisance than a problem,” said Bartholomew County Highway Engineer Danny Hollander.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
