Marvel Plaza Off-Site Wetland Mitigation

The Marvel Plaza 5.60± acre project consisted of an entirely wooded tract off of Stanton-Christiana Road that contained 1.11 acres of non-tidal, palustrine forested wetlands. In order to construct the proposed 21,000 square foot restaurant/retail building and parking and stormwater management facility, impacts to non-tidal wetlands were unavoidable. As part of the Nationwide Permit 39 (for Commercial and Institutional Development), compensatory mitigation at a ratio of 2:1 or (0.60 acres) was required. Since the remainder of the property was forested, the USACE requested that Landmark pursue off-site mitigation options.

Landmark Scientists met with University of Delaware’s officials and staff to identify potential wetland creation areas with the University Farm Property that would not negatively impact the agricultural production of the land. Landmark staff found an area in the southern portion of the farm adjacent to existing forested wetlands. Landmark and CDA Engineering, Inc. developed a wetland mitigation plan that detailed the proposed wetland creation design, construction methods, wetland plantings and seed mixes, schedule, and monitoring plans. Once the wetland plan was approved by the USACE, Landmark supervised the mitigation wetland construction and planting and will conduct post-construction surveys of wildlife, vegetation, hydrology and annual monitoring reports for a period of five years.

In addition to the wetland creation area satisfying the compensatory requirement, University of Delaware staff intend to use the wetland area for educational purposes.