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1. What is planned for the former Keller farm fields along Avondale Road?

The City of Redmond hired Habitat Bank, LLC. to design, permit and build a wetland mitigation bank on the former farm site. Construction will happen summer of 2020, and planting should be complete the following winter.

The City is also installing logs in Bear Creek this summer to improve fish habitat and will plant the stream buffer with native trees and shrubs during the fall and winter.

2. What is a wetland mitigation bank?

A wetland mitigation bank is a site where wetlands are restored, created, or enhanced to provide compensatory mitigation in advance of unavoidable impacts to wetlands. Banks provide the option of purchasing credits to offset the unavoidable impacts of a project.

3. Who owns the Keller Wetland Mitigation Bank property?

The City purchased the 83-acre property from the Keller
family in 2015.

4. What does the long-term vision look like when the bank is fully developed, and all other adjacent projects are done?

The entire wetland mitigation bank site will be planted with
native trees, shrubs and emergents. The former farm ditches will be turned into
meandering stream channels and will be connected to Bear Creek. Perrigo Creek,
which currently flows in stormwater pipes, will be day-lighted (taken out of
pipes and brought to the surface in a stream channel). The wetland bank
property will be protected from development in perpetuity.

Private parcels to the west and northwest of the wetland
mitigation bank will be developed into residential housing.

5. What is the timeline for work on the old Keller property?

The wetland mitigation bank will be constructed in 2020.
Habitat Bank will manage and maintain the wetland bank until all the wetland
credits are sold in approximately 10-15 years. 

A local non-profit, Forterra, holds a conservation easement
on the property and will maintain the property over the long-term. 

Private parcels adjacent to the wetland bank are expected to
be developed in the next five years.

6. Is there public access allowed onto the wetland bank property?

The site is closed to the public because it will be a stream
and wetland restoration site. There is a trail easement reserved through the
southwest portion of the site, but the trail is not funded for construction
during this phase of the work.

7. What operations and maintenance work will need to occur from now until we reach that final vision?

After the wetland mitigation bank is constructed in 2020, it
will take regular maintenance, especially during the first five years, to make
sure the project succeeds over the long term. Regular maintenance will include
replacing dead plants, controlling noxious weeds, managing beaver dams, and
other actions.