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(KIrTITANCOUNTY <br />`1 <br />,pacobs. <br />Bowers Field Airport (ELN) Capital Improvement Plan <br />Advance Mitigation Planning Strategy <br />Background <br />The intent of this memorandum is to describe the purpose of and need for advance mitigation <br />planning for Kittitas County Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects. Kittitas County has <br />partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Washington State Department <br />of Transportation Aviation (WSDOT) to develop the Bowers Field Airport (ELN) Capital <br />Improvement Plan (CIP). Within this CIP for ELN are planned projects for the next five years, <br />including rehabilitation of the existing runway 11/29 required to meet current FAA design <br />standards and the construction of a full-length parallel taxiway. <br />ELN is located on the historic channels and floodplains of two streams, Mercer Creek and <br />Whiskey Creek (Figure 1; Map Appendix). Both of these streams were routed around the <br />Airport during Army construction in the 1940's. The remnant channels and associated <br />hydrology have created several wetlands throughout the ELN site. Yearly flooding from <br />Mercer Creek closes the only active runway. It is expected the future delivery of the ELN CIP <br />and Kittitas County Airport Industrial development will require unavoidable impacts. <br />The first CIP projects, the rehabilitation of Runway 11/29 and construction of a new parallel <br />taxiway will impact approximately 2.67 acres of regulatory wetland which requires mitigation <br />through the Clean Water Act Section 404 process. The FAA has programmed $350,000 in <br />planning and design funds in 2022 towards wetland mitigation and another $2,000,000 in <br />2023 towards implementation. While this commitment is specific to the runway 11/29 <br />impacts, Kittitas County is proactively exploring strategies to provide a meaningful watershed - <br />based approach that goes beyond just mitigating for the immediate impact and provides <br />mitigation for future capital expansion. <br />Overview of Mitigation Options <br />Mitigation Banking is the preferred regulatory approach to mitigating impacts. This <br />approach creates certainty that mitigation success is provided in advance of the impact, <br />as mitigation credits are not available until site performance is met. However, Kittitas <br />County is not within the service area of any currently certified mitigation bank. In <br />addition, review of new mitigation banks has stalled in Washington State. The timeline <br />for bank approval, most likely in excess of 7 years from initial review acceptance, will <br />not support the timeline for mitigation need in Kittitas County. <br />!n -lieu fee (ILF) is a program -based mitigation option in areas where a current ILF <br />program is active. There are only 3 ILF programs in Washington State; none of which <br />are available to Kittitas County. Currently, the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and <br />December 8, 7020 <br />