The development team behind a new Wawa coming to the intersection of State Road 200 and SW 100th Street will be paying a fee to the county for unplanted replacement trees.
The Wawa development project currently has a balance of 66 inches of trees that still need to be replaced on the site. Since the development team is unable to accommodate these trees, the team proposed submitting a payment into the county’s Tree Mitigation Fund instead.
According to county records, the 2021 pricing to replace a tree is $299.85 per inch. The total cost to pay into this fund would be $19,790.
The Marion County Land Development Code allows for such payments to be made on a case-by-case basis, and the cost per tree is based on the wholesale cost of material, cost of labor for installation, and the cost of maintenance for two years.
The matter went before the Marion County Board of County Commissioners during its regular meeting on Tuesday, and the commissioners unanimously approved payment into the mitigation fund as part of the consent agenda.
The funds will be deposited into the Tree Mitigation Fund to be used by the Marion County Parks and Recreation Department on public property within the county.
The Marion County Board of County Commissioners meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month at the McPherson Governmental Campus Auditorium (601 SE 25th Avenue).