On March 25, Department of Transportation Secretary Leslie S. Richards announced three teams will be invited to submit proposals for a program to preserve 140 acres of PennDOT-owned land in Chalfont, Bucks County through a Public-Private Partnership (P3).

The land will be transformed into a mitigation site capable of providing on-demand mitigation credits for PennDOT and private-development projects.

Federal and state regulations require that impacts of infrastructure improvements to the environment be mitigated through replacement. The conventional approach is to develop project specific mitigation sites that satisfy the improvement impacts.

This P3 project aims to preserve and transform the 140 acres in Chalfont into a mitigation site. By creating this mitigation site, PennDOT will be able to deliver infrastructure projects in a faster and more economical way.

The Chalfont site offers an opportunity to mitigate environmental impacts in a heavily urbanized area. By creating a mitigation banking site, PennDOT will also preserve open space by curbing future development on the 140-acre location.

“This project demonstrates our commitment to meeting environmental requirements and being good stewards, while also collaborating with the private sector,” Richards said. “When completed, we will meet environmental needs while also initiating projects sooner.”

The teams were scored and selected based on criteria including: experience and technical approach; relevant experience and qualifications of key personnel; and their plan to deliver all requisite elements of the Required Project Services.

The teams invited to submit proposals are:

-- First Pennsylvania Resource, LLC; RK&K; Circa - Cultural Resource Management, LLC; Hunt Engineering;

-- Magnolia Land Partners, LLC; and

-- Restoration Systems, LLC; GAI Consultants, Inc.

A draft Request for Proposals (RFP) will soon be issued to the teams with a final RFP issued in the summer. Proposals will be due by the fall, with an award made in winter 2019-2020.

The selected team will be responsible for the maintenance of the land associated with the credits for a period of no less than 30 years, with the ability to sell excess credits with an opportunity for revenue sharing.

The project was approved by the state’s P3 Board on July 13, 2017. PennDOT hosted an industry forum on December 18, 2018, to educate potential private-sector stakeholders on the scope and requirements, and to provide a walkthrough of the project site.

To learn more about P3 in Pennsylvania, visit PennDOT’s P3 website.

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[Posted: March 25, 2019]

4/1/2019