Logistics Park Wetland Mitigation Monitoring

Liberty Successfully Completes Five-Year Wetland Mitigation Monitoring at eastern Pennsylvania Logistics Park

Bethel, PA: In 2006, the Berks County Industrial Development Authority began work on an ambitious new project along Interstate 78 in Bethel Township, with a vision of meeting an anticipated demand for logistics facilities along this heavily-traveled corridor – and bringing much-needed jobs and infrastructure development to a largely rural area of Berks County. After a decade of planning, design, development and operations, which now include national consumer brands PetSmart, Dollar General, and Samsung, the Berks Park 78 project is seen as an unqualified success in foresight, planning and project execution.

Liberty successfully closed a chapter in the Berks Park 78 story in March 2017, when the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the findings of its final Annual Wetlands Mitigation Monitoring Report, thus issuing an official Notice of Completion of the extensive and complex Joint Permit for waterways improvements at the site, which were cooperatively administered by the DEP and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

The project’s Joint Permit allowed for the creation of significant new wetlands areas within the 320-acre complex, as well as the restoration of two stream corridors from agricultural impoundments into their original, natural channel conditions. Liberty’s Principal David Coyne was originally brought onto the project team in 2011 to oversee the construction phase of those improvements, and later to conduct the five-year program of scientific monitoring to ensure that the designed areas developed into diverse, stable, and functional aquatic habitats. As a result, the economic benefits brought to the region through the commercial operation of Berks Park 78 are complemented by careful restoration and maintenance of the valuable natural resources in this beautiful part of Berks County.