A local developer is in the process of establishing a wetlands mitigation bank in Mathews.

Port Haywood resident Joe Perdue, operating as Chesbay Conservation LLC, is in the process of purchasing nearly 100 acres of farmland along Route 14 between the VDOT maintenance shed and the Mathews Transfer Station in order to reestablish the forested wetlands that once stood there.

County supervisors questioned Perdue about the project during Tuesday afternoon’s board meeting, which was held in the old courthouse. Supervisor Jack White said he asked Perdue and his project agent, James Hudson of Virginia Wetland Consulting LC, to speak during the board meeting so supervisors could decide what the county position on the matter would be.

Although the project has been in the works for nearly two years, supervisors said they weren’t aware of it because the permitting process is all undertaken at the federal and state levels. The county was notified about the project last month by the ...