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6 | July 7, 2016 | The lake forest leader news
LakeForestLeader.com
Lake Bluff Village Board
Design service contract approved for Moffett Road repairs
Kirsten Keller, Editor
Baxter & Woodman will now
begin compiling an initial design
plan to resurface Moffett
Road and repair the land bridge
on Moffett Road just south of
East Witchwood Lane. The
Lake Bluff Village Board granted
a contract to the engineering
firm at its meeting on June 27.
The design services, which
were approved for an amount
not to exceed $57,700, will provide
the Village with a recommended
course of action in resurfacing
the three-quarter mile
stretch of Moffett Road between
Sheridan Road and Center Avenue
and repairing the bridge.
Because of the age of the
bridge, the firm anticipates
needing to reline the tunnel underneath
the bridge, replace the
headwall and wing wall and
stabilize the slope. Village Engineer
Jeff Hansen said most of
the materials are from the 1960s.
“One side of the culvert concrete
headwall has come apart
and the slope is failing and
washing down the hill,” Hansen
told The Leader.
Construction is expected to
begin during the summer of
2018. The Village will make
temporary repairs to stabilize
the slope in the meantime.
The Village is seeking federal
funding through the Surface
Transportation Program for the
repairs and resurfacing. While
the initial design phase is not eligible
for funding, it is required
before the following phases that
are eligible — final design and
construction — are enacted.
Board honors service of
Goldsberry
Village President Kathleen
O’Hara and the Village Board
issued a resolution commending
long-time resident Michael
Round it up
A brief recap of Village Board action June 27:
• An ordinance amending zoning regulations to allow electric lift
systems on the bluffs was approved, and subsequently a special use
permit was granted to a property on the 600 block of Lansdowne
Lane to construct an electric lift system on a bluff.
Goldsberry for his service on the
Lake Bluff zoning board of appeals
and joint plan commission
and zoning board of appeals.
Goldsberry served on the zoning
board of appeals from 2009-
2012. The plan commission and
the zoning board of appeals
merged in 2012, and he served
on that board from 2012-2016.
In the resolution, O’Hara read
that Goldsberry helped create
regulatory standards for clean
wind and solar energy as well as
standards for medical cannabis
dispensaries.
“When they talk about this
resolution, they talk about character,
culture and uniqueness to
this community, and I know no
one that’s more passionate for
this town than you,” she said to
Goldsberry, who was taught by
O’Hara at Lake Bluff Middle
School.
Goldsberry then encouraged
residents to get involved.
“Kathleen taught me you have
an obligation to do the best for
your town and for your country
and that’s something that set the
course for my whole life,” he
said. “I look forward to see how
much this town stays the same
and how much it changes in all
the right ways. And I think that’s
the most important thing — to
do it the right way.”
Playground designs unveiled for Blair, Artesian parks
Kirsten Keller, Editor
Design plans for new playgrounds
at Lake Bluff’s Blair
and Artesian parks were unveiled
in meetings at both parks
on June 29.
New playgrounds were part of
the $3.1 million referendum approved
by voters in November
2014. The referendum also included
replacing stairs at Sunset
Beach as well as repairs to the
Blair Park Pool and the tennis
courts at Artesian Park.
Repairs and upgrades at the
parks — including new playgrounds,
walking path upgrades,
and resurfaced parking lots and
tennis courts — are budgeted at
$613,000.
“The idea behind the [playground]
designs and the overarching
theme is to create an
environment that is exciting for
our kids but really repairs our
A rendering of the proposed playground design
at Blair Park, 355 W. Washington Ave., Lake Bluff.
Photos courtesy of the Lake Bluff Park District
two very important assets to our
community,” said Ed Heiser,
Lake Bluff Park District’s superintendent
of facility services.
The proposed plans, prepared
by Hitchcock Design Group,
present two different color
schemes for equipment at each
park.
A rendering of the proposed playground design at
Artesian Park, 10 E. Sheridan Place, Lake Bluff.
The Blair Park color schemes
are a blue and green combination,
which would match the
blue shades of the neighboring
Blair Park Pool, and a purple,
pink and green combination.
The Artesian Park choices
contain more earthy hues and
are more similar in color, with
the playground bars varying between
beige and burgundy.
“We’re trying to play off Lake
Bluff and we’re thinking about
some natural materials and some
natural colors,” said Hitchcock
Principal Eric Hornig, noting
Please see Playground, 7
Lake Bluff
sidewalk
project pushed
to mid-July
Delay caused by state
budget stalemate
Kirsten Keller, Editor
A sidewalk project to connect the
southern end of Lake Bluff’s Village
Green to the Robert McClory
Bike Path will be slightly delayed,
an effect of the slow-to-come stopgap
budget passed by the Illinois
General Assembly on Thursday,
June 30.
The project was set to break
ground on July 5, but Village Administrator
Drew Irvin said on Friday,
July 1, that after talking with
the contractor, Chicagoland Paving,
the start date will likely be pushed
to mid-July. The project should take
three weeks to complete.
Prior to state lawmakers passing
a budget that will keep Illinois running
for another six months, a letter
was sent to the Village of Lake Bluff
by the Illinois Department of Transportation
on June 24, saying it would
not be able to reimburse funds for
work done after Thursday, June 30.
“At this time, appropriate funding
for the engineering and construction
program for IDOT is not available,”
the letter read.
The stopgap budget gives IDOT
the authority to disburse funds to
contractors. Eighty percent of the
project will be funded through the
federal government, Village Engineer
Jeff Hansen said.
The sidewalk project has been in
the works for several years, Hansen
said. Currently, there’s a northern
sidewalk connection to the bike
path but none at the southern end.
Robert Ells, the superintendent
of engineering in Lake Forest, said
there wouldn’t have been any road
work delays in Lake Forest if the
state hadn’t passed a budget.