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6 | September 8, 2016 | The lake forest leader news<br />
LakeForestLeader.com<br />
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ComEd files with Illinois Commerce Commission<br />
Kirsten Keller, Editor<br />
library<br />
From Page 3<br />
the big question of whether<br />
the funding is going to<br />
be there,” he added.<br />
Over the next five<br />
months, the consulting<br />
group will conduct interviews<br />
to determine<br />
potential donors. Bailey<br />
foresees private philanthropists<br />
contributing the<br />
majority of the funding.<br />
If the funding is there,<br />
the next step will be marketing<br />
the plan to prospective<br />
donors. But, completion<br />
of the project is still<br />
years down the line.<br />
“If everything goes as<br />
Commonwealth Edison<br />
filed a petition with the<br />
Illinois Commerce Commission<br />
on Aug. 26 in an<br />
effort to create a “pathway<br />
that will lead to more options”<br />
in regards to smart<br />
meters, said Mike McMahan,<br />
vice president of advanced<br />
meter infrastructure<br />
implementation at<br />
ComEd.<br />
The petition’s filing was<br />
spurred by recent resolutions<br />
approved in three<br />
Illinois towns, including<br />
Lake Forest and Lake<br />
Bluff, asking the electric<br />
utility to allow residents to<br />
permanently opt out of its<br />
smart meter program.<br />
Currently, residents can<br />
only defer installation to<br />
Dec. 31, 2019.<br />
The petition asks for the<br />
current deferral period to be<br />
extended to June 30, 2022,<br />
and calls for an investigation<br />
starting in 2020 into<br />
we hope it will, by the end<br />
of four to five years, we<br />
should be in those new facilities,”<br />
Bailey said.<br />
The proposed expansion<br />
will be added to the west<br />
side of the building, jutting<br />
off the library’s former entrance.<br />
It will add 3,100<br />
square feet — a 33 percent<br />
increase to the library’s<br />
current footprint.<br />
A need for expansion has<br />
been shown in a 34 percent<br />
increase in patrons over the<br />
past decade, according to<br />
data from the library. More<br />
programming, which has<br />
increased by 27 percent<br />
over the same time period,<br />
is a large factor in increasing<br />
visitors, Bailey said.<br />
The library’s last renovation,<br />
in 2011, combined<br />
the entrance to both the<br />
library and the Lake Bluff<br />
History Museum, which<br />
shares the building. Decades-old<br />
carpeting was<br />
also replaced, creating a<br />
lighter feel to the library.<br />
In a 2016 survey, 50 percent<br />
of respondents said<br />
either they’d like more<br />
space in the library or they<br />
requested improvements<br />
that are not possible in the<br />
current building.<br />
The expansion plan<br />
includes reworking the<br />
whole main floor of the<br />
library, with the addition<br />
other long-term solutions.<br />
ComEd is in the midst<br />
of installing smart meters<br />
across northern Illinois.<br />
Installation completion is<br />
scheduled for the end of<br />
2019, after which data can<br />
be gathered and used to<br />
look into alternatives.<br />
“By the middle of 2020,<br />
of group meeting rooms,<br />
space for teenagers, more<br />
seating, a quiet reading<br />
area, more accessible<br />
bookshelves and methods<br />
to prevent the traveling<br />
of sound throughout the<br />
space.<br />
The addition will blend<br />
in to the look of the current<br />
building and will add<br />
windows facing Scranton<br />
Avenue, both on the top of<br />
the sloped roof and on the<br />
side wall — aspects that<br />
will help the library appear<br />
more open, rather than the<br />
sloping roof be the focal<br />
point of the library to passersby.<br />
“The building we have<br />
visit us online at www.LAKEFORESTLEADER.com<br />
we’ll have a much better<br />
feel for what the system<br />
impact is of customers<br />
who have deferred smart<br />
meters,” McMahan said.<br />
Should the Illinois Commerce<br />
Commission take<br />
no action within 45 days<br />
of the petition’s filing, the<br />
petition will pass into law.<br />
now fits really nicely with<br />
the architecture in downtown,<br />
and that is very important<br />
to us and is not<br />
something that we want to<br />
change,” Bailey said. “But<br />
it does leave us a little bit<br />
turtled.”<br />
Bailey’s overall focus is<br />
to engage the community<br />
and keep bringing in more<br />
patrons.<br />
“Lake Bluff really is<br />
such an involved community,”<br />
he said. “So for<br />
us, either in services or<br />
space, to emphasize being<br />
cut off from the rest of the<br />
community doesn’t make<br />
sense.”<br />
<strong>LF</strong>HS shuts<br />
down 2 sinks,<br />
3 fountains<br />
Kirsten Keller, Editor<br />
Three drinking fountains<br />
at Lake Forest High<br />
School’s East Campus<br />
have been shut down after<br />
testing showed the fountains<br />
to have lead levels of<br />
between 17.3-19 parts per<br />
billion. The Environmental<br />
Protection Agency set<br />
acceptable lead levels at<br />
15 parts per billion.<br />
The fountains are located<br />
outside rooms 14, 109<br />
and 203.<br />
As a precaution, two<br />
sinks at West Campus that<br />
tested between 2-15 parts<br />
per billion have also been<br />
shut down. The EPA does<br />
not supply counts for water<br />
samples with lead levels<br />
lower than two parts<br />
per billion.<br />
District 115 Superintendent<br />
Mike Simeck sent a<br />
notice on Aug. 30 notifying<br />
parents the fountains<br />
and sinks will remain shut<br />
down until lead levels are<br />
lowered.<br />
McHenry Analytical Water<br />
Laboratory conducted<br />
testing at both campuses<br />
over the summer and covered<br />
all consumable water<br />
sources, including drinking<br />
fountains, ice machines,<br />
day care sinks and kitchens.<br />
“I would like to underscore<br />
that all other consumable<br />
water sources on<br />
both East and West Campus<br />
have been tested and<br />
fall within the acceptable<br />
limits,” Simeck wrote.<br />
The district plans to conduct<br />
water quality testing<br />
on an annual basis.
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