WB_042618

wilmettebeacon.com news
the wilmette beacon | April 26, 2018 | 3
Wilmette approves stormwater
storage option for flooding issues
Nathan Worcester
Freelance Reporter
“We’ve been talking about this
for five years. We have asked
and had answered for us every
question imaginable over the
five years.”
Bob Bielinski — Wilmette Village President on
stormwater decision April 17
After a raucous public
meeting, the village president
and board of trustees
of the Village of Wilmette
voted for neighborhood
stormwater storage to address
flooding in west Wilmette
on Tuesday, April
17.
The plan was the third
of three options that the
Board considered to address
flooding west of
Ridge Road. The neighborhood
storage solution,
which was projected to
cost $48-$55 million in
2017 dollars and could be
phased in over two to three
years, was chosen over
sewer expansion (option 1)
and a hybrid of sewer expansion
and neighborhood
storage (option 2), which
were projected to cost
$80-95 million and $70-80
million, respectively, and
which would have taken
longer to complete.
The Board made a point
of adding a study to the
Capital Improvement Program
memorializing the
Board’s point of view that
modeling, study, and general
engagement with the
persistent issue of stormwater
flooding must continue.
President Bob Bielinski,
Trustee Kathy Dodd,
Trustee Julie Wolf, Trustee
Senta Plunkett, and Trustee
Daniel E. Sullivan, Jr.
voted in favor of the motion.
Trustee Joel Kurzman
voted against it, citing
moral concerns.
The meeting began with
a discussion by the Board
of Trustees, staff, and consulting
engineers.
“There is not one single
reason why there’s flooding
in west Wilmette,” Engineering
& Public Works
Director Brigitte Berger
said. “Topography is a primary
reason. Also, west
Wilmette is very highly
developed, and there’s
very limited open green
space. [At] the time that
the stormwater system
was developed, there were
not comprehensive stormwater
management techniques
or plans to develop
that system… The existing
system serves a two-year
storm, which is not much
more than a spring rain, to
fill up that system.”
Responding to citizen
concerns, Berger emphasized
that Wilmette could
not purchase homes or
solely rely on green infrastructure
to address flooding,
though she did say
that green infrastructure
could play a complementary
role.
Dodd asked if the Village
had yet attempted to
engage with the Wilmette
Park District. Village Manager
Timothy J. Frenzer
responded that it was too
early to begin engagement
with that agency or
the many other levels of
government with which
the Village will ultimately
have to coordinate when
developing and installing
the new stormwater system.
Joe Johnson, of Stantech,
which provided cost
estimates for the project,
also answered questions.
Wolf asked Johnson how
green infrastructure might
be incorporated. Johnson
echoed Berger, saying
that green infrastructure,
though complementary
to the larger engineering
solution, “would not be a
major element that would
solve the flooding problem
on the west side.”
Plunkett asked Johnson
how the neighborhood storage
option would cope with
unusually large storms or
back-to-back storms.
“Even if we had a hundred
year storm, the neighborhood
storage [option]
would drain back out in
less than a day,” Johnson
said.
Johnson said that the 60
years of local data from
O’Hare Airport that he had
analyzed suggested that
two major storms in quick
succession were extremely
rare and thus not a significant
concern. He also noted
that the projects were
“relatively independent,”
suggesting that multiple
options could be pursued
at different points in time.
“We’ve been talkiing
about this for five years,”
Bielinski said.
Full story at WilmetteBeacon.com.
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