LF_071218

4 | July 12, 2018 | The lake forest leader NEWS
LakeForestLeader.com
Forest Park Beach bluff fails after record rainfall
60-foot wide
mudslide closes
north beach
access road
Alyssa Groh, Editor
An unusual call came
into the Lake Forest Police
Department and the
Lake Forest Public Works
Department around 5 p.m.
on June 27, reporting a
large tree had fallen down
across the north beach access
road in Lake Forest.
When Mike Thomas,
the Public Works Director,
arrived on the scene,
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there is only one way he
could describe what he
saw.
“Picture a landslide out
in California, and that is
exactly what happened
in an area of about 60
feet wide,” Thomas said.
“That entire portion of
the bluff collapsed onto
the north beach access
road and left a pile of clay
about 6 feet tall with trees
piled on top.”
Thomas said the failure
of the bluff was 100 percent
due to the heavy rainfall
in recent months.
During the Lake Forest
City Council Meeting
Monday, July 2, Thomas
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explained to the City
Council what had occurred.
“I told the City Council
that May was the wettest
May on record, and June
was the wettest June on
record,” he said. “When
you have all that water,
essentially from Green
Bay Road east, all the
stormwater wants to drain
via the ravines and overland
to the lake. All of that
water is trying to make its
way to the lake.”
Since the bluff failure,
Thomas said the north
beach access road is
closed as it is unsafe and it
is unclear if the bluff will
fail again.
“We do not want people
down there,” Thomas said.
“If we receive a heavy
amount of rain, could the
joining part in that bluff
fail? Absolutely.”
Since the bluff failed on
June 27, surveyors have
been monitoring the bluff
for any movement after
rain fall. To ensure safety,
Thomas said Public
Works will keep a close
eye on the bluff after every
rain fall until the bluff
is repaired. They also have
measurement tools, called
inclinometers, along the
entire bluff and forest
park beach to measure any
further movement.
In the meantime, the
City is working with AE-
COM and John Keno &
Company to come up with
a design proposal to repair
the bluff, which will be
reviewed at the Lake Forest
City Council Meeting
on July 16, according to
Thomas.
The contractors are
working to propose a plan
with a design approach,
which Thomas said is
needed when you need to
save some time.
The repairing of the
After crews responded to a report of a fallen tree June 27 on the north beach access
road in Lake Forest, they found a mudslide that was more than six feet tall and 60
feet wide. PHOTOS SUBMITTED
bluff will take is a lot of
re-grading and bringing
the portion of the bluff to
a 2 to 1 slope, which will
stop the bluff from sliding,
Thomas said.
The City already
planned to do work on the
ravine that is adjacent the
north beach access road
due to erosion, but will
now try to combine both
projects into one.
The cost of the projects
are unknown at this time,
but will be reviewed at the
next City Council meeting
on Monday, July 16.
RIGHT: Following hours of
clean up, the bluff on the
north beach access road
is covered in mud.