Park Board Not Yet Sold on City's Plan to Dredge Parks for Flood Remediation

The folks who work with Christopher Burke Engineering promise that if Elmhurst parks are dredged and used for rainwater retention, it will not only solve some of the flooding problems in Elmhurst, but the athletic fields can look better and function better than they do now.

"We don't see these as stormwater basins. We see these as parks, first and foremost, which is their primary function," said Doug Gotham, landscape architect for Christopher Burke in a presentation to the Elmhurst Park Board Wednesday. "My goal is to maintain that in every instance."

City staff can't move forward on this portion of flood mitigation without full cooperation from the Park Board and District 205 School Board.

The city made a presentation to the School Board earlier this summer, and the list of all affected properties was discussed in detail at a City Council meeting last spring.

It takes a little math to understand Elmhurst's flooding problem. With major rain events like those in 2010 and last April, if Elmhurst had a temporary holding place for 60 to 70 acre-feet of water, fewer homes in the hardest-hit areas would flood, Christopher Burke said. One acre-foot of water would cover a football field (minus the end zones) 1 foot deep, he said. 

"Storage volume is really important," Burke said. "Water needs to be moved if we're looking at solving the problem—taken to a location where it can be temporarily stored."

He said the most cost-effective way of doing that is excavating large areas of land. For comparison, he said it would take 55,000 lineal feet—10 miles—of 12-inch pipe to hold 1 acre-foot of water. He said it would take 551 rain barrels to hold the more than 30,000 gallons of runoff that occurs after a heavy rain on just one 8,000-square-foot lot.

He presented aerial photographs of a Naperville development, which has stormwater basins spread throughout.

"You don't see those here," he said. "And that's one of the things we're trying to retrofit."

He also said that 15 of the 22 Naperville District 203 school sites have dry-bottom detention facilities—the type he is proposing for Elmhurst. Parks in Tinley Park, Lincolnshire, Bensenville and Downers Grove also have them, he said.

But park commissioners are not yet sold on the idea of digging up the parks, and they had myriad concerns about the proposal. 

Commissioner Pat Moll asked how much it all would cost. 

"Citizens need to know the amount," she said.

City Manager Jim Grabowski said since the park and school boards haven't committed to the plan yet, the cost hasn't been calculated. Burke added that cost would depend on the extent of park enhancements that would be needed, meaning work on playing fields, parking, seating areas and so on.

But when pressed, Grabowski said the cost for dredging all eight park and school properties was around $10.7 million.

Commissioner Carolyn Ubriaco said she wants the city to "take a very close look" at underground water detention, a plan engineers have said is cost prohibitive.

She said that while underground storage appears to be more costly than dredging the parks, the $10.7 million "could easily double" when park improvements are factored in. 

"We need to take very seriously below-grade opportunities as well, which may not, in the final analysis, be so expensive," she said.

Burke has made no secret that dredging the sites will not solve all of Elmhurst's flooding problems. Ubriaco wanted to know what homeowners will get for their investment.

"What does this get the people in the inundation zones? These are substantial capital investments for a community," she said.

Burke didn't have a clear answer, but said once dredging was done, benefits to specific homes and areas would be made clear.

Ubriaco suggested buying up the houses in the flood areas might be more cost effective in the long run—"take the houses in the inundation zone completely off the map and create open space."

Grabowski said that is an option for some properties, but "in the bigger scenario" it's too soon to know where that is feasible. Burke said once the dredging projects are approved, they can look at other projects to alleviate flooding for more residents.

Commissioner Mary Kies said her own home has flooded in every major rain event.

"I've been to the city many times to see if we can correct it," she said. 

But even so, she said she wants the city to look at other options for water retention, like the old Elmhurst Hospital property on Berteau, Elmhurst College and Timothy Christian school. She said she would like to see the city work with DuPage County in creating another berm near Salt Creek, and take a critical look at Elmhurst building codes.

"This is not going to be an easy task for any of us," she said. "I love my parks. I will protect my parks. We can work together to find solutions."

More than a dozen residents among the roughly 40 in attendance shared their feelings on the city's proposal; opinions were split right down the middle.

Dean Petrulakis, who lives on Swain, said the city's plan is a good one. He said his house has been "ravaged" by flooding. He said he lives with sandbags around his home all the time because so much damage has been done.

"It's a beautiful house with orange sandbags," he said. "It's embarrassing. 

"I don't want to flood anymore. I know my neighbors don't want to flood anymore. How many time can we take this before we move?"

Two residents on Pine Street, whose flooding would be alleviated by dredging Golden Meadows Park, also spoke in favor the plan. 

"We can't sleep at night. We don't want to leave our homes when it's raining," said Kathleen Sullivan, who said she will move if the situation isn't resolved.

But several residents on Cayuga are not convinced.

In addition to safety concerns, Cayuga residents also worry that the transport of rainwater downstream through their neighborhood would make their flooding problems worse.

"I understand you want to assist other areas, but I don't want to be the recipient of a huge problem by virtue of this plan," Tim Kennedy said.

Mitchell resident John Chisholm had similar concerns for his neighborhood. 

"If you're taking water from Seminole and Cottage Hill and moving it to Pioneer Park, what happens when it goes over the basin? It's going to flood our house," he said.

Park Board President Colette Kubiesa appointed Commissioners Vince Spaeth and Bob Howard to represent the Park Board on an intergovernmental communication committee suggested by Mayor Steve Morley.

"The city has gone as far as we can. Now it's time to share information and move forward together," Morley said.

The committee will provide regular updates to residents as discussions continue.

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